Just In: Powerful PDP Chieftain Resigns From Opposition Party, Pens Disturbing Letter
- The decision of the PDP to drop the idea of zoning before the presidential primary has cost it one of its top chieftains, Kassim Afegbua
- Afegbua, a former aide to PDP's presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, has resigned from the opposition party
- The former Edo commissioner for information on Monday, June 20, said the party's refusal to give the ticket to the south influenced his decision
One of Atiku Abubakar's top former aides, Kassim Afegbua, has tendered a powerfully worded letter of resignation from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
Afegbua who sent the letter to the chairman of his ward in Edo state on Monday, June 21, alleged that the process that produced his former boss as the party's presidential candidate is hypocritical and manipulative, This Day reports.
The former Edo commissioner for information noted that his decision to leave the PDP stems from a long-held position that it is time for the southern region to produce the next Nigerian president.
Source: Facebook
He, therefore, stated that his membership of the party was impaired by the PDP's resolve to drop the idea of zoning, Daily Trust reports.
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Part of his letter read:
“My reason is borne out of my long held and well publicised position that it is the turn of the Southern part of Nigeria to produce the next president in line with the provisions of Article 7 of the party’s constitution. Since the party has jettisoned the provision and manipulated the convention by eliminating zoning, my aspiration as a member is impaired. The same Party that eliminated zoning has all of a sudden, settled for a running mate from the South in person of Senator Ifeayin Arthur Okowa.
“I would have thought that having eliminated zoning, the candidate would choose his vice from any part of the country; including the zones of the North. This reality presents a hypocritical emanation that can neither stand the true test of justice, fairness and equity nor prospective legal challenges.
“For the above reasons only, I align myself with the considered standpoint of the APC Northern Governors who spoke so eloquently about the need to allow power to rotate to the South, in the true spirit of fairness, equity and justice. The considered and patriotic position of the APC Northern Governors remains unassailable, and I wholeheartedly align myself with their position; taking into account the heterogenous configurations of Nigeria.
“This is without any affiliation or involvement with the APC, whose hitherto uninspiring leadership I have been a vocal critic of, or any other political party. What the PDP power apparatchik has done was to supplant justice with injustice in its desperation to return to power. Power for power sake without recourse to the psyche of its members and the equitability of power acquisition and distribution, is an invitation to political instability..."
Alleged corrupt practice: Atiku lambasts Afegbua
Meanwhile, Atiku had responded to a false claim by Afegbua against him.
Afegbua had alleged that the ex-vice president was accused of demanding a bribe of $500,000 to facilitate the award of contracts to two American telecommunication firms in Nigeria.
Legit.ng reported that the director-general of Face of Waziri-Nigeria (FOWN), Ade Bukky, said Atiku would not have ordinarily responded to Afegbua's false claim because he knew he was sponsored by his paymasters to malign his integrity ahead of 2023 presidential election, but the statement was meant to put the record straight for posterity.
Source: Legit.ng
