Dariye must surrender our mandate, Plateau PDP insists

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has drawn a battle line with Senator Joshua Dariye  over his defection to the All Progressives Congress (APC).

Apart from describing the action as unconstitutional, the state chapter of PDP said it was preparing grounds to take a legal action to retrieve its mandate from him, having secured a seat in the Senate on PDP platform..

The defection of the former governor of Plateau now representing Plateau Central Senatorial District came took a number of his political associates by surprise.

The state chairman of the party, Hon. Damishi Sango, told newsmen in Jos that the action of Dariye was not only unconstitutional but was also against the grains of democracy.

“It is not proper to carry the mandate of a party to another party. So, Dariye’s defection from PDP to APC is unconstitutional. He rode on PDP’s back to become a senator, but he worked for the APC during the last general election. All this while, we knew he was PDP in the day time, but APC at night. So, we were not surprised when he defected,” he said.

Sango threatened that Plateau PDP would take legal actions if the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) failed to declare Dariye’s seat vacant.

Earlier, Senator Jonah Jang, representing Plateau North in the National Assembly on the platform of PDP, said it has since dawned on what it meant to lose power to the opposition.

He said since he left office last year, he had not driven  past the new Government House he had built and teased that the APC state administration would maintain it until 2019 when PDP will take over again.

Jang, who also spoke at the party secretariat in Jos during the inauguration of  PDP reconciliation committee, told the crowd that all hands were on deck to secure victory for PDP in 2019.