Fourteen senators of the All Progressives Congress (APC) on Tuesday defected from their party to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and African Democratic Congress (ADC) The senators, who made their intention known in a joint letter to the Senate President, Bukola Saraki, stated that their decision was after due consultation, with their respective constituents and in line with section 16 (1G) of the 1999 onstitution.
They are Dino Melaye, Barnabas Gemade, Ibrahim Danbaba, Shaaba Lafiaji, Mohammed Shitu, Rafiu Ibrahim, Suleiman Hunkuyi, Isa Misau, Monsurat Sunmonu, Soji Akanbi, Usman Nafada, Musa Kwankwaso, Suleiman Nazif and Lanre Tejuosho. New Telegraph takes a look at some of the reasons why the lawmakers dumped the platform on which they were elected into the upper legislative chamber in 2015. We hereby inform you that we are changing our political affiliation from APC to PDP. We thank you for your exemplary leadership.
Hunkunyi: Fell out with el-Rufai
Senator Sulieman Hunkunyi (Kaduna North) is one politician that every political family would always wish to have in their camps. Across the board, he is a team player with a distinct character that appeals to whoever he comes in contact with. Up till today, many people still credit the victory of the incumbent Governor Mallam Nasir El-Rufai’s at the All Progressives Congress, (APC) primaries in 2014 to the structure of the senator. Hunkuyi is the last Senator among the two APC senators in Kaduna state to sever political ties with the administration of Governor El-Rufai.
Unlike Senator Shehu Sani, who started having issues with the APC administration barely months into the current dispensation, Hunkuyi stood with Governor El-Rufai and was touted to have made suggestions and inputs into some of the appointments and policies of the state government.
However, trouble started during the last delegate’s congresses of the ruling party when the senator accused loyalists of the Governor of hijacking the process and excluding him and his camp from the exercise. Hunkuyi who immediately joined forces with the two factions of the party, (APC Akida) true APC and the Restoration group addressed a press conference where he alleged that the result of the delegate Congress did not reflect the will of the party members as the names of those who emerged as delegates were written by an official of the state government. He said, “The list of the delegates was not known to us.
The list was fake. So we wrote two petitions to the National Secretariat and zonal office to buttress our grievances. We hope the National body would look into our complaints and fixed another date.” But in a swift reaction, the APC Kaduna state chapter of the party dismissed the allegation saying the party’s delegate’s election was free, credible and fair. Addressing the media at the party’s secretariat, the then Acting state publicity secretary of the party, Alhaji Salisu Tanko Wusono, said the delegate election was attended by all the party officials from ward level to state level in attendance. Wusono remarked that five officials from the National Secretariat of the APC came to supervise the state congress election, saying, “We acted within the party’s guidelines as no party member was sidelined.”
Since then the battle line was drawn between the Senator and the Governor. Following the outcome of the process, Hunkuyi in alliance with other camps opposed to the party apparatchik in the state, opened a parallel office of the party using his personal property located at Sambo close in Ungwan Rimi GRA in Kaduna metropolis.
In a move seen by many as politically motivated, the state government demolished the property after issuing the notice of non-payment of ground rent for the said property barely 24 hours earlier. Kaduna State Government, while acknowledging the demolition, said the building was pulled down following failure of the owner to pay ground rent since 2010 and for public nuisance, including attracting political thugs to the area.
The government also said a revocation order was issued out of Kaduna Geographic Information Services, (KADGIS) but did not say when the notice was given. Since then the stage was set that the two gladiators will find it difficult to work together and the issue of Hunkuyi and his supporters exiting the party was reduced to a matter of when. So it was not surprising that the senator joined his other colleagues to decamp from the APC on Tuesday.
As it stands, the stage is now set for a final showdown ahead of the next general elections over who gets what in the political equation of the state. While Hunkuyi is touted to be a grassroots politician with structures across the state, Governor el – Rufai is the incumbent Governor of the state with the power of incumbency and state apparatus. Who will prevail remains a matter of conjecture among political stakeholders? But what is clear is that the political atmosphere in the state is still evolving ahead of the 2019 general elections.
