SANDAKAN: Sabah Wanita Umno chief Datuk Armani Mahiruddin (pic) and about 200 Libaran Umno leaders and members have broken away from the party to join Parti Warisan Sabah.

Declaring her support for Warisan president and Chief Minister Datuk Seri Mohd Shafie Apdal, Armani said her decision to leave the party was made after concluding that Umno no longer has a direction.

“We are joining Warisan as regular members and what’s important is that we fight together with Shafie to ensure that Sabahans are taken care of," said Armani after a breaking-of-fast event here on Wednesday (May 30).

She said that she was sure that many more would leave Umno to join Warisan in the future.

Armani - who is also the younger sister of Yang di-Pertua Negeri Tun Juhar Mahiruddin - urged Libaran folks and Sabahans at large to forget political differences and instead focus on development and economic initiatives including supporting Shafie as the new Chief Minister.

She said she would soon be submitting her membership application form to Shafie along with the forms of the other 200 former Umno leaders and members.