Gov Aliyu, Lamido deny defection to APC

'Knowledge can only be power if it is set into motion.'

Two governors out of the seven that make up the G-7 Governors have dissociated themselves with the merger of their political group called New Peoples Democratic Party (NPDP) with the All Progressive Congress (APC).

Although Governor Babangida Aliyu of Niger State and Governor Sule Lamido of Jigawa Stae  were listed as among the governors of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) who decamped to APC, the two letter issued statements declaring that they were still in the PDP and would remain there to fight the injustice in the party they helped to build.

The PDP governors that defected to the APC are Mr. Chibuike Amaechi (Rivers), Alhaji Ahmed Abdulfatah (Kwara), Dr. Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso (Kano), Alhaji Murtala Nyako (Adamawa), and Alhaji Aliyu Wamakko (Sokoto).

Prior to this defection, there had been reports that both Aliyu and Lamido were cold on defecting to the APC. It was learnt that President Olusegun Obasanjo, who is respected by the two governors did candidly advise them against such political move.

The journey of these governors to their new destination began on August 31when the seven governors along with other PDP stalwarts walked out of the party’s special national convention in Abuja. Series of attempts to mend fences yielded no results as each of the groups, the mainstream PDP and the splinter group maintained their hardline positions.

The New PDP was subsequently born that day with Alhaji Abubakar Kawu Baraje. as the chairman.

Some 49  PDP members of the House of Representatives have also indicated that they were crossing over to the opposition party.

Baraje told reporters that the decision to defect to the APCwas taken at a meeting with the APC leaders, held at the Kano State Governor’s Lodge in Abuja. APC leaders had mounted serious campaign in the past four weeks to woo the disgruntled governors to their new party.

Kwankwaso, Abdulfatah, Nyako, Aliyu and Amaechi attended the meeting. Lamido and Wamakko, who were on a visit to Senegal, were absent.

Baraje  read a two-sentence communiqué, which read,   'A meeting of the leadership of APC and New PDP met this (yesterday) morning at the residence of Kano State Governor, Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso, in Abuja. After an exhaustive deliberation, the two parties agreed to merge in order to rescue our fledgling democracy and the nation.'

The communiqué was signed by APC interim National Chairman, Chief Bisi Akande, and Baraje.

Others at the meeting included the suspended National Secretary of PDP, Olagunsoye Oyinlola; a former Deputy National Chairman of the party, Dr. Sam Sam Jaja; former Lagos State Governor, Senator Bola Tinubu who is the national leader of APC; a former Speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon. Aminu Bello Masari; and another APC leader, Dr. Ogbonnaya Onu, among other chieftains.

On whether with the joining of the PDP governors, APC would    change its name, Baraje said: 'All these are implications of merging. What they are telling you is that we have merged and we have agreed to merge.'

On the governors of Niger and Kwara States who left the meeting, Baraje said: 'Please note that some of our members took permission to go out of the meeting; they did not walk out. You have seen the governor of Kwara, you have seen the governor of Niger; they all took permission to travel. In fact, some of us here are travelling now too, we only waited a little bit for this communiqué to be read because of you.'

Before the communiqué was read, Abdulfatah and Aliyu had left the venue of the press conference and minutes later, the Niger State governor issued a statement signed by his Chief Press Secretary, Ndayabo Danladi, dissociating himself from the defection.

Aliyu reasserted he would remain in PDP.
In the statement by his spokesman, the governor said he would remain in PDP. Danladi said his principal was shocked at the announcement of the merger of New PDP and APC even before a final decision was taken on the matter and denied that he was present at the meeting where the merger deal was sealed.

He explained that talks were still ongoing with President Goodluck Jonathan and he would await the outcome of the negotiations before taking a final decision on whether to defect or not.

Lamido, who spoke through director of press, Alhaji Umar Kyari Jitau, said in a statement in Dutse that he would remain in the PDP and fight injustice within the party.

He said, “Despite the fact that my party, the PDP, is embroiled in a serious crisis, especially with the bad leadership of Bamanga (Tukur), that will not necessitate me to renounce my party. My family and I are currently under a huge political heat wave and campaign of misinformation  aimed to smear our reputation and we have been adjudged guilty in the court of public opinion by the gullible and the misinformed.

