Senate President Bukola Saraki on Thursday appealed to the members of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to accept defectors from the All Progressives Congress (APC) “from the bottom of their hearts”.

Saraki made this appeal in Abuja during the 81st national executive committee (NEC) meeting of the opposition party.

The meeting had in attendance, Aminu Tambuwal, governor of Sokoto state; Samuel Ortom, Benue state governor, and other senators and members of the house of representative who crossed over to the PDP from APC.

“All of you who are here, please receive us from the bottom of your heart, not only in this room but down to the local government and wards because what we are learning in the history is that everybody is important,” he said.

“No sacrifice is too much for us to make to reach that promise land; it is only when we get to that promise land, when we see the sacrifice that we are all making, that we see a better tomorrow.

“I want to make an appeal on behalf of all of us because it is easier here in Abuja but when we get back to our constituencies, please let us continue to open our hands and receive other members, that will give us victory come February 2019.”

Uche Secondus, national chairman of PDP, commended Saraki for his courage “to take the bull by the horn by defecting to the party despite the gang up”.

“Everybody knows his antecedent that he is a man of honour and he decided to be by the side of people,” he said.

“He has been hunted down in the last three years and we thank God for our judiciary, despite all the conspiracies, the supreme court set him free and they have failed .

“In this democracy you are a hero, hero of our people whether they like it or not. We have been aware of that in the last few weeks.

“It all started from national assembly, the defection all over the states cutting across from the middle belt to the extreme north; defections from the ruling party.”

He said Nigeria is in crisis and people need to join hands together to rescue the country.