Sokoto State Governor Aminu Tambuwal has defected from the All Progressives Congress (APC) to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
The governor announced his defection on Wednesday at the Government House, Sokoto, North-West Nigeria.
He made the announcement amid hundreds of supporters who stormed the Government House to declare their support for him.
Governor Tambuwal explained on his Twitter handle that he took the decision after a wide consultation with the people of the state who assured him of their support for his next political move.
The announcement comes after weeks of speculation that the governor was planning to leave the ruling party and one day after he called on Nigerians to reject what he described as “prison-yard democracy”.
Tambuwal, a former Speaker of the House of Representatives, is the third APC governor to exit the party after his Benue and Kwara state counterparts, Samuel Ortom and Abdulfatah Ahmed joined the PDP.