Progressive govs, Atiku, Tinubu, LP hail defection

Progressive govs, Atiku, Tinubu, LP hail defection

Posted by Sylvester on Wednesday, November 27, 2013 0

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Reactions yesterday poured in on the defection of five governors of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, to the All Progressives Congress, APC. Former governor of Lagos State and leader of the APC, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, said the party is still expecting more PDP members. According to him, the APC was persuading very important and influential personalities across the country.

“It is a good rescue mission for our fledgling democracy. It is a must for the country, is very necessary and we are happy about that,” Tinubu declared.

On APC’s next step, Tinubu said: “We cannot divulge all our strategies to the media at once, it is better to give it to you piece meal in order not to even create confusion anywhere. We are happy with the development, we have commitment to rescue our country from drifting and we act as a group to promote the interest of this country.”

He added: “Are you seeing the trend with which we are going? It is a free society, somebody is giving you seven now, somebody can decide tomorrow morning to come on board that makes it eight. Do we do subtraction and addition when tallied on the pages of newspaper only. We are thinking of the calibre and the character of people, not numerical exchanges of numbers.”

Also, former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has said that the merger is a positive step. Atiku in a statement by his media office said: “I believe in a true democracy based on freedom of association as guaranteed in the Nigerian constitution.

I also long for a day where we celebrate a multi-party system where political parties make improving the lives of Nigerians their top priority, instead of our current politics of corrupt cronyism and personal destruction. “Today’s news is a positive step in both directions.”

The PDP National Secretary, Prof. Adewale Oladipo described the development as “a manifestation of the very fertile environment that we as a party (PDP) have brought into the Nigeria political environment.

“Multi-party democracy is now entrenched in our nation and everyone is free to take advantage of this and move to any political party where they believe their political interest would best be served. “I doubt if in any of the states governed by these rebels, a group of local chairmen can ever be allowed to come together and start negotiating with opposition.”

The PDP Rivers state chapter said that the defection of Governor Amaechi was a welcome development and a big relief for its leadership and other genuine members of the party, “who have continued to tolerate the rebellious and insubordinate behaviour and actions of Governor Amaechi and his allies over the period in the state and at the national level.”

The party, in a statement signed by Jerry Needam, Special Adviser, Media to the State Chairman, said with the formal defection of Amaechi and his associates, the party is now better placed and focused to deliver to the people of the state the much desired development and programmes, which have been elusive following the internal ache, which acted like a virus to the party by Amaechi and his co-travellers.

The Labour Party, LP, described the development as part of the beauty of democracy. LP National Chairman, Chief Dan Nwanyanwu, who stated this yesterday, said the development may result in a balance of terror between the APC and the ruling party.

Nwanyanwu, however, expressed doubts at the development, stressing that visible cracks had already emerged among the G7 governors which may neutralise the move.

“It is a welcome development. It will help democracy and that is if indeed they have agreed to join. The only thing it would bring is balance of terror between the PDP and the APC.

As to whether it would have strong political value and give room for strong political benefits, I do not think so because most of these people you see today, are not in a position to win elections in their various states any more. In any case they have already started having cracks with the absence of some of them at the declaration,” Nwanyanwu said.

Also, the Progressive Governors Forum, PGF, described the defection of the governors as “another historic accomplishment of uniting our two parties.”

“We specially welcome our fellow compatriots, G7 Governors for taking the courageous and historic step of leaving the governing, albeit, fast crumbling PDP into the progressives fold.”

In a statement signed by the governors, they said: “The movement of our compatriots from the now defunct New PDP to the All Progressives Party, despite all manners of intimidation, harassment and persecution by the Presidency and the PDP is worthy of commendation and is indicative of their strong personal principles, commitment and conviction to the progress of Nigeria.

“Indeed, considering the nature of achievements recorded in states governed by leaders of the New PDP, they had no business belonging to a party with no democratic traditions, no vision for Nigeria beyond wasting public resources and further impoverishing Nigerians in spite of unprecedented oil revenues.

“If anything, we are only welcoming you back home where you belong; to the party that feels the pains of Nigerians and understands that power and responsibility are merely exercised on behalf of the people and only to serve the collective interests of all Nigerians.

“By coming into the fold of the progressives, you have opted to discard the politics of corruption, nepotism and deception in favour of transparent and accountable leadership that is governed by the principles of progress, integrity and equity.

Together, we shall forge stronger alliances by joining forces with other like-minded progressives to rescue Nigeria from imminent collapse.”