The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Kaduna State chapter has declared that it is not any way disturbed over the exit of former governor Ramalan Yero and former member of the House of Representatives, Hon. Godfrey Gaiya.
State chairman of the PDP, Mr Felix Hyat, who stated the position of the Party, said that the exit of the two former members of the Party would not in any way affect the strength of the PDP in the state.
While former Governor Yero recently announced his resignation from the PDP but yet to state his next political party, Hon. Gaiya on the other hand presently serves as the Political Adviser to the Speaker of the House of Representatives.
Hyat, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja on Sunday, October 8, 2023 that the exit of both Yero and Gaiya would not affect the PDP’s fortunes, stressing that none of the two had any political weight.
According to Hyat; “None of them has said that the PDP maltreated him. We did not do anything to offend anyone. They came on their own volition. None of them did not get a good share even above their contributions to the party.
“The former governor became a commissioner of finance without being a member of the PDP. As a sitting governor, he contested and lost the governorship seat in 2015. He contested for the ticket to seek the seat later but lost the primaries.
“As for Gaiya, he got two terms in House of Representatives and left after losing elections. He came even lower, politically speaking, and sought to be a Local Government chairman but lost the primaries woefully.
“I am told that he was promised the then vacant Kaduna State ministerial slot if he defected, but it has been taken now. He may have do another political arithmetic. It is up to him.
“They were mere paper weights. They had no influence. We are not going to miss any of them. So, their exit cannot pain anyone. They are not strong politicians with any particular support base.” he said.
The Kaduna State PDP chairman said that the Party was ahead in Kaduna having won the three senate and 10 out of 16 House of Representatives seats.
Commenting on insinuations that the PDP made some tactical errors ahead of the 2023 general elections, Hyat said that was far from the truth as the fact remains that there was no way any Party leader could have impose any candidate since the primary elections were handled by ad-hoc delegates that came from the wards.
In his words; “The room for manipulation was not there at all. Even in the presidential election, it was the same delegates that decided. All presidential candidates requested for and met the delegates.”
“I did not shut people out. I couldn’t have done that when we needed all hands on deck to win the elections. The problem is that everyone wants to be a leader, but we have always said that people should strive to deliver their areas of operation so that collectively, we shall achieve success,” Hyat enthused.
