The Taraba South Senator, Emmanuel Bwacha who until his defection on Thursday, the Senate Minority Leader has shed more light on his decision to dump the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) for the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).
Bwacha stated that the irreconcilable differences between him and Taraba State Governor, Darius Ishaku made him defect to the APC adding that he was pushed out of the PDP by the State chapter of the party.
He alleged that the PDP at the state level did nothing about the persecution he faced from Governor Ishaku despite his own best efforts of bringing about a reconciliation.
www.tracknews.ng earlier reported that Bwacha upon defection on Thursday was taken to the Aso Rock Villa where he met with President Muhammadu Buhari.
The Taraba senator was taken to the Villa by the Chairman of the APC Caretaker/Extraordinary Convention Planning Committee (CECPC), Gov Mai Mala Buni of Yobe State.
Speaking on Thursday evening during a chat with Channels Television’s ‘Politics Today’ programme, Bwacha said Ishaku turned against him in 2019 and has been trying to block all his political progress and opportunities.
The lawmaker lamented that though he has not yet publicly declared any ambition, the Governor said he must drop his governorship ambition before there can be any form of reconciliation between them.
“I actually cannot point out exactly what is his (Ishaku’s) problem with me,” he said.
“We (Ishaku and I) worked together in 2015 but in 2019, suddenly this hate came. I tried to speak to him about issues but it had always earned me hate. I tried to see him at a point but he shut the door at me,” the Senator added.
He continued by saying “I have not made public declaration about becoming a governor but there have been innuendos, insinuations. People have also been putting pressure on me to run for governor. And I overheard someone say that the only condition for me to sit with him (Ishaku) is if I would drop my gubernatorial ambition.”
Bwacha concluded that the political persecution he’s been suffering at the Taraba State level of the PDP made him dump the party after due consultation with his supporters and constituency members.
“It is about an environment where you are not being persecuted, where you are given a latitude to operate, a free playing ground.
“My people are not in support of such persecution, they see me going through persecution that is unnecessary,” he noted.
“If you are staying in an environment where you will not survive, if you remain there, you are doing it at your own peril and I would not be part of such danger, I won’t endanger my political future in an environment where I am not guaranteed a clear future,” he added.
