Defection: Turaki-led PDP Reveals Gov. Bala Mohammed’s Stance

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), led by Kabiru Tanimu Turaki, has dismissed speculations that the Bauchi State Governor and chairman of the party’s Governors’ forum, Bala Mohammed, is defecting to the All Progressives Congress (APC).

There have been online reports that Governor Mohammed is finalising plans to defect from the PDP to the ruling APC amid reconciliation efforts over the party’s crisis.

Naija News recall that PDP had lost 10 governors to the APC within one year, the last of which was Zamfara State Governor, Dauda Lawal, who recently defected after the Appeal Court voided the party’s national convention in Ibadan, Oyo State, which produced the Turaki-led national leadership.

The court verdict has prompted reconciliation talks between the Turaki-led leadership, backed by the PDP governors, and the National caretaker committee, backed by the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike.

However, the National Publicity Secretary of the Turaki-led PDP, Comrade Ini Ememobong, in an interview with Leadership, dismissed reports of Mohammed’s defection, stating that the Governor assured the party leadership on Sunday that he was not defecting.

He said, “What we know is that he has told us he is still with us. Even up till this morning (yesterday) when he had conversations with our national chairman, he insisted he is still with us. He has said it in several quarters that he is comfortable in the party so we don’t know where the rumours are coming from. Only time will tell. But what we know is that he has told us that he is with us.”

Speaking on the proposed reconciliation talks with the Wike-led faction, Ememobong said discussions were ongoing among stakeholders and would be guided by agreed strategies.

He said, “To facilitate decisions on which the reconciliation committee is working, it has been agreed that they should keep their work an internal issue and not escalate it.

“You know that in every negotiation, information is strategic, it can consolidate or endanger the reconciliation. So whatever they will do they have their terms of reference sufficient enough to guide them.”