Senator Emmanuel Bwacha, representing Taraba South Senatorial District in the National Assembly (NASS) has said he left the opposition People’s Democratic Party (PDP) in order to find peace.
Senator Bwacha, who was Deputy Senate Minority Leader, stated this after dumping the PDP to join the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).
According to him, the PDP as a national party did not offend him but that his grouse was with the leadership of the party in his home State of Taraba.
He lamented, what he described as “deliberate isolation from the governor” and noted that the dispute between himself and the governor was not from his part.
Speaking in an interview with Channels TV, Bwacha said the Taraba State Governor Arch. Darius Dickson Ishaku barred public officials from attending his constituency projects and his other political activities.
“I actually cannot point out exactly what is his (Ishaku’s) problem with me. 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.
“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.
“It is about an environment where you are not being persecuted, where you are given a latitude to operate, a free playing ground.
“My people are not in support of such persecution, they see me going through persecution that is unnecessary.
“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,” Bwacha said.
The Taraba Senator added that past and present leadership of the PDP did not help reconciliatory efforts.
