After criticising APC Tinubu/Shettima ticket, Dogara named Atiku campaign member

• He’s running from pillar to post, says LP

A former Speaker of the House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara, has finally decamped from the All Progressives Congress to the Peoples Democratic Party and will now be in the campaign train of the Atiku Abubakar, the PDP presidential candidate.

Indeed, Dogara was on Sunday appointed a member of the PDP presidential campaign council (PCC).

Aminu Tambuwal, director general of the PDP PCC and governor of Sokoto State, announced Dogara’s appointment in a statement on Sunday.

In a reaction to the development, the Labour Party has said the movement showed Dogara as a man still living in the past and is only running from pillar to post.

Dogara’s appointment came two days after he declared support for Atiku.

The Northern Leaders Consultative Forum, which Dogara is a part of, had endorsed Atiku and described him as “the best.”

As a member of the APC, the former speaker of the house of representatives, who is one of the party’s leaders of the Christian faith, kicked against the Muslim-Muslim ticket adopted by the party.

Bola Tinubu, APC presidential candidate and Kashim Shettima, his running mate are both Muslims.

Members of a group of northern Christians in the APC had also expressed reservations over the Muslim-Muslim ticket of the APC, and said it would adopt a consensus candidate.

Babachir Lawal, former secretary to the government of the federation (SGF) and leader of the group, had said Obi would be the group’s choice.

Dogara, however, alongside other members of the group, distanced themselves from Lawal’s endorsement.

In 2018, the former speaker of the house of representatives, had defected from the PDP to the APC because of “failure of governance” in Bauchi, where he hails from.

While Dogara has not made an official statement on his new appointment as at the time of this report, his new role is expected to start immediately.

Meanwhile, the campaign office of Peter Obi and Yusuf Datti Baba-Ahmed, presidential and vice-presidential candidates of the Labour Party (LP), says Yakubu Dogara, made a grave error in endorsing Atiku Abubakar.

The Obi-Datti campaign, in a statement, said Dogara had the right to support whomever he wants but trying to do that based on his selfish interest won’t augur well for him.

“Clearly, the former Speaker knows that he is swimming against the tide by his unpopular decision which amounts to running from frying pan to fire; from one injustice to another and claiming to be acting on behalf his people whose anger for the two wrongs of the two main political parties are glaring,” the statement read.

“Hon Dogara knows as a fact that his position does not reflect the heart and mind of majority of Nigerian populace who are already on the moving train to take back the country from the primeval political thinkers like him.”

The campaign said Dogara’s stand showed his double standard when he refused to support same faith ticket of his party but pitched his tent with the PDP that does not respect fairness.

“At his level as the Ex-leader of the national parliament, Hon. Dogara should have been privileged to read the hand writing on the wall vividly to know that where the pendulum swings today: the talk is not about political party, but about character, competence and capacity, because where the country precariously stands today requires nothing short to save it,” the campaign further said.

“Hon. Dogara as the Speaker of the House of Representatives successfully ran a parliament literally in the opposition to the Executive and heaven did not fall, yet he feels that a pragmatic President like Peter Obi would not be able to maneuver or steer the ship of state.”

The campaign added that it was obvious that the former speaker was still living in the past of the old politics that brought the country to its knees.