Katsina: 20 PDP Lawmakers Threaten Defection By Muazu Elazeh , Katsina — Nov 15, 2014 Barring last minutes change of plan, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Katsina State may be set for the worst defection of its life time as no fewer than 20 of its members at the State House of Assembly have threatened to dump the party for the opposition All Progressive Congress (APC). Our correspondent gathered that the lawmakers are aggrieved that leadership of the party denied them chance to either seek re-election or seek other higher offices from their current position as members of the state assembly. A competent source told our Correspondent that the aggrieved lawmakers met over the weekend in Kaduna where they resolved that with the imposition of candidates by Governor Alhaji Ibrahim Shehu Shema and the party they were left with no option other than to leave the party. One of the aggrieved lawmakers who does not want his name mentioned said that they had started making contacts with the leadership of the APC in the state, adding “we have been assured of a level playing ground.” The lawmakers according to the source cited impunity in the selection of candidates that will fly the PDP flag in 2015 elections as the major reason for planning to dump the party. “When we met with the governor during stakeholders meeting he said he had no anointed candidates. But alas when the reconciliation process began the governor started imposing candidates who are not even popular.” This planned mass defection is coming barely two days after a member of the state House of Assembly representing Kurfi Local Government, Alhaji Danlami Kurfi, widely seen as the backbone of PDP in Kurfi, defected to the opposition APC. Danlami who picked the APC House of Representatives nomination form for Dutsin- ma- Kurfi Federal constituency, alleged that it was the governor’s impunity that chased him out of the PDP, saying “Katsina PDP is finished.” However, speaking shortly after a closed door meeting with members of PDP Board of Trustee from the state, the Katsina state PDP chairman, Rabiu Gambo Bakori said those who had either defected or were planning to defect were not genuine members of the PDP
Posted on: Sat, 15 Nov 2014 18:01:51 +0000