Former Lagos State governor and a chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Adamawa State, Mohammed Buba Marwa, has defected to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
Marwa, in a meeting with his supporters in Yola yesterday, said his decision to defect alongside his supporters was informed by the failure of the national leadership of the APC to protect the rights of its founding members in the face of injustice.
He decried the hijack of party structures by Governor Murtala Nyako and the sidelining of members of the legacy parties that merged into the APC, saying despite several complaints to the Bisi Akande-led national executive, no effort was made to bring the perpetrators to order.
“The national secretariat of the APC has conceded party structures to Governor Murtala Nyako who was not there when the ACN, CPC and ANPP surrendered their registration to merge into the APC”, he said. Citing the recent membership registration exercise of the party, Marwa said thugs were sponsored by some local council chairmen to hijack registration materials, saying members of the defunct ACN and CPC were denied the right to register.“In nine local government areas, registration materials were confiscated by their loyalists to the detriment of members of the legacy parties”, he said, adding that the national secretariat did not show any interest in addressing the situation. Marwa further maintained that all efforts to get an audience with Nyako to resolve the misunderstanding failed, as the governor remained indifferent.
Marwa also noted that part of the strategy adopted by Nyako to effectively marginalize the original members of the APC is the appointment of the Secretary to the Adamawa State Government as the state interim committee chairman, alleging the use of government resources to woo their (legacy party’s) supporters. He therefore assured his teeming supporters of full integration into the PDP as high level consultations are already in place to that effect in order to avoid the mistakes of the past.
Source: Daily Trust
