Less than 24 hours after the Bauchi State Governor, Bala Mohammed, said that following persistent internal crisis in the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), he would dump the party for the African Democratic Congress, the National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC) Professor Nentawe Yilwatda, on Wednesday visited the Governor at the Government House, Bauchi.
Yilwatda was accompanied by the Kano State Governor, Abba Kabir-Yusuf, and some party leaders met with Mohammed, during a “private visit” at the Bauchi State Government House.
Although, details of the delegation’s closed-door meeting with the Governor, were not made public, observers say it may not be unconnected with Bala Mohammed’s decision to join the ADC on Thursday. Neither the APC National Chairman and Abba Kabir-Yusuf nor the Bauchi State Governor, spoke to journalists after the meeting which lasted for about an hour.
Recall that on Tuesday, Mohammed received a delegation from the National Chairman of the ADC, Senator David Mark, led by a former Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Babachir Lawal, at the Presidential Lodge Bauchi.
Speaking to journalists after a 2-hour closed door meeting, Lawal said they were in Bauchi at the instance of Senator David Mark, who sent them to woo him to the party.
Speaking to journalists, Governor Bala Mohammed, who is also the Chairman of the PDP Governors’ Forum, said that his decision to leave the party was because the PDP had been battered and destroyed by Wike.
He said he sought for reconciliation with Wike whom he visited in his house in Abuja, but he (Wike) refused and told him that he had conquered the PDP. He said he went further to meet with the National Chairman of the APC and President Bola Tinubu, three different times for them to wade into the crisis and proffer solution to the crisis, but all his efforts failed.
Mohammed said although he had contacted many political parties including the APC, however, the ADC seems to be his preferred destination even though negotiations are still ongoing and would be concluded soon. He assured that he would announce his defection on Thursday (tomorrow).
“I’m here this morning with a delegation from the ADC Headquarters, where my mentor, my boss, Senator David Mark, is leading, he has sent an olive branch to me to reconnect me with the umbilical cord of the opposition, where I have always emerged from.
“Certainly, as a leader in the PDP, we have found ourselves in a very serious imbalance where our party is headless. I have pursued all avenues for reconciliation but it has not worked and our people are putting me under extreme pressure.
“We left all of our options on the ground even with the APC itself, but we discovered that, we cannot be where we are not wanted. We have to find a place within the opposition, that is where our fate and political destiny is taking us to; and ADC appears to be a very enduring, luring and more acceptable platform by the people that are talking to me at the federation,” the Governor had told journalists.
Continuing, he said: “We will try, if we are doing something, we do it well, if we are doing well, we have to come together with all the party, all the interest in the PDP at the national and sub-national levels. And that is why our discussions have taken long, but we have told them that we are amenable to joining them if certain things, conditions and negotiations are concluded, as well as other parties that we are looking for. But as of now, they (ADC) is our preferred destination.
“On behalf of the government, the people of Bauchi State and the other faction of the PDP that has been distraught, thank the National Chairman of the ADC for offering this opportunity to us. Definitely, we will not allow it to slip out of our hands considering the pedigree and antecedents of those that have been sent.
“We are very conscious of the timeline. Everything will be concluded by Thursday so that we will be able to be on the same page and not to exclude ourselves from participation. So, you will hear a firm commitment from us by Thursday, when we have met in Abuja with all the parties, like I said that I have to carry everybody along.
“Regarding the reconciliation, I have done everything I could. I met the APC even at the National level, I met the National Chairman of the APC, because, as a leader, I must open up my flanks. I even went to see Mr. President three times so that he will engender the reconciliation, because we have somebody called Wike that is being used to destroy us, and he is causing so much dis-affection.
“But by the time I came, I decided to even see Wike himself in his house, I swallowed my ego and met him, but what he told me was that he is already a conquerer, that he has already conquered us.”
Armstrong Bakam
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