Babayo Gamawa: Suspended PDP Member Joins Ruling Party APC

In mere 24 hours of being suspended form the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Senator Babayo Gamawa has joined rival party All Progressives Congress, APC. The PDP had announced its decision to suspend Gamawa on late Monday night over charges of dereliction of duty and anti-party activities.

Mr. Babayo’s suspension was confirmed by the PDP national publicity secretary, Kola Ologbondiyan, in an official statement that the decision was reached at the party’s National Working Committee (NWC) extra-ordinary meeting held on the 5th of January, 2019.

Soon after his suspension, Gamawa met behind closed doors with President Muhammadu Burrai at the Presidential villa for about 35 minutes. The solidarity visit was enough to spark speculations about his connection with APC.

In no time, Femi Adesina, the spokesperson of President Muhammadu Buhari, took to Facebook to confirm Mr. Babawo’s defection to APC on Tuesday. He also posted pictures of Mr. Gamawa and the governor of Bauchi state, Mohammed Abubakar, when they visited the president Muhammadu Buhari at his official residence.

”President Buhari receives in audience New Entrant into APC Former Deputy National Chairman of PDP Senator Babayo Garba Gamawa and Hon. Kaulaha Aliyu alongside Bauchi State Governor in State House on 8th Jan 2019,” Mr. Adesina captioned the pictures posted on his Facebook page.

Commenting on his decision to join APC, Babayo said he chose to join the ruling party in order to align himself with the development effort of President Buhari. He accused that his former party failed to avail him a fair hearing. He described his suspension as undemocratic and unconstitutional action the PDP would live to regret, reported Vanguard.

“I have no regret for defecting from the PDP and they (PDP) would regret their action, by God grace,’’ the suspended PDP member said.

It remains to be seen if Babayo’s decision to join APC will affect PDP’s election results.