Barely one week after members of the defunct new PDP, nPDP, gave President Muhammadu Buhari and the All Progressives Congress, APC, an ultimatum over their alleged marginalization, the group has split into two with a faction pledging loyalty to Buhari.
The nPDP comprises former members of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP that defected to the APC in 2014.
Former governor of Nasarawa State, Senator Abdullahi Adamu, who is one of the 11 pro-Buhari senators in the upper chamber of the National Assembly, is spearheading the split of the nPDP.
The Senator Adamu-led faction has also accused Senate President Bukola Saraki of being the brain behind the Baraje faction of the nPDP.
While dismissing the Baraje led group at a press conference held yesterday at APC national secretariat, Sen. Adamu said his group was also part of nPDP right from beginning, adding that all the allegations raised in the letter submitted by Baraje’s group were false.
In another letter submitted by Sen. Adamu-led faction titled “Unfunded and unjustified ground for confrontation with our party the APC and government by some members of the defunct nPDP” dated May 14, and addressed to the APC National Chairman, the group described Baraje’s letter as ‘misleading.’
The letter by the Sen. Adamu group was also signed by Chief Theodore Georgewill as deputy chairman and Hon. Abdulmumin Jibrin as secretary.
According to the letter, “The letter is full of contradictions, false assertions, misrepresentations, distortion of history and facts and in many instances outright lies.
“We as initiators and founding members of the defunct nPDP
therefore wish to condemn and disassociate ourselves from the letter and apologize for the obvious embarrassment the letter have caused to our party and government.
“We wish to reaffirm our support and confidence in the party and Mr President and we do not in any way feel marginalized or maltreated as we are clearly in the league of the biggest beneficiaries of the party.”
For the purpose of correcting the misleading contents of the letter and setting the records straight, especially on the issue of marginalization as alleged by the Baraje-led group, the Adamu led group said: “Government at the federal level is not only the executive branch in isolation. It includes the legislature as
well. The APC government deliberately or not has a balance of power among the various parties and groups that merged to form the APC at the federal level.
“While the Muhammadu Buhari led Congress for Progressive Change, CPC, got the president, the Asiwaju Bola Tinubu-led Action Congress of Nigeria, CAN, got the vice president. We the nPDP, as we then were, eventually got the combination of Senate president and speaker of the House of Representatives, though under somewhat questionable circumstances,” the Baraje group said.
Among the key offices being held by the nPDP, as listed by Sen. Adamu, include “Senator Bukola Saraki – senator and Senate President; Hon Yakubu Dogara – member of House and speaker, House of Representatives; Senator Abdullahi Adamu – senator and chairman, Senate committee on Agriculture; Senator Adamu Aliero – Senator and chairman, Senate Committee on Customs; Senator Magatakarda Wamako – senator and chairman, senate Committee on Education; Senator Rabiu Kwankwaso – senator and chairman, Senate Committee on National Planning; Senator Danjuma Goje – senator and chairman, Senate Committee on Appropriation; Senator Abdulaziz Nyako – senator and chairman, Senate Committee on Special Duties; Senator Uchendu – senator and vice chairman; Governor Aminu Tambuwal – governor, Sokoto State; Governor Abdullahi Ganduje – governor, Kano State;Governor Abdulfatah Ahmed – governor Kwara State, Senator Jibrilla Bindow – governor, Adamawa State; Senator A Bagudu – governor, Kebbi State,and Alh Kawu Baraje – board chairman.
