The Senator representing Adamawa North, Elisha Abbo, has explained that he left the Peoples Democratic Party to join the All Progressives Congress, in order to pursue his 2023 governorship ambition.
Abbo, whose letter of defection was read on the floor of the Senate by the Senate President, Ahmad Lawan, on Wednesday, however insisted at a news conference after plenary, that there is a major crisis in the partly in Adamawa State.
He also said he was not ready to resign as a Senator as was demanded by the PDP.
National Publicity Secretary of the PDP, Kola Ologbondiyan, while reacting to Abbo’s defection said, “Senator Abbo, is fully aware of the constitutional implication of his decision to defect to another party; which is that, he cannot continue to occupy the seat of the PDP in the Senate.
“The place of any Senators who changed parties except on the grounds provided by the Constitution are very clear and the PDP will not allow Senator Abbo to run away with our mandate.”
In response, Abbo said, “Did they ask (Governor Dave) Umahi to resign? Go and ask them (PDP). Governor Umahi just defected from PDP to APC as a sitting governor of Ebonyi State. Did they ask him to resign?
“There is a crisis in the (PDP) party in my state. That is the truth. I believe internal democracy in the party has suffered in the last one year when the governor assumed office.
“As you all know, it is only in Adamawa State that we have reformed PDP. There is a crisis in the party in Adamawa State and the governor is the cause of the crisis.”
Earlier, the in his letter of defection which was read on the floor of the Senate by the Senate President, Ahmed Lawan, the Senator said, “Today, I join the APC and the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, President Muhammadu Buhari, to build the Nigeria of our dreams.”
In the letter, Mr Abbo said he chose to leave the PDP because of the “mismanagement” of the party’s issues by Governor Ahmadu Fintri of Adamawa State which has led to the recent crisis in the state.
He further said he has realised that no president in Nigeria has paid attention to the welfare of its citizens like President Muhammadu Buhari, ctiting the Trader Moni and other programmes as example.
“I hereby defect from the PDP with effect from today, 25th November, 2020,” part of the statement read.
“Today I join the APC and the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, President Muhamadu Buhari to build the Nigeria of our dreams.
“…In the history of Nigeria’s Nascent democracy, specifically from 1999 till date, no President has paid attention to the welfare of Nigerian Citizens like President Muhamadu Buhari as it is evident in packages such as Conditional Cash Transfer (CCT), Homegrown School Feeding Program (HGFP), Trader Money, Market Money….
“Thus, in living up to the expectation of the good people of Adamawa North Senatorial District, I hereby defect from the PDP to the APC with effect from today being Wednesday, the 25th day of November, 2020,” part of the statement read.
His defection comes weeks after Federal Capital Territory (FCT) High Court, Maitama ordered him to pay N50 million as compensation to Osimibibra Warmate, a lady he assaulted in 2019.
Recall that Premium Times had in 2019, exposed the young senator caught on camera assaulting a woman in Abuja. The incident occurred barely three months after Mr Abbo was elected a senator and a month before he was sworn in on June 11.
The APC now has 60 senators, while PDP has 42. There are currently six vacant Senate seats.
