The immediate past Senate Deputy Minority Leader, Emmanuel Bwacha, on Thursday said he dumped the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) for the All Progressives Congress (APC) to escape what he describes as the persecution of the Taraba State Governor, Darius Ishaku.
Shortly after his defection from the main opposition party, Bwacha, who represents Taraba South Senatorial District in the National Assembly, was received by President Muhammadu Buhari at the State House in Abuja.
Speaking on Thursday evening on a monitored Channels Television interview, the lawmaker alleged there is a deliberate isolation from the governor.
He, however, explained that the dispute between himself and the Governor Ishaku was not from his part.
“It is about an environment where you are not being persecuted, where you are given a latitude to operate, a free playing ground,” Bwacha said in response to why he exited the PDP.
“My people are not in support of such persecution, they see me going through persecution that is unnecessary,” he noted.
“If you are staying in an environment where you will not survive, if you remain there, you are doing it at your own peril and I would not be part of such danger, I won’t endanger my political future in an environment where I am not guaranteed a clear future.”
According to the lawmaker, Ishaku did all he could to ensure he didn’t return to the Senate in 2019, alleging further that the governor has also been against his political progress.
While noting that his defection is not about winning an election, Bwacha faulted his state governor for giving a condition for them to reconcile one based on his dropping any political ambition.
He added, “I have not made public declaration about becoming a governor but there have been innuendos, and insinuations. People have also been putting pressure on me to run for governor. And I overheard someone say that the only condition for me to sit with him (Ishaku) is if I would drop my gubernatorial ambition.
“We (Ishaku and I) worked together in 2015 but in 2019, suddenly this hate came. I tried to speak to him about issues but it had always earned me hate. I tried to see him at a point but he shut the door at me.”
