The United Progressive Party (UPP) on Thursday in Abuja announced the collapse of all its structures from the ward to the national level into the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).

The party is one the 74 recently de-registered political parties by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

The national chairman of the defunct party, Chief Chekwas Okorie, in a statement issued in Abuja on Thursday, announced the move.

The statement said the resolution was arrived at after a meeting of the National Executive Committee (NEC), including the Board of Trustees (BOT), and other stakeholders of UPP.

Members at all levels were ordered to proceed to register as members of APC at their various wards of origins or the wards where they are residents.

Okorie noted that the party resolved to pitch tent with APC after consultations with the leaders and stakeholders of the APC where we have been assured of a warm welcome and equal opportunities available to all bona fide members of the ruling Party.

Tracing the defunct UPP relationship with the ruling party, Okirie said the build-up to last Presidential election, the NEC of UPP in August 2018 opted to support President Muhammadu Buhari in his bid for his second term in the 2019 Presidential election unconditionally.

“We reviewed a number of options available to us including the hand of fellowship extended to our Party by some of the Political Parties that survived the INEC onslaught,” he said.

“In view of our present circumstances, our Party resolved unanimously that the most logical follow up to our earlier chosen political trajectory would be to collapse all our structures from the Ward to the National level into the All Progressives Congress.

“We have therefore directed our members at all levels to proceed to register as members of APC at their various Wards of origin or the Wards where they are resident.”