The President of the Senate, Dr Bukola Saraki, who announced his defection from the All Progressives Congress to the Peoples Democratic Party. PDP, on Tuesday cited provocation, ridicule and persecution as reasons for his decision.
Saraki, who made this known in a statement on Tuesday, said he decided to defect to a party that would give him and his political supporters, sense of belonging.
He said: “This is not a decision that I have made lightly.
“If anything at all, I have tarried for so long and did all that was humanly possible, even in the face of great provocation, ridicule and flagrant persecution, to give opportunity for peace, reconciliation and harmonious existence.
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“Perhaps, more significantly, I am mindful of the fact that I carry on my shoulder a great responsibility for thousands of my supporters, political associates and friends, who have trusted in my leadership and have attached their political fortunes to mine.
“However, it is after an extensive consultation with all the important stakeholders that we have come to this difficult but inevitable decision to pitch our political tent elsewhere.
“Where we could enjoy greater sense of belonging and where the interests of the greatest number of our Nigerians would be best served.
“While I take full responsibility for this decision, I will like to emphasise that it is a decision that has been inescapably imposed on me by certain elements and forces within the APC.
“Forces who have ensured that the minimum conditions for peace, cooperation, inclusion and a general sense of belonging did not exist.”
The president of the senate said those forces did everything to ensure that basic rules of party administration, which should promote harmonious relations among various elements within the party were disregarded.
He added that all governance principles required for a healthy functioning of the party and government were deliberately violated or undermined.
He further said that all entreaties for justice, equity and fairness as basic precondition for peace and unity, within the party, country at large, were ignored, or “employed as additional pretext for further exclusion”.
