Two defecting top members of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) from Bauchi State were yesterday, received at the presidential villa by President Muhammadu Buhari. Accompanied by Bauchi Governor Mohammed Abubakar, the suspended Deputy PDP National Chairman, Sen. Babayo Gamawa and a member of the party’s Board of Trustees, Kaulaha Aliyu, who defected to the All Progressives Congress (APC), met behind closed doors with President Buhari for about 35 minutes.
The defection of the Bauchi PDP bigwigs came barely 24 hours after the president received members of the PDP Support Groups from the North East led by Umar Bukar Bolori, who defected to the APC, including the former governor of old Borno state, Mohammed Goni and a onetime deputy governor of Adamawa, Alhaji Saad Tahir. The defectors were received at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
Speaking to State House correspondents after the meeting with the president, Governor Abubakar expressed delight over the new political development, saying the defectors were in the presidential villa to pay political homage and pledge their support to the president. Abubakar, who expressed delight over the decision of Gamawa and Kaulaha Aliyu to decamp to the APC, said: “You can see I’m very delighted because with these gentlemen I can go to sleep with my two eyes closed, so to speak.” On his part, Gamawa told State House correspondents that his decision to defect to the ruling APC had nothing to do with his suspension from the PDP but his love for Nigeria.
“As a Nigerian, I want what is good for the country; I want good image for my country and I want to see development and progress of the country. And I have been saying it, as a politician, I play my politics not blindly. Whenever thing goes right or wrong I will say it the way it is. As Journalists, you are aware of what PDP did today – just because of an allegation they said they have suspended me. Describing his suspension from the PDP as undemocratic and unconstitutional, Gamawa said the PDP will regret their decision to suspend him. “I have no regret for defecting from the PDP and they (PDP) would regret their action, by God grace,” he said
On his part, Kaulaha Aliyu, said he joined the APC to ensure electoral victory for President Buhari in the forthcoming general elections. “It’s a matter of principles – I believe among all the candidates no body can come near the integrity and honesty of President Buhari and with what he has done to the North East in particular, I feel I should support him and do the best I can for him to emerge victorious come Feb. 16, 2019,” he said.
President Buhari and PDP Bauchi defectors
