FORMER House of Representatives Speaker Yakubu Dogara has said he dumped the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) for the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) to enable him remain consistent in his principle of fighting for good governance in Bauchi State.
The former Speaker has also formalised his defection to the ruling party at the national level.
In his resignation letter, addressed to the Chairman of the PDP at Bogoro ‘C’ Ward in Bogoro Local Government Area, dated July 24, 2020 and titled: Letter of resignation of membership of the PDP, Dogara also accused Bauchi State Governor Bala Mohammed of bad governance.
He said: “I write to intimate you of my decision to resign my membership of the PDP.
“This became necessary because the same reasons why we fought in 2019 to effect change in the governance of our dear state are festering now. I intend to bring these issues to front burners once again as the fight to install a decent and egalitarian government in our dear state continues.
“Specifically, I intend to ask questions about the following: what has happened to LGA allocation since May 2019? What happened to our campaign promise to conduct local government council (LGC) election within six months of the PDP government?
“Why are we segmenting salaries and why is the payment of state workers’ salaries outsourced to a private firm as consultants? Why are contracts inflated, awarded and payment of mobilisation done in violation of extant rules on procurement?
“Why are our highly revered traditional rulers and elders treated with odium, contrary to the guarantee we gave them during the campaigns that such would not happen under PDP government?
“Mr Chairman, you will agree with me that I cannot raise these issues and others without a charge of disloyalty levelled against me, if I were to remain a member of the PDP. I cannot also fail to raise these questions now, having raised the same during the administrations of Isa Yuguda and M. A. Abubakar.
“If I abdicate this responsibility on the altar of partisan loyalty, I will be most irresponsible and unprincipled politician in Bauchi State. Thus, by this letter, I have resigned my membership of the PDP to enable me keep faith with my principle of fighting for good governance in our dear state.”
The State PDP Chairman Hamza Koshe Akuyam told The Nation that the party would react to Dogara’s allegations.
The former Speaker met President Muhammadu Buhari at the State House in Abuja on Friday in company of the party’s Caretaker/National Planning Committee Chairman, Governor Mai Mala Buni where he confirmed he had returned to the APC.
Also, the Director General of Voice of Nigeria (VON), Osita Okechukwu, has said the return of Dogara to the APC portends good omen for the party ahead of the 2023 general election.
Addressing reporters yesterday at his hometown of Eke in Udi Local Government Area of Enugu State, Okechukwu, a chieftain of APC, expressed excitement over the return of Dogara after a short stint with the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
According to him, Dogara must have been attracted back to the APC by President Muhammadu Buhari’s agrarian revolution and current transformation of the party under the Caretaker Committee, headed by Yobe State Governor Mai Mala Buni.
He noted that Dogara “is from agrarian community and cannot fail to ignite the unprecedented Buhari’s Agrarian Revolution”.
Okechukwu predicted more defections to the ruling party as the 2023 elections draw near.
“To be frank, one rates Dogara’s defection to the APC as a good omen to our great party. Dogara could be likened to a woman who has married two husbands and comes back to the first husband,” he said.
The VON director general added that the former Speaker’s return showed that APC has more transparent officials, better programmes and more effective governance in managing the little resources.