Magnus Eze, Enugu
Yakubu Dogara, immediate past Speaker of the House of Representatives, has claimed that failure of governance in his home state, Bauchi under the administration of Governor Bala Mohammed led to his defection from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) for the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).
Dogara announced his defection on Friday after which he met with President Muhammadu Buhari.
In a letter of resignation addressed to the Bogoro ‘C’ Ward Chairman of the PDP dated July 24, 2020, he said he cannot successfully ask questions about those issues without being accused of disloyalty if he were to remain in the PDP.
The lawmaker currently representing Bogoro/Dass/Tafawa Balewa federal constituency said failing to tell the truth to power in Bauchi, having done same under the administrations of Isa Yuguda and Mohammed Abubakar, former governors of the state, will make him irresponsible.
“Specifically, I intend to ask questions about the following: What has happened to LGA allocations since May 2019?, What happened to our campaign promise to conduct LGA elections within six months of the PDP government?, What happened to the N4.6 billion loan taken from a bank and paid directly into an private company’s account?, why are we segmenting salaries and why is payment of salaries of state workers 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 during the campaign that such will not happen under a PDP government?
“Mr. Chairman, you will agree with me that I cannot raise these issues and many more questions without a charge of disloyalty levelled against me if I were to remain a member of the PDP.”
Meanwhile, Director General of Voice of Nigeria (VON), Osita Okechukwu has predicted that many more political bigwigs would dump their parties for the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), ahead of the 2023 general elections.
He described the return of Dogara to the APC as good omen.
Okechukwu who spoke to newsmen in Enugu, reasoned that the former speaker must have been attracted back to the APC by President Muhammadu Buhari’s agrarian revolution and the transformation going on in 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 be ignited by the unprecedented Buhari’s Agrarian Revolution.”