Why APC Shouldn’t Have Allowed Dogara To Return – Sagay

Prof. Itse Sagay (SAN), Chairman of Presidential Advisory Committee Against Corruption, has condemned the return of Yakubu Dogara back to the All Progressives Congress (APC).

Naija News recalls that Dogara, a former Speaker of the House of Representatives, had dumped the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and returned to the APC.

The Chairman of the APC Caretaker/Convention Planning Committee and Governor of Kebbi State, Mai Malla Buni, disclosed this after the duo met with President Muhammadu Buhari at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.

Although Dogara declined to speak to State House Correspondents after the meeting, Mai Buni told journalists that the former Speaker “is now a member of APC.”

Reacting to Dogara’s defection, Sagay said that the return of the former Speaker of the House of Reps was a big setback for the party’s image.

He said, “For me, this is a big setback for the image of the APC. I think it’s an illustration of the fact that we are yet to adopt ideology and principles in our politics. Because if you have an ideology and philosophy, you won’t be hopping from one party to another.

“So, it creates a negative image of Nigeria and our political parties as immature. Otherwise, nobody drove Dogara away from APC. He woke up one day and decided to follow his friend Bukola Saraki to PDP. Why didn’t he stay there? Why is he back to APC again? So, for him, there is no difference between the two parties.

“This is something the APC should begin to seriously consider whether there is no difference between APC and PDP. If we are the same, why did we unseat the PDP in the first place if we are not bringing in new values to governance?

“If we are not the same, then if a person finds something good enough in PDP to go there, we should let him remain there and not just take him back. This whole idea of allowing people to jump in and out of parties has to stop.

“Otherwise, parties will not develop, there will be no philosophy, ideology and it will just be parties of chop-I-chop. It shows there is no purpose at all but just a platform for people to satisfy their material needs.”