Wednesday 27 August 2014

I Am No Longer A Member of APC ––Tom Ikimi Moving to PDP


Chief Tom Ikimi left the PDP about 10 years ago after the party suspended him, and from all indications he is on his way back to PDP. He had in a tactical move aimed at getting the attention of the PDP brass declared that he would officially leave the APC any moment, without disclosing his next political destination.
In his words: “I am at the stage of currently critically re-examining the two dominant political parties in our country, which are the APC and the PDP, in both of which I have had close working knowledge. 
“I have not ignored the other political parties but in the light of the foregoing I must now search to really ascertain where indeed my true political friends exist. I need to be, at this time of my life where I have friends who share a common vision with me and where my freedom, respect, honor and dignity would be guaranteed.”

Sources say Ikimi’s anger at Asiwaju Bola Tinubu and other top shots of APC was on account of the refusal to award him the national chairmanship of the party that he coveted. Contrary to Chief Ikimi’s tactical deceit in his statement today, everyone knows he is heading for the PDP.

“We wish him well in PDP, we are aware how he used his inability to be chair to get PDP’s attention and at last he got it, the PDP are highly interested in anything that will destabilize APC and they got him,” said a top insider in the leading national opposition party, APC.

Ikimi served as Foreign Minister in the infamous government of Sani Abacha, and was representing Abacha at the Commonwealth Summit in Auckland in 1995 when his government passed the death sentence on the eight Ogoni activists, leading to his expulsion from the summit.

Following the return to democracy, Ikimi moved among the political groupings and parties, always looking for the next soft spot to land. He emerged in APP, from where he made his first decampment to the PDP and he is ready to return to the same PDP again, after about 10 years.

Do you know why PDP suspended Ikimi 10 years ago? Here are the reasons:
• Engaging in conduct, which tend to, and are aimed to factionalise, weaken the PDP, and generally bring the party into odium and disrepute;
•Proclaiming himself as the leader of PDP in Okpebho within Edo Central Senatorial District, “a position that is unknown to the party hierarchy and constitution;”
•Gross disregard and breach of the various sections of the PDP constitution;
•Breaking into and destroying the local government and state party secretariat, and harassment of the party chairman in his house during the local government and state congresses;
•Acting unilaterally in matters relating to the party against the wishes, and in spite of protestations of majority of the party members at the ward and local government levels;
•Encouraging and sponsoring violence and thuggery in the local government;
•Substituting a duly screened vice-chairmanship candidate with his relative and former house help;
•Converting into his personal use, an electricity transformer that had been donated to the Igueben Local Government by the state government.​

With all these, will the same PDP accept him back again? In politics anything is possible!

No comments: