Zamfara State Governor Dauda Lawal claimed that the Court of Appeal’s recent ruling regarding the PDP’s problem was a major factor in his decision to join the All Progressives Congress (APC).
Despite his attempts to encourage harmony among party members, Lawal, who recently quit the PDP, claimed that it became more and more impossible to stay due to the ongoing legal disputes and internal conflicts inside the opposition party.
The governor clarified in a statement released on Tuesday by his spokesperson, Sulaiman Idris, that his lengthy tenure in the PDP was ultimately terminated by the appellate court’s ruling over the national convention.
Before deciding to join the ruling APC, Lawal reportedly held extensive consultations with political stakeholders in Zamfara State.
The statement said, “Stakeholders in Zamfara state decided to join the All Progressives Congress amid the ongoing legal challenges faced by the Peoples Democratic Party.”
It stated that in order to maintain unity and get the party ready for next elections, the governor has continually sought to bring the various PDP groups together.
However, Idris claimed that attempts to settle the dispute through out-of-court agreements and reconciliation failed, resulting in a protracted legal dispute that might have significant ramifications for party leaders prior to the 2027 elections.
Lawal is “the last man standing” in the PDP among governors running for a second term, according to the statement.
“He was the only governor running for a second term who decided to stay in the hopes that party leaders would act appropriately and with dignity,” Idris stated.
He continued by saying that the governor had told stakeholders in multiple meetings over the previous three weeks that they had asked him to defect to the APC, but that he would make a definitive choice only when the Court of Appeal rendered its ruling.
Because he put Zamfara state’s interests first, the appellate ruling ended Governor Dauda Lawal’s tenure in the Peoples Democratic Party.
According to him, “he joined the All Progressives Congress to sustain the Zamfara Rescue and Rebuild mission.”
Recall that on Monday, the Court of Appeal in Abuja affirmed the Federal High Court’s ruling prohibiting the PDP from conducting its national convention.
After emerging from the Ibadan convention, where members of its National Working Committee (NWC) were elected, Taminu Turaki’s wing of the party claimed leadership of the opposition party, but the appellate court rejected their petition.
In addition, the court imposed a N2 million fine on Turaki and other faction members.
The Turaki-led organization instructed its legal staff to submit an appeal with the Supreme Court right once in order to contest the decision.
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