By Musa Adamu
The Director-General of Voice of Nigeria (VON), Osita Okechukwu, has said the defection of immediate last Speaker of the House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara, from the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the ruling All Progressive Congress (APC), will bring good tidings to the progressive party ahead of the 2023 general election.
Okechukwu, who spoke to journalists at his hometown, Eke, in Udi local government area of Enugu State, yesterday, expressed excitement over the return of Dogara after a short stint with the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
He said Dogara must have been attracted back to APC by President Muhammadu Buhari’s agrarian revolution and the transformation going on in the party under the Caretaker Committee headed by Yobe State Governor, Mai Mala Buni.
He noted that Dogara “is from agrarian community and cannot fail to ignite the unprecedented Buhari’s Agrarian Revolution.”
Okechukwu predicted more defections to APC as the 2023 elections approach.
“To be frank, one rates Rt. Hon. Yakubu’s decamping to All Progressives Congress (APC), as a good omen to our great party. Dogara could be likened to a woman who has married two husbands and comes back to the first husband,” he said.
He described the return of Dogara as a clear reflection that APC has more transparent officials, better programmes and had done more with little resources.
He said it does not matter if the return of Dogara to APC was politically motivated or because of disagreement with his Governor, Bala Mohammed, insisting that the former Speaker acted in national interest.
“To me whether local politics or national politics, Dogara must have noticed that there are positive changes and realpolitik transformation going in the soul of APC, which will attract more progressives as we approach 2023 general elections.
“A lot of progressives in other political parties are closely watching His Excellency M.M. Buni’s Caretaker Committee,” Okechukwu said.
He maintained that Dogara has out of the box of cacophony of voices of heart-rendering insecurity, gross unemployment and seeming hopeless in the land, came to the inevitable conclusion that all hands have to be on the deck to salvage the country from the cliff-hang.
Responding on the allegations of corruption in Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), National Social Insurance Trust Fund (NSITF), among others, Okechukwu said, “one has to be cautious, be careful, we don’t jump the gun, let us wait until the investigations are concluded.
“There is no need for speculations or hazarding guesswork. It is also sign of war against corruption that the issues were not swept under the carpet. It is work in progress as far as anti-graft war is concerned.”
On circulating photos on Malami’s alleged properties, Okechukwu quipped, “what struck me was that we slept in the same hotel pictured in the photos during the 2011 general elections campaign of defunct Congress for Progressive Change (CPC).
“If the Attorney General owned the hotel before he came into office in 2015, is it correct to accuse him on this count?” Okechukwu said, adding that he vividly remembered how they enjoyed themselves pro bono at the behest of Abubakar Malami in the hotel.
On the coincidence of Dogara’s defection at a time PDP called for the President’s resignation, Okechukwu said he had not assessed the inner workings of his mind but said he believes that “the former Speaker appreciates like most of us that Nigeria is in a bind and dire straights, and that all President Buhari needs at this crucial time is the hands of all patriots on the deck, not resignation.”
He said “in all honesty, Mr President needs the support of all patriots to navigate Nigeria out of crisis, not resignation.”
