The active relevance of the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) likely comes to an end as the Chairman of its governors’ forum and Governor of Bauchi State, Bala Mohammed, has concluded plans to join the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) this week, barring any unforeseen circumstances.
According to report gathered last night that the terms of his defection to the ruling party were still being negotiated.
However, multiple sources privy to the negotiations said that he was offered the APC senatorial ticket and would get all the allowances received by other governors that joined the ruling party.
According to the sources, the Bauchi State governor, in a meeting with President Bola Tinubu and the APC leadership, disclosed his intention to be part of the political family.
One of the sources stated that his planned defection to the APC may not be unconnected with the travails of his Commissioner for Finance, Yakubu Adamu, who is facing terrorism charges and a money laundering case involving about N4.6billion
The commissioner was said to have threatened to implicate the governor if he was not released from custody.
It was learnt that the ruling party handed stringent conditions to Mohammed, different from the agreements the ruling party reached with other governors.
Sources close to the Governor Seyi Makinde’s camp in the party have, however, expressed shock and disappointment with the development.
Members of Makinde’s camp are said to be wondering how a governor who led the flock of PDP governors could capitulate at the expense of the party, whose misery he was believed to have contributed to through his hardline posturing over the years.
Sources privy to the defection plot hinted that when Mohammed met with the president to conclude his defection plans, the president was said to have pointedly told him that it would be difficult to hand him the structure of the party as they did to other governors.
Tinubu, it was learnt, also explained to him the reasons why the APC structure in the state would not be handed over to him.
According to one of the sources, the president allegedly said the best he could do at the instance was to hand him his ticket back to the Senate, but that he won’t be allowed to nominate his successor.
“Unlike the privileges extended to the early detectors, Bala Mohammed can’t get the full APC structure in Bauchi. They told him the best he could get is his ticket to the Senate since he is nursing the ambition, but he can’t nominate his successor. He was told in clear terms. He is stuck, from all indications,” the source explained.
