Paul Orude, Bauchi
The People’s Democratic Party (PDP) in Bauchi State has reacted to the defection of former Speaker of the House of Representatives Yakubu Dogara from the party, describing him as a ‘political prostitute and nomadic politician’, whose actions had indicated long ago that he wanted to leave the party no sooner than he joined and won his election in 2019.
Speaking with a select group of journalists at the party’s headquarters along Yandoka Road in Bauchi on Monday, State Chairman Hamza Korshi Akuyam, said Dogara has lost his reputation and is becoming known as a politically unstable person who jumps from one party to the other based on personal rather than people-based issues.
Akuyam claimed that as a member of the PDP, Dogara never attended any of their meetings in spite of several invitations, accusing the former Speaker of being an absentee federal lawmaker in the 9th Assembly since the 2019 general election.
‘It is unfortunate that it has happened and nobody will want any of his member to leave his party but the reasons Dogara gave are baseless. He wanted to leave the party long before now and for instance the issue with contract inflation he talked about, why did he not meet the governor? Now that he has left the PDP, and he knew when he joined us we welcomed him, he was telling us that APC has failed the country, so… the only option was to come to PDP, which to him was better. Now he’s going back, is that not a contradiction?. What l will term Dogara is that he is a political prostitute or a nomadic politician who never stays in one place,’ Akuyam said
The State PDP Chairman said that the honourable thing for the ex-Speaker to do having left the PDP on whose platform he won the last election is to resign his current position a member representing Bogoro/Tafawa Balewa/Dass federal constituency.
He maintained that the position Dogara occupies belongs to PDP, saying: ‘Let him resign and contest; we are ready for him, not to take our party. You are a Honourable; which honour do you have? You have moved from PDP to APC to PDP to APC so who do you term that man? Political prostitute!’
The Chairman said Dogara never attended any of their meetings and functions, saying the party would not miss him. He said that the PDP, contrary to reports that the former Speaker had helped the party to win the state in 2019, had helped him to secure his federal seat which was under jeopardy after he left the APC.
He called on the supporters of the party not to lose sleep, however, assuring that the party was ready to go to court to fight the mandate, saying Dogara is occupying a position that belongs to the PDP and that he should resign.