This is certainly not the best of times for the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and its presidential candidate, Alhaji Abubakar Atiku, especially in the northeast region, as prominent members of the party have continued to pitch tent with the ruling All Progressive Congress (APC).
Several members of the party in Yobe and Borno states would be recalled to have recently dumped their membership cards for that of the APC.
As if the gale of defection presently hitting the party was not enough, the former commissioner for Economy, Budget and Planning in Gombe state, Danladi Mohammed Pantami, as noticed by The Trumpet, has also tread the paths of some of his political associates by resigning from the PDP.
Pantami, it would be recalled, served as a commissioner under the former governor of Gombe, Ibrahim Hassan Dankwambo.
His resignation from the PDP was contained in a letter dated 7th November 2022, which was personally signed by him.
Though no reason was given for his resignation, a close source to Pantami who confided in our correspondent, said the present rift bedevilling the party, especially at the national level, compelled him to take a bow out of the party.
Part of the letter which was addressed to the ward chairman of the party, Mallam Sidi Ward, in Kwami local government council of Gombe State reads “I write to notify you that I have resigned my membership of the Peoples Democratic Party with immediate effect.”
Adding that “While thanking the party for the privileges accorded to me, please accept my esteem regards”.
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Those who bared their minds to our correspondent considered the decision to turn his back on the party at this critical time was as unhealthy for the party.
With the general election at hand, his movement, they believed, would go a long way to affect the PDP in the state, the region and the country at large.
At the time of filing this report, some chieftains of the party from the zone were observed to have been perfecting plans to toll the paths of Pantimi and others.
One of the chieftains who confided on The Trumpet said the ongoing rift between governor Nyesom Wike and the party’s presidential candidate, Alhaji Abubakar Atiku, if not urgently addressed, will end up jeopardizing the party’s dream victory come 2023.
Citing the numbers of PDP members that have in recent times decamped, “more including me” the chieftain said, “will soon leave PDP to another political party too.”
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