A former chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Chief Tom Ikimi, on Thursday declared in Benin that he has implicit confidence in the National leader of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Chief Tony Anenih, saying that with him, “we shall have a common agenda of working for the party in Edo State and Nigeria in genera.l”

Chief Ikimi who made the declaration when he formerly declared for the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) insisted that he was not leaving the APC for the PDP to vie for any elective political office, adding, “I left the APC for the PDP where I shall be given my respects and my personal dignity as expected.”

Chief Ikimi who spoke in Benin at a welcome reception organised for him by the state leadership of the PDP at the party’s secretariat along Sapele Road in the Edo State capital, thanked the National Executive Committee (NEC) of the party and Chief Anenih who visited him in Abuja to urge him to come back to the party.

He added that during the NEC and Chief Anenih’ visit, he promised that he would consult with his political associates and immediate family.

“I have consulted with them and my family and they gave me the go-ahead to join the PDP. I come here today not as a new member; I come here to be fully identified with my groups of 1999 and 2003.

“In politics, the party is supreme. We came here as cooks to cook the food and share it to others. But those who came in took the food away, the plates, the pots and everything away and left the cooks with nothing,” he said.

Earlier, while receiving Chief Ikimi, Edo State Chairman of the PDP, Chief Dan Orbih, said the reception was just a rehearsal of what would happen this weekend when President Goodluck Jonathan will be in Benin for the party’s rally.