Despite the refusal of Senate President David Mark to read the defection letter of 11 defecting PDP senators at plenary, another senator, Uzamere Ehigie, Tuesday announced his defection from the All Progressives Congress (APC) to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
In a statement made available to newsmen, Ehigie (Edo south) said he was defecting to the ruling party because APC is being run by a ‘sole administrator’.
According to him, he could not get what he believes in – ‘every segment getting what it deserves’ in the APC hence, his decision to call it quit.
Ehigie’s statement reads, “My political vision has been and remains a state or nation where every segment gets what it deserves within the limits of its contribution to the whole and where everyone, whether individual or group, is free from domination and oppression. In exercise of the mandate freely given to me by you in my first tenure on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) I protested and fought against the domination of the people of Edo South Senatorial District by the forces, structure and dynamics of the party and government of that time. The heat generated by the resultant friction led to my inevitable exit from the party.
“On hand to receive me was the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), as it then was, a party which rose to power in Edo State as a result of the people’s dissatisfaction with the PDP’s performance in governance. I postulated then that the PDP’s ticket in Edo State was worse than the Zimbabwean Dollar.
“My movement from PDP to ACN was smooth due to my policy of putting state interest above partisan considerations as an elected leader. It was this policy that influenced my decision to clear an ACN nominee for the position of Edo State Representative on the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) Board, even though I was a PDP Senator. In appreciation, the ACN did not only admit me to their fold, it gave me a return ticket to the Senate, an act for which I will remain eternally grateful.
“Great expectations followed the movement into the ACN. Going by the sloganeering in the party and public perception of the key leaders as men of integrity we believed that vices like godfatherism, imposition, ethnic domination, dictatorship, etc which characterized the PDP then would be non-existent in the ACN.
“We honestly expected that every senatorial district would be autonomous in the handling of its affairs and would be given its fair share according to its size, resources and population. We genuinely believed that the ACN would approximate ideal democratic culture in the conduct of governance and its internal affairs. Consultation, rule of law, collective decision making, team spirit, accountability, etc, were expected to be the hallmarks of the party. But that was not to be.
“A party organized around a sole administrator who overturns and overturns and overturns depending on his moods, desires, whims and caprices cannot dispense justice, equity and fairness in a heterogeneous polity”.
