“Even when they were talking about reconciliation in APC, we told them that even if I will be given a free ticket in APC, so long as they do not do justice to Senator Sulieman Nazif, Senator Isa Hamma Misau, Honourable Ahmed Yerima, Hon. Aminu Tukur, Hon. Maryam Bagel and others, I will not accept it. I even said that if they will do justice to these people I will be satisfied,”-Speaker Yakubu Dogara
Speaker Yakubu Dogara has opened up on the real reason why he dumped the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) for the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
The news of Dogara’s defection filtered in few hours after his constituents besieged his house on Wednesday, September 12, 2018.
Addressing supporters at his residence on Thursday, September 13, 2018, Dogara said he was asked to beg for the ticket of the APC.
His words: “Truly, I have decided that I will not seek election again. They said they will give me the ticket in APC but that I must go and beg for it. I said I do not need the ticket. In politics, I have never gone to anybody’s house to beg for the ticket.
“My ticket is my people. I have assured them that even if I run under zero party, my people will vote for me. So long as it is Bogoro/Dass/Tafawa Balewa, even if we run under zero party; we will win by God’s grace.
“We have thrived well in many political battles in the past and this one too, we shall overcome it. Nobody can threaten us or tell us that we cannot contest an election in a political party we spent our resources to establish, only God can stop us.
“I had heard your voices and the voice of the people is the voice of God. We are in politics to serve and not to be served. As I said, if it were for myself, I will quit because truly I am tired and even thought of stepping aside. But we must run the election so long as our people say so.
Dogara accused the APC of injustice.
“Even when they were talking about reconciliation in APC, we told them that even if I will be given a free ticket in APC, so long as they do not do justice to Senator Sulieman Nazif, Senator Isa Hamma Misau, Honourable Ahmed Yerima, Hon. Aminu Tukur, Hon. Maryam Bagel and others, I will not accept it. I even said that if they will do justice to these people I will be satisfied,” he said.
“You have now given us another opportunity to correct the greatest mistake we did in politics, which was to bring this present government in Bauchi State. This is one of the reasons we must run for election and do away with this plague, chase these termites from Bauchi State.
“I will not disobey you but before I fill these forms, I will have to inform all my supporters in the APC about the decision taken by my constituents since all politics is local,” he noted.
With Dogara’s defection, both leaders of the National Assembly now belong to the opposition party.
Pulse/The Genius Media
