The five Peoples
Democratic Party who defected to the opposition All Progressives
Congress are ready to meet the ruling party in court, the Rivers State
Governor, Mr. Rotimi Amaechi, has said.
Amaechi made this known in Port Harcourt
on Wednesday just as the PDP National Chairman, Bamanga Tukur, boasted
that Amaechi and his colleagues would willingly return to the party
soon.
The PDP had last month asked an Abuja
Federal High Court to sack the five governors. It also prayed the
court to order the houses of assembly of Adamawa, Rivers, Sokoto, Kano
and Kwara states to commence impeachment proceedings against the
governors.
The Rivers State governor ,who featured
in a radio (95.1 FM, Port Harcourt) phone-in programme in Port
Harcourt, said they had hired reputable lawyers to battle with the
PDP .
He recalled that many governors had in
the past left other political parties and joined the PDP without
being sacked by the courts.
Amaechi said, “Courts don’t impeach. But
we are waiting. The courts’ position (in the past) is very clear.
Zamfara governor moved to the PDP and the court held that he had a right
to move if there was a disagreement in his party.
“The Bauchi State governor moved from
ANPP(defunct All Nigerian Peoples Party) to the PDP and another court
held that he had the right to move. Abia State governor (Theodore
Orji) moved from Progressives Peoples Alliance to the PDP and Kebbi
State governor also moved from the ANPP to the PDP. They are so many
and the PDP was so happy absorbing them.
“Now that five of us have gone and the
chances of more governors moving to the APC appear to be there, the PDP
is panicking. We are ready to meet them in court; we have hired lawyers
and our lawyers can battle with them.”
But before Ameachi spoke, Tukur told a
team of Nigerian professionals in Europe on Wednesday in London ,
that measures being put in place by the PDP leadership and
President Goodluck Jonathan, would encourage those who defected from
the ruling party to return on their own.
Although Tukur did not mention the
names of the defectors, he apparently had in mind, the five former-
Amaechi, Abdulfatah Ahmed (Kwara); Aliyu Wamakko (Sokoto); Murtala
Nyako (Adamawa); and Musa Kwankwaso (Kano).
Apart from the five governors, 37
members of the House of Representatives have also left the PDP for the
APC. Some senators are said to be planning to defect soon.
In spite of this, Tukur said the PDP
had been welcoming more members into its fold compared to the number
of those who had defected.
He claimed that going by the
undercurrents within the political circles, the ruling party would
experience an influx of new members this year.
According to him, many members of
opposition parties, including the APC, have already signified their
readiness to join the PDP.
A statement from his office explained
that the professionals had sought audience with the PDP chairman on
their interest to return to Nigeria with a view to offering their
expertise in diverse fields for the growth of the country.
He told the professionals who are
mostly medical doctors, information technology experts and
engineers, that the PDP had always been in pursuit of reforms to make it
stronger as Nigeria’s ruling party.
Tukur said what was happening in the PDP was rejuvenation, which many viewed as a crisis.
He said, “The PDP remains a party with
the largest spread and tested strength to win elections any day, any
time. I urge all our members in Nigeria not to be browbeaten by
images of political delusion that confront them every day from different
quarters.
“The PDP is at home to contain all forms
of harassment by the opposition, either vaunted or intended. If it is a
game of number in any election, you can always count that the PDP would
have it greater.
“The good thing is that if five people
move out of the PDP into the other party, even by a dint of propaganda,
the party takes in more than 500 at a time, as replacement. The
electorate in Nigeria trust the PDP more than many people are aware of.”
Although Tukur admitted that the PDP
was not having things smoothly at the moment, he said his
team and the President were not relenting on their consultations
with aggrieved members of the party.
PUNCH NG
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