A former governor of Bauchi State, Malam Isa Yuguda, has formally joined the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) having dumped the Green Party of Nigeria (GPN) which he was the major financier in the country.
Announcing Yuguda’s decision to join the APC at a press conference at the NUJ Press Centre in Bauchi Thursday, a former Commissioner for Religious Affairs and Community Relations during the Yuguda-led Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) administration, Salisu Ahmed Barau, explained that the former governor joined the APC in order to continue to contribute to the development of the state.
The former commissioner also said that the former governor moved to the APC along with his supporters across the country under the aegis of Yuguda Alheri, a political pressure group, pointing out that as at Thursday when the official announcement of the defection was made, over 500,000 people have registered their support for the development, adding that the target is to have over one million voters on the register.
He however explained that Yuguda did not leave the GPN due to any indifference but out of his volition and after due consultation with all his supporters across the country, adding that some of his supporters and former aides have remained in other political parties.
According to Barau, “Immediately he left office in 2015, Isa Yuguda announced his decision to leave the PDP. He set up different committees for consultations after which the decision was arrived at for him to join the GPN and even went ahead to contest under the party. When it was yet another time for him to leave, he consulted us and we decided to join the APC.”
While reacting to insinuations that Yuguda was instrumental to the emergence of the present Governor, Mohammed Abdullahi Abubakar, in 2015, the spokesperson said: “There is no truth in that insinuations. How can Isa Yuguda who was in the PDP then and had a candidate whom he supported be instrumental to the emergence of another person as candidate in another party?
Barau also said that Yuguda is not in the APC to cause any confusion but rather to act as an elder who will be instrumental to good governance, peaceful coexistence and delivery of dividends of democracy to the people of the state.
