PDP Members’ Defection: Throw in The Towel to Avoid Defeat- BMO Tells Atiku

The Buhari Media Organisation (BMO) has advised the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, to consider throwing in the towel to avoid defeat at the Feb. 16 polls.

The group gave the advice in a statement signed by its Chairman, Mr Niyi Akinsiju and Secretary, Mr Cassidy Madueke, on Friday in Abuja.

The statement was in reaction to recent defection of four PDP stalwarts to All Progressive Congress (APC).

The organisation described the defection of Bauchi State Publicity Secretary of PDP, Yayanuwa Zainabari, as shocking and a big slap to the party ahead of the general elections.

It noted that the way Abubakar and his party were daily losing support from prominent members to the opposition was unbecoming.

According to it, even the PDP cannot deny that the loss of its Deputy National Chairman, Babayo Gamawa, among others, to the APC is quite massive.

“We have nothing but sympathy for Atiku at this time that he has lost some of his trusted supporters who have abandoned him to team up with President Muhammadu Buhari”.

“Nothing could be more demoralising than losing the number two man of your party with few days to what is almost certain to be his last attempt to clinch a seat that he had coveted since the 1990s.”

“Babayo Gamawa is not only PDP’s Deputy National Chairman, but also a member of the party’s Presidential Campaign Council from the same North-East geo-political zone as the former Vice President. We at BMO believe that it may be ideal for the PDP candidate to pull out of the presidential race to save himself from what is almost certain to be a crushing defeat,“ it said.

It also said that if there was any defection that was bound to hit Atiku, it was that of former Bauchi governor and former PDP National Chairman, Alhaji Adamu Muazu, known in the opposition ranks as “game changer”.

“Here is a man whose daughter is married to the former Vice President’s son, but opted to ignore family ties to support President Buhari’s re-election bid because he clearly knows the difference between the two,“ it said.

The BMO said Muazu could be said to be number one among those who know Atiku closely.

It said now that he had joined the governing APC, there was no clearer message to undecided voters across the country that Buhari was the better choice.

“With Muazu’s decision to dump PDP, it is safe to say that the chance PDP has to improve on the 86,085 votes it had in 2015 when APC polled 931,598 votes in one of the president’s strongholds has disappeared.”

The group added that contrary to impression created by PDP elements to water down their loss, none of the politicians who may have joined the APC to escape the glare of anti-graft agencies would be spared.

This, it said, was especially if such politician was found to have pending corruption cases.

According to it, as stressed recently by President Buhari, defection to the APC is not a blank amnesty from prosecution for anyone found to have breached public trust. (NAN)