The 2019 presidency race might have taken off too early with some northerners leaving the ruling party because of an alleged under-performance by President Muhammadu Buhari.

Members of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Jigawa State have defected to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in large number over what they describe as dismal performance of their former party at both state and national levels.

The decampees were from Birnin Kudu, the local government area of former governor Sule Lamido, DailyTrust reports.

Receiving the decampees over the weekend in Birnin Kudu, the North-West PDP national vice chairman, Ambassador Ibrahim Kazaure, said they were formerly members of the PDP.

Kazaure said he was not surprised over their defection, stressing that no sensible politician would give a second thought to abandoning the APC because of its failure.