Former Speaker of the House of Representatives, Mr. Yakubu Dogara quit the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) to pursue a presidential ambition in 2023, Chairman, Board of Trustees (BoT) of the PDP, Senator Walid Jibrin said Monday.
The disclosure made by Jibrin flies against the reasons given by Dogara for dumping the party.
Dogara in a resignation letter he wrote to his Ward Chairman in Bogoro/Dass/Tafawa Balewa federal Constituency where he currently represents at the House, cited irreconcilable differences between him and the Bauchi Governor, Bala Mohammed.
Dogara also attributed his defection from the party to the failure of governance under Mohammed-administration in Bauchi, adding that the Governor’s action wreaks of impunity.
But the PDP BoT chairman in a statement on Monday said the reasons given by the former Speaker were not germane enough to quit the party, save for anyone with other primordial agenda.
He added that Dogara before his defection to the APC failed to explore the party’s conflict resolution mechanism for a redress.
The BoT chair said, “I have read with mixed feelings the reasons given by the former Speaker for defecting to the APC.
“I am equally sorry for Dogara for not exploring available channels of dispute resolution in the party’s constitution before defecting to the ruling party.
“I became more disturbed considering Dogara’s position as a former Speaker and a member of the BoT of the PDP.
“With his position as a member of the BoT, Mr Dogara never laid any complaints to me as the chairman of BoT, which is the highest advisory organ of the party and remained the conscience of the party.
“Considering the reasons he gave for his actions, one is compelled to believe that Mr Dogara has other strong reasons for leaving the PDP.
“I am beginning to suspect that the former Speaker has underground motives for joining the APC. I am beginning to suspect that he has a plan of becoming President or Vice President in 2023 on the platform of the APC, which he thought he could never archive in the PDP.
“I want to assure the former Speaker that the PDP shall continue to be very strong and united and its doors will remain open to all Nigerians.
“As Chairman of the BoT, I urge all members of the party to remain calm and strong as the BoT will continue to play its role as the conscience of the party, as contained in its constitution,” Jibrin said.
Dogara, who had first dumped the PDP ahead of the 2015 general elections for the APC, again dumped the APC for PDP in 2018 ahead of last year’s general elections in the country.
The Interim National Chairman of the APC, Mala Mai Buni had, on Friday, announced Dogara’s defection to the APC shortly after he led the former Speaker to a meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari at the State House, Abuja.
Whereas, Dogara has not made his ambition public, his return to the APC has thrown up fresh workable permutations among Nigerian political gladiators who already have their eyes set on the 2023 presidential possibilities, as well as the poll.
