A former President of the Senate, Dr. Abubakar Bukola Saraki has described the defection of Dr. Ifyeanyi Okowa, the running mate to Alhaji Atiku Abubakar in the 2023 presidential election on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party as disgraceful and unprecedented.
The former two-term governor of Kwara State said this in a statement he personally signed following the defection of Senator Okowa.
Okowa defected to the All Progressives Congress on a day his successor as Delta State Governor, Sheriff Oborevwori, and the entire PDP structure in the state did the same.
Speaking in the statement he issued on Thursday, Saraki advised those who intend to leave the PDP to do so now to allow loyalists to rebuild the opposition party.
He said: “Those who want to leave the PDP should leave now and let the rest of us who want to stay concentrate on rebuilding the party.
“Yes, it is unbecoming and shocking for the running mate to the standard-bearer of a leading party to abandon ship to join the ruling party.
“This is unprecedented, and nobody should try to justify such an act with the talk of being put under pressure.
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“It is simply a sign of how low we have sunk as a polity.
“The country is experiencing a collapse of leadership values.”
Saraki said he had received numerous calls from concerned party members and young supporters of democracy about the recent defections in the Delta State chapter of the PDP.
He reiterated the need to build institutions rather than place hope in individuals, stressing that the party can still be victorious with fewer, loyal governors.
“With the defection of the governor of Delta State, even if the party has only ten governors in its fold, the PDP is still in a good position to win the next round of elections,” he said.
Saraki said the PDP still has two years before the next elections to regroup and strategise.
He said: “Those who want to leave the party should go and let those of us remaining have a clear view of who we are talking to and where their political loyalty lies.
“This development has vindicated the stance of people like me who have decided to remain silent and watch events unfold.”
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