If the level of defections from the APC to the PDP continues, coupled with the existing structures of the senator he might be able to return as a Senator which is what sources in the state said he is looking up to ahead of the elections. On the other hand, the way and manner in which the APC in the state and the state government is able to curb the gale of defections will go a long way. Also, the state governor recently disclosed that the new party executives is involved in reconciliation moves with some aggrieved members, how far the Emmanuel Jekade fence-mending executive can go in carrying the party members along will determine who comes tops in the battle for 2019 in Kaduna state.
Tejuoso: Dumped by party, Amosun
The defection of Senator Lanre Tejuoso from the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) to Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) on Tuesday was least expected. Though the lawmaker had issues with certain vested interests within the Ogun State chapter of APC, his exit from the party was not anticipated in view of close ties with both President Muhammadu Buhari and Governor Ibikunle Amosun. In his political trajectory, Tejuoso had had a long-standing relationship with Buhari and Amosun during their membership days of the defunct All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP). Tejuoso, representing Ogun Central at the National Assembly, is currently the Chairman, Senate Committee on Health. Prior to his election in 2015, he served as commissioner in three different ministries.
His portfolios in Amosun’s cabinet included Special Duties, Environment as well as Youth and Sports. However, events have since changed. Within the major political parties in his home state, there are unfolding permutations threatening Tejuoso’s political interests and that of some key actors in the state.
In Ogun APC, especially, there is palpable tension over the party’s tickets for legislative positions in 2019. The sudden interest of Secretary to the State Government (SSG), Taiwo Adeoluwa, in contesting for the Senate is said to be one of the issues generating ripples within the ranks of the ruling party. Adeoluwa’s aspiration for Ogun Central senatorial district has pitted him against Tejuoso, who is also jostling for re-election.
The SSG appears to be enjoying the governor’s backing. Initially, the rumoured senatorial bid scene and apparently upset the plans of some aspirants in Ogun Central zone. But the governor seems to have shelved such plan in preference for giving the slot to one of his trusted associates. Apart from the tango between Adeoluwa and Tejuoso, there is also growing anxiety among other legislators over their political future as Amosun’s tenure inches to an end next year.
The unrest informed a recent meeting between the governor and APC Senators, House of Representatives members and House of Assembly members from the state. The parley, which was convened to douse tension, reportedly discussed crucial issues ahead of 2019. Tejuoso reportedly told the meeting that he would re-contest. He spoke in the presence of Adeoluwa who is also interested. The parley was allegedly marred by disagreement but it was eventually managed. However, the straw that finally broke the camel’s back was the recent ward, local government and state congresses of APC. The outcome of the exercise saw Tejuoso losing his base, a development believed to have been orchestrated by Amosun.
The congresses, though held peacefully across the state, saw loyalists of the governor taking various positions in virtually all of the 236 electoral wards and 20 local government areas. Another casualty is the lawmaker representing Lagos West and hitherto governorship aspirant in Ogun State, Solomon Adeola, whose supporters boycotted the exercise.
Many of Adeola’s supporters have since defected to other political parties. Others opposed to the governor have also lost out in the power struggle. As it stands now, Tejuoso’s arrival in PDP may have set the stage for an all-out war in Ogun Central senatorial district which, incidentally, is Amosun’s political base. How the battle will play out will unravel as the 2019 elections gather momentum.
Gemade: Moved to avoid plot to stop his return to Senate
The senator representing Benue North East, was among the senators, who defected from the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) to the main opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). He is currently battling tooth and nail in his home state to retain his seat in the Red Chamber of the National Assembly ahead of the 2019 general election for the Zone A senatorial district which is made up of Kwande, Sankera and Jechira, the position, former governor of the state, Dr. Gabriel Suswam is also eyeing. Senator Gemade who hails from Jechira, started the journey to represent the zone at the Senate since 2011. He became senator under the PDP in 2011. He later ran to the APC in 2015 where he controversially won the seat for a second term.
