Gombe Assembly minority leader defects to PDP

Mr Ahmed Haruna, an All Progressives Congress lawmaker representing Gombe North Constituency in the State Assembly on Thursday announced his defection to the Peoples’ Democratic Party and resigned his post as Minority Leader.

Haruna, who announced his defection and resignation during plenary, alleged that the APC in Gombe State had made several attempts to blackmail him.

He said the attempted blackmail and suspension issued to him by the state chapter of APC, and the failure of the national leadership to respond constitutionally to his complaints were responsible for his defection to the PDP.

“The attempt by the Gombe chapter of the APC on May 30, to blackmail me, despite being a faithful member of the party, is obvious they are not following the party’s constitution.

“Also, the letter of suspension issued to me by the party without following the constitution, shows that the party has no regard for the provisions of the Nigerian and APC constitutions.

“I wrote to the national office seeking for justice over the undemocratic suspension, but nothing was done. With all sense of respect, APC has no regards for the provision of the party.

“As a loyalist, I realised that the APC manifesto was there for campaign purposes and not for implementations; I will not allow myself to be ridiculed and rubbished, so today, I formally announce my defection from the APC to the PDP.

“Having defected to PDP, the action has changed my status from minority leader to majority member and since it’s obvious that a majority member cannot be minority leader, that position is gone,’’ he said.

The Speaker, Nasiru Nono, immediately welcomed him to the PDP and said that the House was happy to receive him.

Mr Amos Fabulous, the majority leader of the House, also congratulated Haruna for his decision to defect to the PDP.

Reacting to the development, Mrs Naomi Awak, APC Public Relations Officer in Gombe, in a telephone chat with NAN, said the party was unmoved.

She added that with or without him, APC would emerge victorious in the state during the forthcoming elections in 2019.

“APC is not moved. With or without him, we will win at both the state and national levels in 2019.

“It’s not surprising, because he has been working with the opposition to destroy the APC in Gombe.

“Having failed, he has gone back to where he belongs and the party will move forward with or without him,” she said.

Following the defection of the minority leader, NAN reports that the House now has 17 PDP and seven APC members.