“Anybody who thinks he will retire me from politics, I am waiting for him in the constituency in case they don’t know of Bogoro/Dass/Tafawa-Balewa Federal Constituency. Let them come. And I will reserve other comments until I am asked to speak again.”
These were the words of the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara, when he submitted his nomination form for his return to the House at the national secretariat of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), which indicated his defection from the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).
Dogara said: “for those who say they would retire me from politics, (my defection is) to show them boldly that this is where I am now.”
He recalled that he was a founding member of the PDP and that he was part of the people that helped put together the first party constitution.
“But on account of certain developments, I had to leave the party for another party in my journey to nationhood, then believing that we were teaming together with spirited people to build a new Nigeria.”
“But permit me to say that in the APC when we moved in, obviously they are not all devils. There are wonderful people in APC but there are equally some people who have a ravenously wayward sense of personal entitlement, and this really are the problems with the APC.
“When it serves their interests, they said the party is supreme. When it doesn’t serve their interests, they castigate the party including the leadership of the party. These are people who are the lords of the family. They do what they wish while others are required to do what they must. And in such environment, I am disabled. We have a lot of bouncers in the party.
“I was in a situation where I had a very clear conscience even though a lot of people were happy with me, but I can tell you I would rather be hated for who I am than be loved for who I am not.”
Dogara said that he had decided to come back to his original root even as he recalled that when he and others defected to APC, there was never an occasion when they were not reminded that they did not belong.
“When there are discussions, you will hear reference to the fact that those who joined us from the PDP are our problems. So, that discussion will end from today since we have left. So, I have decided to join my brothers, members of this great party the PDP – so that we can chart a new frontier in our state of Bauchi and for our dear nation Nigeria.”
