Some senators who had expressed interest in ditching the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) for the All Progressives Congress (APC) are now having a rethink after the ruling party dangled automatic tickets before them, it has been revealed.
The plan of automatic tickets for the elected senators is also believed to have been devised to keep National Chairman, Alhaji Bamanga Tukur in office, amidst scheming for his removal. Tukur’s supporters, though, are known to maintain that any removal outside the party’s convention is impossible.
According to a senator, Bamanga Tukur held a meeting with some senators loyal to erstwhile Alhaji Kawu Baraje-chaired New Peoples Democratic Party (nPDP), to dump the party and join the APC, the embattled PDP chairman held a closed-door meeting with the leadership of the party and the aggrieved senators, promising them automatic return ticket to the Senate.
“Tukur’s relationship with the senators improved after the promise, especially as the national chairman also promised to intervene in their grievance against a governor they claimed had hijacked the party structure in their state”, the senator said.
The senators thought to be seriously interested in defecting are those from the five states where PDP governors decamped to APC. Senators Magnus Abe of Rivers South East District and Senator Abubakar Saraki of Kwara Central Senatorial District have publicly declared their defection to the APC, but many others are dilly-dallying over defection due to the ticket of automatic ticket.
