I was deceived and defrauded by APC, defecting member cries out

The All Progressives Congress member of the House of Representatives, Mr Musa Soba, on Wednesday carried out his threat to leave the party by resigning his membership.

Soba, who is from Kaduna State, is one of the over 70 aggrieved APC lawmakers, who protested their loss of return tickets but lost at the appeal panel of the APC.

Soba’s resignation letter was read to members on the floor in Abuja by the Speaker, Mr Yakubu Dogara.

The lawmaker told his colleagues that his next political party would be disclosed soon.

According to Punchng exclusively report on Wednesday that the aggrieved members would start leaving the APC, beginning from Wednesday (yesterday).

Soba, who was furious, wrote in his resignation letter, the reasons he dumped the APC.

He accused the party of deceiving and defrauding him.

Dogara described the letter as “an epistle” before reading it.

The letter read partly, “As you are aware, the APC is yet to recover from the self-inflicted injury occasioned by double standard, indiscipline and sheer impunity in the conduct of its affairs.

“It is regrettable that the APC, which has enjoyed a lot of goodwill after its formation which culminated in our electoral victory in 2015, is now in disarray due to a complex mixture of ineptitude and inability to understand the dynamics of power in a democratic system of government.

“Mr Speaker, I have been personally short-changed by a system I so much trusted and believed in. I have also been serially deceived and defrauded by a political party I helped to nurture and sustain. However, it is the sharp division within the APC members and the mutual antagonism between the membership and the leadership of the APC more than any other factor that propelled me to take my exit.

The letter read further, “Accordingly, I wish to place it on record that from today 24th October, 2018, I cease to be a member of the APC, having tendered my resignation letter to all the relevant party organs.

“Since the political horizon is wide enough to accommodate my ideology and aspirations, I shall announce the name of my new political party in the next few days.”

When the final list of candidates was submitted to the Independent National Electoral Commission in Abuja on Thursday last week, The PUNCH gathered that the majority of the aggrieved members were not captured.

Those confirmed to be on the list were the Chairman, House Committee on Financial Crimes, Mr Kayode Oladele; Mr Isiaka Ibrahim, Mr Baderinwa White, Mr Aminu Malle, Mr Goodluck Opia, Mr Mayowa Akinfolarin, Mr Lado Abdullahi and Mr Jimoh Oladele.

The aggrieved members have been meeting since the final list was submitted to take a decision on their political future.

The PUNCH learnt that the meetings were rounded off on Tuesday with the position that the affected members would leave the party in batches, starting from yesterday.

Recall that two weeks ago, President Muhammadu Buhari summoned the aggrieved lawmakers to a meeting at the Aso Rock Presidential Villa in a bid to pacify them.

He had reportedly called the meeting following threats issued by the members that they would either dump the APC or work against it in 2019.

But, the presidential intervention did not do much to help the fate of the lawmakers.

Another lawmaker from Kogi State, Mr Hassan Omale, also defected from the Peoples Democratic Party to the African Democratic Congress on Wednesday (yesterday).