PDP Crisis: Rebel governors would come back, Bamanga Tukur says

The PDP chairman welcomed a delegation from Sokoto State.
The National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Bamanga Tukur, has stated that the five rebel governors that defected from the party to join the All Progressives Congress, APC, would soon return to the party.
Mr. Tukur stated this on Monday at the PDP National Secretariat when he received a delegation of the party from Sokoto state on a courtesy call.
Governors Rotimi Amaechi of Rivers, Murtala Nyako of Adamawa, Aliyu Wammako of Sokoto, Abdulfatah Ahmed of Kwara and Rabiu Kwankwaso of Kano last week Tuesday announced their decision to join the APC after months of disagreement with the leadership of the PDP under Mr. Tukur.
While addressing his guests, led by a former Minister of Communications, Mohammed Arzika, Mr. Tukur said it is the right of the governors to defect, but that very soon they would realise their mistake.
“Many have done this before; it is not new, are they not back? They know that there is no any other way; PDP is the party. They have gone, we have seen that before, and they came back,” Mr. Tukur said.
Mr. Tukur accused the governors of abandoning the party that helped them achieve their political goals because “they have eaten enough” and therefore, want to taste the other side.
“Is this the way to compensate a good tiding? PDP has given many of them positions such as Ministers, and Permanent Secretaries. PDP still remain the same source of all the goodies. If they believe they want to go, let the go, they will be hardly missed. They will understand they took a wrong turn, and when people take a wrong turn, they will end up in the wrong place,” he said.
In his speech, leader of delegation, Mr. Arzika said the delegation was comprised of seventeen elders of the party and three hundred chieftains from all the 23 Local Government Areas in Sokoto State.
He said as bonafide members of the party from the state, they were at the party headquarters to “reaffirm our unflinching loyalty, support and cooperation to the party and to tell you we have complete faith in the leadership of the party under Alhaji Bamanga Tukur and President Goodluck Jonathan”.
Mr. Arzika said Sokoto had been a PDP state since 1998 because of the party’s broad based nature and inclusiveness.
He also said PDP is the only party that had remained the same since 1998.
“Five parties were initially registered, but within three years they increased to over fifty, some were registered, de- registered, changed names, logos, slogans, but PDP remained PDP,” he said.
The former Minister said the party had consistently won elections since 1999 and would also win in 2015 Wammako betrayed us.
Mr. Arzika accused Governor Wammako of betraying the PDP which came to his aide by providing him with a platform to run for office.
“In 2006 Wammako resigned as Deputy Governor to avoid impeachment, PDP welcomed him into its fold in 2007, and gave him the governorship ticket. The party was successful in the election and he became the governor, but in the last six years he victimised most loyal members he met in the party,” he said.
He also said the governor ran the party as a one man show, and looked at the national leadership with disdain.
“His recent defection is therefore not surprising, his defection is good riddance,” Mr. Arzika stated.
He informed the gathering that Mr. Wammako had boasted that without him, there is no PDP in Sokoto state. He added that following the governor’s defection, they had started re-organising and repositioning the party for current and future challenges.
He called on the NWC to immediately constitute a caretaker committee for the party in the state.

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