Governor Samuel Ortom of Benue state has announced his defection from the All Progressives Congress (APC) to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
He made the announcement at a meeting with elected local government chairmen and Councillors at the Government House Makurdi.
Ortom said that he had forwarded his resignation letter from the APC to his ward chairman.
He also assured the readiness of the APC ward chairman to join him in the PDP.
This is coming after some youths protested and barred the governor from travelling to Abuja to attend an APC reconciliation meeting.
The youths had stormed the Government House on Wednesday morning.
The governor had, around 10am, taken off from Government House, Makurdi, when the youths in their hundreds blocked his route.
Terrence Kuanum and Pastor Dave Ogbole, who spoke on behalf of the youths, advised the governor not to attend the meeting but to seek alternative platform for his re-election.
The youths threatened not to vote for him if he shuned their advice or attended the meeting.
The announcement brought to an end months of speculation that the governor would return to the PDP as a result of his disagreement with leaders of the party in Benue and at the national level.
