Kaduna State House of Assembly Vice President Isaac Auta Zankai and Zaria State constituency member Suleiman Dabo have defected from the All Progressives Congress to the Labor Party in the state.

The Vice President represents the Kauru State constituency in the State Assembly.

Labor Party National Secretary and Governors Council Chairman Umar Farouk Ibrahim made the announcement at the inauguration of the party’s 450-member Governors Campaign Council and presentation of its manifesto in Kaduna on Thursday.

Ibrahim boasted that half the members of the state House of Assembly were “Obi-Datti” apostles, noting that the support received from the caliber of personalities in the state was an indication that the party was on track to seize political power at both the state and national level in the next general election.

He said, “Honestly speaking, today is one of the happiest moments of my life. I have gone to campaign for our presidential candidate, Peter Obi, and received great reception.

“I am particularly impressed by the caliber of personalities gracing this inauguration. In all the northern states, we do not have any personality leaving APC and joining the Labor Party, except in Kaduna state with the vice president and another member of the Zaria state constituency.”

The LP notary also urged party members in the state to close ranks and unite to achieve victory in the upcoming elections.

He advised young Nigerians, who made up the majority of the Labor Party, not to relent until Obi-Datti formed the next administration in the country, as, according to him, “the power lies with the young”.

Also speaking, the party’s gubernatorial candidate in the state, Jonathan Asake, described the Labor Party Movement as “divine”, urging campaign council members to see their membership as a “call to service”, considering the state current mood of the nation.

“This is a call to service because the mood in the nation is that Labor must take charge of the nation. The mood of the nation is nothing more than the willingness of the youth to take over Kaduna and Nigeria so that the country will be a producing nation and not a consuming nation.

“This is a divine move and the hand of God is in the move. May peace come to Nigeria so we don’t experience starvation or kidnapping again,” added Asake, who is also a former member of the House of Representatives.