Rt Honourable Yakubu Dogara, the immediate past Speaker of the House of Representatives has given excuses for his decision to defect from the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) to the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).
The reasons were contained in a letter of resignation he tendered to the Bogoro ‘C’ Ward Chairman of the PDP dated July 24, 2020.
In the letter, the former speaker attributed his action to failure or breakdown of governance in Bauchi State under the administration of Governor Bala Mohammed.
Ex-speaker Dogara who raised questions on issues relating to failure of governance in Bauchi state noted that it was impossible for him to successfully ask questions about those issues without being accused of disloyalty if he was still in the PDP.
He argued that if he abdicated this responsibility of telling the truth to the power in Bauchi state, having done same under the two previous administrations, he will be the most irresponsible and unprincipled politician in the state.
“I write to intimate you of my decision to resign my membership of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP)”, part of the resignation letter reads.
“This became necessary because the same reasons why we fought hard in 2019 to effect changes in the Governance of our dear state are festering now”, the letter noted.
The former speaker questioned what has happened to LGA allocations since May 2019 as well as their campaign promises to conduct LGA elections within six months of the PDP government.
He questioned about the whereabouts of the N4.6 billion loan taken from a bank which he alleged was paid directly into a private company’s account.
“Why are we segmenting salaries and why is payment of salaries of state workers outsourced to a private firm as consultants”, he further inquired.
The ex-speaker also raised question on why contracts are inflated, awarded and payment of mobilisation done in violation of extant rules on procurement.
Dogara sought to know why highly revered traditional rulers and elders are treated with odium contrary to the guarantee they gave them during campaigns that such will not happen under a PDP government.
“Thus, by this letter, I have resigned my membership of the PDP to enable me keep faith with my principle of fighting for good governance in our Dear State”, the letter said.
Efforts to reach the Senior Special Assistant to Governor Bala on media, Mukhtar Gidado proves abortive, as his mobile phone was switched off as at press time.
