PDP NWC, Govs Debunk Bello’s Defection Claim
The National Working Committee (NWC) and governors elected on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) have faulted Kogi State Governor Yahaya Bello’s claim that 10 governors from the party were set to join the All Progressives Congress (APC).
Bello made the claim in an interview on Channels Television programme, “Politics Today” monitored Friday night in Abuja.
But the PDP Governors’ Forum in a statement yesterday by its Director General, C.I.D. Maduabum, said the 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.
“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 bedeviled 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.
The NWC of the party described Bello’s statement as “outright lie, childish, laughable and pathetic”.
The NWC in a statement 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.
“Nigerians 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.