Dogara Blames His Defection From PDP On Gov. Bala, Questions Whereabouts Of N4.9b Loan, Others

Erstwhile Speaker of the House of Representatives, Rt. Hon Yakubu Dogara, has explained the reasons he left the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) for the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).

BIGPEN had reported that Mai Mala Buni, chairman of the caretaker committee of the APC earlier broke the news of Dogara’s defection back to APC after he and immediate past Speaker met President Muhammadu Buhari at the presidential villa in Abuja on Friday.

In a letter of resignation addressed to the Bogoro ‘C’ Ward Chairman of the PDP dated July 24, 2020, Dogara blamed his defection on the failure or breakdown of governance in his native state of Bauchi under the administration of Governor Bala Mohammed whom he helped installed as governor in the 2019 elections.

According to Dogara, he cannot successfully ask questions about issues bordering on failure of governance in Bauchi State, without being accused of disloyalty if he were to remain in the PDP.

He argued that if he abdicate this responsibility of telling the truth to power in Bauchi State, having done same under the administrations of former Governors Isa Yuguda and Mohammed Abubakar he will be the most irresponsible and unprincipled politician in Bauchi State.

We reproduced his resignation letter below:

24/07/2020

The Chairman
Peoples Democratic Party,
Bogoro ‘C’ Ward,
Bogoro LGA,
Bauchi State.

LETTER OF RESIGNATION OF MY MEMBERSHIP OF THE PDP

Above subject matter refers.

I write to intimate you of my decision to resign my membership of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

This became necessary because the same reasons why we fought hard in 2019 to effect changes in the Governance of our dear state are festering now.

I intend to bring these issues to the front burners once again as the fight to instal decent and egalitarian government in our dear state continues.

Specifically, I intend to ask questions about the following:

a. What has happened to LGA allocations since May 2019?
b. What happened to our campaign promise to conduct LGA elections within six months of the PDP government?
c. What happened to the N4.6 billion loan taken from a bank and paid directly into a private company’s account?
d. Why are we segmenting salaries and why is payment of salaries of state workers outsourced to a private firm as consultants?
e. Why are contracts inflated, awarded and payment of mobilisation done in violation of extant rules on procurement?
f. Why are our highly revered Traditional Rulers and Elders treated with odium contrary to the guarantee we gave during the campaign that such will not happen under a PDP government?

Mr. Chairman, you will agree with me that I cannot raise these issues and many more questions without a charge of disloyalty levelled against me if I were to remain a member of the PDP.

I cannot also fail to raise these questions now, having raised similar ones during the administrations of Governors Isa Yuguda and Mohammed A. Abubakar. If I abdicate this responsibility on the altar of partisan loyalty, I will be the most irresponsible and unprincipled politician in Bauchi State.

Thus, by this letter, I have resigned my membership of the PDP to enable me keep faith with my principle of fighting for good governance in our Dear State.

Thank you for your kind considerations.

Rt. Hon. Yakubu Dogara