The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), led by Kabiru Tanimu Turaki, has stated that Bauchi State Governor and chairman of the party’s Governors’ Forum, Bala Mohammed, has denied reports of defecting to the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).
The clarification came after reports on Sunday suggested that Mohammed was preparing to leave the PDP for the APC.
The PDP has lost 10 governors to the APC in the past year, the latest being Zamfara State Governor Dauda Lawal, who defected last week following an Appeal Court ruling that nullified last year’s national convention in Ibadan, Oyo State, which elected the Turaki-led national leadership.
The court verdict has since triggered reconciliation talks between the Turaki-led leadership, supported by PDP governors, and the National Caretaker Committee, backed by FCT Minister Nyesom Wike.
The National Publicity Secretary of the Turaki-led PDP, Comrade Ini Ememobong, dismissed the defection story surrounding the Bauchi governor, assuring the party leadership that he was not defecting to APC.
According to Ememobong, what the party knows is that he (Governor Bala Mohammed) has told them that he is still in the party, saying that even up till when he had conversations with their national chairman, he insisted he is still with the PDP.
The National Publicity Secretary stated that the governor has said it in several quarters that he is comfortable in the party, stressing that they don’t know where the rumours are coming from.
On the proposed reconciliation talks within the party over the crisis, Ememobong said discussions were ongoing among stakeholders and would be guided by agreed strategies to facilitate decisions on which the reconciliation committee is working on, it has been agreed that they should keep their work an internal issue and not escalate it.