His quest to actualize his dreams again on platform of the APC is being thwarted by Senator George Akume, leader of the party in the state who has reportedly been showing interest in the candidature of the just-ousted Chairman of the state’s Board of Internal Revenue Board (BIRS), Chief (Mrs) Mimi Orubibi Adzape who hails from Kwande Local Government Area .It was gathered that Akume’s argument hinges on the fact that Kwande has never produced senator for the zone since the creation of the state. New Telegraph gathered that Senator Gemade is enjoying the support of Governor Ortom for the job against Akume’s anointed, Adzape. But Senator Gemade, it could be recalled had in 2015, said:
“He will not stay in the Senate till 2019″. He stated that his records and scorecard in the Senate for the past seven years makes him eligible to contest again the coming election. The Chairman of the Senate Committee on Works dismissed insinuations that the ticket had been zoned to the Kwande axis of his constituency and maintained that the assertion was wrong and unattainable. “It has always been the turn of Kwande since I started contesting election to the Senate. I started contesting election to the Senate from 2007 which I lost. I at the time contested with a candidate from Kwande. I contested in 2011 which I won and I contested in 2015 and I won.
“At no time did my election go opposed. And there was no time during those elections that no Kwande person contested. So, nobody can come and chose a particular time and say this is our time. It has always been their turn just like it has always been other people’s turn. “If it is not your turn you sit down and allow those who it is their turn to go, but they have always contested.
So it has always been Kwande’s turn”. “I am contesting and my scorecard is so large and convincing enough for my people to want me back at the Senate. For example, in my first tenure, I delivered over 140 projects in my constituency, apart from over 2,000 items I distributed and lots more.
“In my second tenure I have already done over 160 projects in my constituency, these include schools, clinics, skills acquisition centres water projects, motorized solar powered boreholes, electricity projects, solar light projects, roads and whatever benefits there is that I had to bring to the people I have given them. New Telegraph gathered that Senator Gemade’s defection from APC to PDP is not unconnected with a grand plot to by certain forces to deny him another sojourn into the National Assembly.
Lafiagi, Ibrahim: Acting Saraki’s script
Senators Shaaba Lafiagi (Kwara North) and Rafiu Ibrahim (Kwara South) belong to the political structure controlled by the Senate President, Dr. Bukola Saraki. Since the start of the Senate President’s travail in the All Progressives Congress (APC), both have remained steadfast with their leader. It is noted that the three senatorial leaders of the APC in the state have recently demanded that they be led out of the party to another platform to actualise their political dreams. The party had subsequently put in place a 30-man committee that went around the 193 wards in the state to dialogue with members on the issue.
Sources close to the party said the interaction and involvement of party members at the lower level was more inclusive this time around than in 2015. Saraki himself had hinted that the decision to leave the APC would be largely driven by the wishes of his supporters, even though he is the leader.
“As for my political future, we just need to continue to engage with others, listen to advice and exchange ideas because the decision is not that of mine alone. It is for all our supporters and associates to deliberate upon and take a decision based on the overall interest of our people. It is my prayers that Almighty God will guide us right in all our decisions and make a positive turn-around in our country”, he had said in a statement refuting allegations of being wooed with juicy offers by the Presidency in order to drop his planned defection.
Kwara has been the headquarters of the new Democratic Party (nPDP) which started the agitation against the APC before the platform was dissolved to inaugurate the Reformed APC. Alhaji Kawu Baraje, National Leader of the nPDP, is well known in political circles to be an alter ego of the Senate President.
Baraje had in a statement last week hinted at the humiliation Saraki suffered during his CCT trial as a strong reason the Senate President and his supporters would not want to remain in the APC. According to him, “As far as I know, there is no juicy position that can replace the kind of embarrassment, debasement and horrifying experiences many of us have suffered and gone through in the hands of some few mischievous members of the APC, it’s quite unfortunate.” Baraje also disclosed that as far as he and his supporters and followers were concerned, they had taken a decision were about to reach the final stage of such decision and Saraki as a politician would not oppose the wishes of his supporters.
.new telegraph
