Chairman, Board of Trustees (BoT) of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Sen. Walid Jibrin has said that Hon. Yakubu Dogara quit the party to heighten his chances of becoming president or vice president of Nigeria.
Recall that the former Speaker of the House of Representatives defected to the All Progressives Congress (APC) last week.
In a letter forwarded to the PDP leadership in his native Bauchi state, Dogara said he quit the party because it was repeating the mistakes that forced him to quit the APC ahead of the 2019 general election.
He also specifically blamed the State Governor, Senator Bala Mohammed for hastening the decision.
However, Jibrin said that the reasons cited by the ex-speaker were not genuine and urged Nigerians to disregard them.
The BoT chairman said that the party has a dispute resolution channel that should gave been explored by Dogara if he had legitimate grievances.
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“I have read with mixed feelings the reasons given by former Speaker, House of Representatives, Mr. Yakubu Dogara for decamping to APC. I am equally sorry for Dogara for not exhausting all avenues available in the party’s constitution for settlement of disputes or complaints by a member of the party.
“I became more disturbed with the reasons given by Mr. Dogara for his decamping considering his position as a former speaker.
“In his position as a member of BoT, Mr. Dogara never laid any complaints to me as the chairman of BoT which is the highest advisory organ of the party and the conscience of the party.
“Considering the reasons given by Dogara for his defection, one is compelled to say that Mr. Dogara has other strong reasons for leaving the PDP,” Jibrin said in a statement on Sunday.
He added, “I am beginning to suspect that Mr. Dogara has a plan of becoming President or Vice President in 2023 which he knows he will never achieve in PDP. I want to assure the former Speaker that PDP shall continue to be very strong and united and it’s doors remain open to all Nigerians; therefore, PDP will never accept any plan by anybody to destroy the party.”