October 25, (THEWILL) — The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Northern Elders Unity Forum has frowned at the mass defection of supporters of the party in Zamfara State.
Dr Abbas Sadauki, the National Secretary of the forum, expressed the dismay in a statement made available to Journalists, after meeting with some party elders from Kaura Namoda, Zurmi, Tsafe and Bungudu local governments of Zamfara state.
He said the Forum, as a concerned PDP-affiliation, condemned the actions and process of wooing supporters of the party.
He, however, said the defection was not unconnected to the political influence of the Minister of State Defence, Mohammed Bello Matawalle, particularly in Zamfara State.
The Forum accused the Minister of using excess wealth to coerce some members of PDP into defection, particularly those holding the party’s positions in Zamfara and Kaduna states, respectively.
He alleged that the Minister is desperate to destroy PDP in Zamfara and other states of the North West because of the 2027 political ambition of his party, APC and targeted some particular leaders of the party in the North West geopolitical zone.
“His antecedent of use of power and political appointments to coerce many of our hard-working loyalist members has created a great vacuum within the party leadership, particularly in the north west.
“Dismantling of such opposition groups in whatever manner is not a good omen to our democratic progress, because many of our party loyalists are being misguided in believing in a greener pasture from the PDP to APC, something that cannot augur well for the progress of genuine democracy in Nigeria.
“We are optimistic about the danger of democracy; therefore, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu should urgently call him to order, his main target is to uproot all our democratic structures built to bring fairness, justice and cohesion in Nigeria”, he further stated.
According to a report from Zamfara, over 24,000 members of the PDP have so far decamped to the APC across the state. The majority of whom are former executive members and elders in six local governments
Tunde Omolehin is an award-winning Journalist with prose in investigative and storytelling that is connecting the dots between the under-reported communities and policymakers to ensure good governance and accountability.
