Outrage in PDP over Bello’s 10 governors defection claim

The National Working Committee (NWC) and governors elected on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) have flayed Governor Yahaya Bello of Kogi state for claiming that about ten governors from the leading opposition party were set to jump ship to the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).

Governor Bello during an interview session on a Channels Television programme called “Politics Today” on Friday night, said ten PDP governors were set to join the APC.

This, apparently, followed the defection of Governor Godwin Obaseki of Edo state to the PDP after he dumped the APC and got a waiver to emerge the party’s candidate for the September 19 governorship election in Edo state.

Obaseki’s exit from the APC has unsettled the party’s bigwigs as some had pleaded with him to return.

But the PDP Governors’ Forum in a statement Saturday, by its Director General, Hon. C.I.D. Maduabum, said Bello’s claim was diversionary and lacked merit.

“It is obvious that this is a diversionary tactic to shore up the sagging morale of APC
members who are ruing the loss of yet another state governor, Godwin Obaseki of Edo state to the PDP, as a result of the chaos and anarchy currently existing in the APC,
following the mismanagement of their affairs as acknowledged even by Mr President,
Muhammadu Buhari.

“The PDP governors are very focused on delivering good governance and the
benefits of democracy to their respective states and working tirelessly to strengthen and reposition the party.

“There is no attraction whatsoever for any PDP member not to talk of a PDP
governor to join the APC, a party bedevilled by crises, without even an elected leadership
as envisaged by Section 223 of the 1999 Constitution that specifically requires the
Executive Committee of every political party in Nigeria to be democratically elected,” the forum said.

Bello’s submission outright lie, laughable – NWC

The PDP NWC has described Governor Bello’s statement as outright lie, childish, laughable and pathetic.

The NWC in a statement on Saturday, issued by the PDP National Publicity Secretary, Kola Ologbondiyan said such “peddling of falsehood explains why nobody in Nigeria and beyond takes Governor Bello seriously.”

The party lampooned Governor Bello’s claim as a desperate attempt to divert public attention from the “imminent” mass exodus from the APC.

“Ngerians are aware that among the ranks of APC governors, Governor Bello has no personal relationship with up to three of his colleagues. No APC governor is ready to associate with Governor Bello openly. In other words, not up to three APC governors take him seriously.

“Moreover, Governor Bello has no relationship of any sorts with any governor elected on the platform of the PDP. His current delusion, on national television, about PDP governors, is driven by his usual character of engaging in petty lies.

“It is however imperative to state that nobody abandons a cruising liner, which the PDP represents, to jump into a sinking ship like the APC. It is public knowledge that the APC is disoriented; having sleepless nights and holding endless meetings because they are losing members in droves to the PDP, as most of their key leaders are already on their way out ahead of the collapse of the APC,” the PDP NWC said.