Matthew Urhoghide, the Senator who represented Edo South Senatorial District between 2015 and 2023, has decamped from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the All Progressives Congress (APC).
Urhoghide who had earlier renounced his membership of the PDP about four months ago, formally defected to the APC on Monday, September 18, 2023.
The former Senator was received at APC’s Ward 2 secretariat on Airport Road, Benin, Edo State by the state chairman of the party, Col. David Imuse (rtd.), in the company of two former Edo deputy governors, Dr. Pius Odubu and Chief Lucky Imasuen, as well as the running mate to the state’s governorship candidate of APC during the September 19, 2020 governorship election, Pastor Osagie Ize-Iyamu, Alhaji Gani Audu, and other leaders of the party.
He formally registered as a member of the APC during the reception and intends to contest the 2024 Edo State governorship election on the platform of the party.
Speaking on why he dumped the PDP, Senator Urhoghide explained that some disagreements over some issues forced him out.
He however added that a founding member of the APC, he was glad to be back home.
He said: “When I resigned from the PDP in May, I said I was going to join another political party, so long as I remain in partisan politics.
“After a careful evaluation of what is going on in Edo State, I decided to go back to the party that I was a part of its building. I am a founding member of APC. This is where I really have my political friends and associates. I came to rebuild APC.
“I am not rejoining APC alone, but moving with my teeming followers and supporters. There is no ward in the entire 77 wards in Edo South Senatorial District that I did not site a project, while I was in the Senate.”
Edo chairman of APC, in his remarks, urged other members of the party, who were on exile, voyage, and sabbatical leave, to return home to the party.
