Rebel govs may soon dump PDP for APC

The ongoing efforts to reconcile aggrieved Peoples Democratic Party members with the Bamanga Tukur-led National Working Committee of the party,appear to have finally hit a brick wall.
A hint of this emerged when Adamawa State Governor, Murtala Nyako, told a visiting All Progressives Congress delegation on Wednesday, that himself and the six other aggrieved PDP governors, might dump the PDP for the “warm embrace of the APC.”

The other aggrieved governors otherwise known as rebel governors are prominent members of the New PDP led by Alhaji Abubakar Baraje.

They are Sule Lamido (Jigawa); Rabiu Kwakwanso (Kano); Rotimi Amaechi (Rivers); Babangida Aliyu (Niger); Abdulfatah Ahmed (Kwara); and Aliyu Wamakko (Sokoto).

It was learnt on Wednesday that the National Vice-Chairman North-East of the APC, Umar Duhu, who led the delegation to the government residence in Yola, offered Nyako a piece of kola nut and an invitation in accordance with the northern tradition.

The Director of Press to the Governor, Ahmad Sajo, who confirmed the development to our correspondent, said Nyako expressed his desire and those of his colleagues to join the opposition APC as “soon as the situation in the PDP becomes unbearable.”

Sajo said, “The governor told them he is committed to supporting them; he admires all the APC governors for the way they are focused in their performance.

“He abhors the injustice and impunity that are going on in the PDP and he also frowns on the fact that someone would emerge as the party’s candidate at the local level and the PDP will change the name of the person in Abuja and submit a different person’s name.”

He quoted the governor as saying, “These are the reasons (injustice and impunity) why we may have to dump the PDP, if they will not change their ways.

“We may definitely be pushed to the warm embrace of the APC because there is so much injustice in the PDP.

“It is a party which renders your efforts null and void after you have gone through the process and secured nomination; a system that takes over your property without giving you an opportunity to defend yourself for whatever infringement you may have committed.

“The PDP operates a system that does not respect other people’s point of view; a system that operates on a pre-determined position on all matters is not healthy for democracy.”

Earlier, Duhu had told the governor that they were at his residence after consultation with the APC leadership to formally invite him to join the party.

Attempts to get a response from the PDP were futile as its National Publicity Secretary, Chief Olisa Metuh, neither picked his calls nor replied to a text message sent to his mobile phone.

A phone call to his deputy, Alhaji Abubakar Jalo, indicated that his set was switched off.

Meanwhile, information available to The PUNCH indicates that members of the New PDP have scheduled a series of meetings for Thursday(today) and Friday to prepare a unified response to the renewed clampdown on some of their colleagues by the Federal Government.

A member of the faction, who was privy to one of such meetings, confided in our correspondent that the meetings had become necessary in the light of recent developments.

The member, who spoke in confidence, said, “We have to meet to review our strategies; it has become obvious that the Tukur-led PDP is not interested in a peaceful resolution of this crisis.”