Ex-PDP speakers accuse APC of scuttling political process

The Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP) Forum of Former Speakers (FOFSHA) on Friday, accused All Progressive Congress (APC) of scuttling the political process in the country.

Briefing Parliamentary Correspondents at the end of the meeting with the leadership of PDP Minority Caucus in the House of Representatives in Abuja, FOFSHA leader, Hon. Garba described some of the defections to the All Progressives Congress (APC) as illegal and unconstitutional.

He, however, assured Nigerians that many politicians who left the party’s fold a few years ago will soon have a rethink to join other political platforms.

While noting that PDP is the most acceptable, widely spread and best organised political party committed to addressing the challenges of the nation, Hon. Garba said: “We believe some of these defections are illegal because they are constitutional breach. Some politicians don’t look at what affects their people or the nation. They look at what affects them personally.

“You cannot stop some people from defecting from one political party to the other. Very soon, you will see the gale of defections back to PDP because Nigerians are now better informed and knowledgeable about what is good for them and the nation.

“One person out of a thousand from a constituency may take a decision of leaving the party just to get what he wants but the voters he abandoned in the constituency know what is good for them and what they stand for.”

Hon. Garba maintained that “any politician you see as good or credible today was groomed by the PDP, a party that is the most widely spread in Africa.”

He, however,, alleged that the government in power scuttle the political process of the nation.

“It cannot work. You can do whatever you want to do at a particular time but you cannot do all you want to do all the time,” he stressed philosophically.

At the meeting, the forum urged party members to “Remain steadfast and united in the face of the current daunting challenges bedeviling the nation.”

It also called on party members and leaders at all levels to have faith “In the current efforts being made to make the party stronger and united.”

In attendance were the House Minority Leader, Kingsley Chinda; Minority Whip, Ali Isa; Chairman of the Forum and a member of the 10th House of Representatives, Hon. Inuwa Garba; and Secretary of the Forum, Hon. Williams Edor.

Others include Hon. Bakitta Bello, Hon. Friday Itulah, Hon. Kwamoti Laori, and Hon. Ndanusa Hassan.

The PDP recently lost Ned Nwoko and Amos Magaji, a Senator and member of the House respectively, to the APC on the floor of the respective chambers, fuelling fears among pundits that the opposition might find it difficult to dislodge the ruling party in 2027.