Babangida Lied
OpenLife Nigeria reports that Benedict Bengioushuye Ayade, a lawyer and Professor of Microbiology who has emerged as the hottest political news item in the last 48 hours has punctured Aliyu Babangida’s claims on the reasons for his defection from the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, to the ruling All progressives Congress, APC.
Aliyu Babangida, former governor of Niger State on the platform of PDP, between 2007 and 2015, had, early Friday, explained the reasons governor Ben Ayade of Cross River State dumped the umbrella party on Thursday for APC.
Among other things, Babangida who is reputed with unquestionable insider knowledge of PDP having served as the chairman Northern Governors Forum during his time, stated that “Governor Ayade left the PDP because he lost control of the structure of the party at the state level.”
The former Niger State governor added that Ben Ayade had, in the last few meetings of PDP, complained of the controlling influence of Liyel Imoke and other leaders of the party, a development that signaled his intention to exit the party.
Babangida noted that he was not surprised when Ayade announced his defection on Thursday assuring that there is nothing to worry about in view of the fact the most of the PDP’s loyalists in the state including public office holders are still with the party. “It is not a problem,” he noted.
However, Ben Ayade, on Arise TV Friday morning punctured Babangida’s submission, claiming it is a lie from the pit of hell.
Clarifying his decision to join APC, the 53 years old governor stated that up till the moment he announced his exit on Thursday, May 20, he was perfectly in control of the party structure in Cross River State.
“The main trust of my movement to APC is to stand with President Muhammadu Buhari to build Nigeria.
“It is not true that I lost control of PDP structure in Cross River State. Anybody who says that is telling lies against me.
“All the 18 local government chairmen in Cross River State are with me. I made them council chairmen.
“All the 196 Councillors in Cross River State are with me because I made them Councillors and they are loyal to me.
“I influenced the victories of all the National Assembly members in the state. I have 38,000 political appointees in the state who are my aides and they are all with me.
“Before I left PDP, anybody who is somebody in PDP both at the national and state levels pleaded with me to stay. They know my impact. They recognize my influence as the State governor.
“Civil servants and pensioners are loyal to me because I don’t own salary. They are all with me because they said anywhere I go that is where they will belong.
“I won 85 percent of the elective positions in Cross River State in all the elections.
“It should be clear to anyone that I did not move because I lost control of the party structure,” Governor Ayade explained.
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