Kassim Afegbua, a former Edo Commissioner for Information, has dumped the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
Afegbua, in a letter he personally signed and addressed to the chairman of his ward, said his decision to withdraw from the party was part of his protest that power should be shifted to the Southern part of Nigeria come 2023.
He described as hypocritical and manipulative the process that produced Atiku Abubakar and his running mate, Governor Ifeanyi Okowa of Delta State, as standard-bearers of the party for the 2023 presidential election.
”Dear Chairman, Let me use this medium to convey to you, my resignation from being a member of the Peoples Democratic Party, Ward 5, Awuyemi, Okpella.
“My reason is borne out of my long-held and well-publicized position that it is the turn of the Southern part of Nigeria to produce the next president, in line with the provisions of Article 7 of the party’s constitution.
“Since the party has jettisoned the provision and manipulated the convention by eliminating zoning, my aspiration as a member is impaired.
“The same party that eliminated zoning has all of a sudden, settled for a running mate from the South in the person of Senator Ifeanyi Arthur Okowa. I would have thought that having eliminated zoning, the candidate would choose his vice from any part of the country; including the zones of the North.
“This reality presents a hypocritical emanation that can neither stand the true test of justice, fairness, and equity nor prospective legal challenges.” he wrote.