Jos — Eight PDP gov-ernorship aspirants in Plateau, including Deputy Governor Pauline Tallen, are set to defect from the PDP, the Tallen camp has said n Jos.

“Yes, we have finished plans to leave the party because we could not get justice there,” Mr. Pam Gyang, spokesman of the group, told the News Agency of Nigeria, NAN.

Gyang said the defectors were most likely moving to the LP, but they were also considering the ACN.

Also set to defect along with the aspirants are 16 PDP members of the Plateau House of Assembly, who did not go for the PDP screening even after purchasing the nomination forms.

NAN learnt from Plateau ACN Chairman, Amos Gizo, that the eight aspirants had contacted him with a request to join the party.

“Yes, we are in receipt of their intention to pitch camp with us; we are willing to accept them in our fold but with conditions,” he stated.

Gizo described the ACN as “a Church always willing to accept new converts who must be willing to abide by the rules as set.

“We have accepted their request, but we are going to set up a standard which they must meet before allowing them to contest on our platform.

“In fact, they will sign an MoU; a kind of bond, not to just use us as a platform to win elections and then defect to another party. We have learnt from experience”, he said.

Gyang, who is one of the governorship aspirants, said the group of aspirants, known as G8, had been working together and would defect together.

“Our plan is to contest the governorship elections on a consensus arrangement.
“Yes, we are defecting and that will be very soon; I cannot tell you the political party we are moving to for now; may be LP, may be ACN.

“I cannot be exact, but all I can confirm to you is that we are no longer in the PDP. “We did not go for the screening even though we bought the nomination forms.

We were told that the PDP had made up its mind over who should be its candidate, so we did not feel we should waste time there,” he said.

Gyang said that there would be no problem adjusting in the new political camps because there was no particular ideology in the Nigerian political system.

LP Chairman Yildet Bigwan, who also spoke on the development, confirmed that he had been approached by the governorship aspirants to pursue their governorship ambitions there.

“We have received a proposal from the PDP governorship aspirants to join us; but as a party, we are studying the situation.

“The LP will give every Nigerian the opportunity to express his or her aspiration and showcase their potentialities.

“Currently, we are acquainting them with our manifestoes and guidelines; it is not going to be a smooth sail because those who have been in the party must be given the opportunity of first refusal,” he said.

Tallen has also confirmed the plans to move to “another political camp”, adding the aspirants had been working together and would move to the new political abode, to meet their aspirations.
“There is no doubt that we are moving away; the PDP has not given us much options,” she said .

The current development represents a climax of the crises the PDP had gone through in the last two years, leading to various litigations as various factions wrestled to control the party machinery.

The factions, one led by Emmanuel Magni, generally known as “PDP 2” and another led by Prof Dakum Shown, known as “PDP 1”, had moved from one court to another.

But a Jos High Court in May 2010, declared that the Shown faction was the genuine one.

The Magni faction, however, appealed to the Court of Appeal Jos, which in December 2010, upheld the decision of the lower court.

The appellate court said there was no reason to invalidate the leadership of Shown.

A forthnight ago, another group, led by one Jonathan Dabo, took the PDP to a Jos Federal High Court, seeking an injunction to stop the screening of aspirants to elective posts, but the suit failed.

Meanwhile, Mr. Silas Janfa, who was the sole governorship aspirant of the ACN, said he was ready to face the new entrants at the primaries for the ticket.

“Yes, I have been told that they are coming into the party because of some troubles they have encountered in the PDP; I am ready for them,” he said.