“This will not intimidate me or harass me out of PDP. I will not give anybody the pleasure to engage me by his term. I will still maintain my position as the leader of PDPIt was however learnt that Lamido's decision to stay in the PDP might  not be unconnected with the investigation of his children by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) for alleged money laundering. Reports indicated however that the decision of Lamido and Aliyu to remain in PDP was strategic as they, along with more governors, were expected to join their New PDP associates next year.

One of the leaders of APC, Alhaji Bola Tinubu, described the unfolding political development  as good for the overall interest of democracy in the country.

According to him, 'It is a good rescue mission for our fledgling democracy, it is a must for the country, is very necessary and we are happy about that.'

As soon as the news of the defection of the governors broke, their Edo State counterpart, Adams Oshiomhole, headed for the State House to meet Jonathan. The meeting, held behind closed doors, started around noon and ended at about 1.20pm.

At the end of the meeting, the governor declined to speak with reporters talking to journalists.

Shortly after the announcement of the defection of the governors, 49 out of the 67 members of the PDP in the House of Representatives, whose governors have joined the opposition party, also followed suit. A statement by a member of the group in the House, Hon. Suleiman Abdurahman Kawu Sumaila, said legislators from Adamawa, Kano, Kwara, Rivers and Sokoto had gone with their governors to the APC.

Of the 49 defecting lawmakers, Kano has the highest number of 14, followed by Rivers with 13, while Sokoto has 11. Adamawa and Kwara have six and five respectively.

The other lawmakers who are still staying in the PDP because their governors have not defected are 18 from Jigawa and Niger States.

Before the defection, the PDP had 70 senators and 204 House members while APC had137 members in the House and 34 senators.

The story was different in the Senate as New PDP senators are divided over whether they should follow their governors to APC. Ten of them, a source said, had opted out of the splinter group.

Senate Leader, Senator Victor Ndoma-Egba, yesterday said the defection of the governors had not affected the PDP caucus in the upper chamber, as no senator has formally informed the Senate of his defection.

In a statement by its spokesperson, Chief Eze Chukwuemeka Eze, the New PDP said with the defection to APC, PDP had become a minority party in the country.


He said that the merger has shot up the number of APC State Governors to 18 while PDP's shrinks to 16, with All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) and Labour Party having one governor each, adding that a similar permutation exists in the National Assembly where we now have the majority with PDP and its allies in minority.

Eze's statement reads in part, 'The simple meaning of this is that APC is now the majority party in the country while PDP has become a minority party. In the circumstances, President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan must now start writing his handover notes because his ambition to maouevre the party structures so as to get a third term in office in 2015 has suddenly collapsed.


'What a sudden change of fortune! What a sad day for the PDP, a party which we laboured to build, which was viciously taken away from us but which, out of our great love for it, we did everything humanly possible to save but were frustrated by the unpatriotic elements that have usurped the leadership of the party.

'Nigerians could recall that several meetings had been held between the APC leaders and the leaders of the New PDP. The APC had visited each of our seven New PDP governors in their states to convince them to join its fold but all these notwithstanding while the PDP Leadership on their own side were plotting on daily basis on how to frustrate us out of the party we suffered to nurture.

'The fact remains that we did all within our powers to reconcile with PDP to no avail and sadly our dear President allowed the hawks within the Presidency and PDP Leadership to convince him to abort our last Sunday's meeting that would have brought a last peace to our party which the PDP leadership under Alhaji Bamanga Tukur frustrated, so we have no other option than to formally announce the death and burial of PDP.

'Day and night we cried out, begging whoever loved PDP to join us to rescue the party from imminent doom but we were conveniently ignored and abused. Just last night, we issued the last in a series of passionate appeals to PDP Elders to take urgent steps to save the troubled party in the face of their unbelievable silence in the face of the chain of developments instigated by factional National Chairman, Alhaji Bamanga Tukur, which has put the party at the edge of the precipice.

Now, we have reached the stage that we can only say: 'PDP, your sinking ship has been abandoned to you! You brought this misfortune upon yourself, now you must bear it alone!'

'As for us, we are happy to belong to the APC, where our value is appreciated, where we are made to feel truly wanted, and where we can now join forces with like minds in our struggle to liberate Nigeria from PDP's misrule, which is soon to end'.