House Speaker, Dimeji Bankole, and 70 PDP Lawmakers Plan To Decamp TO ACN
Posted: December 24, 2010 - 04:15

In what promises to be a seismic development in Nigerian politics, Speaker Dimeji Bankole and as many as 70 PDP legislators may soon leave the ruling party and embrace the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN).

Several sources close to Mr. Bankole as well as two top officials of the ACN told SaharaReporters that the Speaker had been engaged in highly secret negotiations with the ACN to set out terms for his likely switch of political parties. “Speaker Dimeji may yet be the most high profile politician to decamp to ACN after the Minister of Information, Dora Akunyili, resigned from Jonathan's government and joined the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA),” said one of our sources. Mrs. Akunyili intends to run for a senatorial seat.

Our sources said Speaker Bankole may be switching parties with 70 lawmakers in the next few weeks, if negotiations go as planned.

The PDP is beset by a deepening crisis that has resulted from the controversy over which geopolitical zone is to produce the party’s presidential candidate. Many Northern members of the ruling party insist that Jonathan is violating an internal arrangement that stipulates the zoning of the presidency to a northern politician for the next four years.

One of our sources indicated that Bankole, who hails from Ogun State, began serious negotiations with ACN after he realized that President Jonathan’s close political ties with Governor Gbenga Daniel of Ogun State was inimical to the speaker’s political ambitions. Mr. Bankole has his eyes on the governorship of Ogun State, but Governor Daniel, who doubles as the southwest campaign coordinator for the Jonathan/Sambo ticket, has made it clear that he does not want the speaker succeeding him. “If the speaker wants to realize his gubernatorial ambition, he has to decamp to the CAN,” said a close associate of Mr. Bankole.

Another source told SaharaReporters that Governor Daniel has completely marginalized former President Olusegun Obasanjo and a former minister of his, Jubrin Martins Kuye. “Chief Obasanjo wants [former military administrator] Olurin, Governor Daniel wants Isiaka Gboyega, and Bankole has to search for a new platform to actualize his ambition,” an insider told Saharareporters.

Mr. Daniel’s closeness to Jonathan has emboldened the governor to throw his weight around with impunity. Last Saturday, Mr. Daniel’s hoodlums disrupted a town hall-style gathering chaired by Nobel laureate Wole Soyinka. The action has further depleted the ruling party’s low political capital in the state.


SaharaReporters called Mr. Bankole’s telephone and sent him text messages seeking his comments, but he had not responded as at press time.

Nationally, the ruling party is going through a rough patch over its contentious zoning policy that has pitched Northern politicians against Mr. Jonathan who is accused of breaching the party’s zoning policy. Last month, a group that styled itself Northern elders chose former Vice President Abukakar Atiku as its consensus candidate. Since coming on board as a “Northern candidate,” Atiku has battled Jonathan in a duel that is tearing the ruling party apart.

But beyond the internal wrangling over its presidential candidate, the PDP is imploding from its long-term unpopularity. One gauge of the party’s wretched image came in a straw poll that was recently pulled from its website in embarrassment. In the poll, more than 70 percent of respondents indicated their preference for a different party other than the PDP. The page with the poll was removed yesterday after it became public.

The ACN is slowly emerging as the PDP’s staunchest opponent. The party has been in a series of merger talks with other political groups after it gained control of several states in court judgments that nullified the fraudulent elections that brought PDP governors to power in some south western states.

An ACN official (member of the  "contact committee" in charge of receiving decamps from other parties ) who spoke to SaharaReporters said the party had not received official notification of interest from Bankole and the other legislators who have been informally negotiating a switch of parties.

Meanwhile, former military dictator Ibrahim Babangida – who lost out to Atiku – is actively seeking to become the presidential candidate of the ANPP, according to several sources. One of those sources revealed that Mr. Babangida was also interested in merger negotiations with other political groups, but none has expressed in working with a man whose era as military dictator was marked by rampant corruption, press repression, unsolved murders, and the infamy of the June 12 annulment.

rebranded:

He doesnt have what it takes to be an ACN Governor!. .We dont want

rebranded:

He doesnt have what it takes to be an ACN Governor!. .We dont want

Gbawe:

Joining the ACN does not mean he can beat other ACN candidates to the Guber ticket. It is however a good move if one views it as another nail in the Coffin of the PDP. The PDP will be seriously embarrased if this happens and I doubt it will. I know Bankole is very ambitious but , for many reasons, it will be a disaster , for the Party, if the PDP allow him and 70 other lawmakers to join the ACN .

Kobojunkie:

This is all moving old wine to new bottles . . . . it remains the same win and people ought to focus on the content and not how shiny the new botttle is.


All these politicians waiting to the last minute, to switch parties, are likely only doing it to secure their seats somehow. They probably think that it would be better for them to align themselves with parties that will probably guarantee their future in power.

yemi313:

But who are the reputable candidates in Ogun state to contend with him? If he doesnt run for governor right now, he may never have the chance again.[/b]

Beaf:

Bankole isn't the worst, Tinubu was an ACN governor.

olafolarin:

Dimeji Can decamp to ACN if he wants but he'll never be given the Guber ticket.
He might be compensated with a Senatorial slot,


Tinubu was a good Governor compared to GEJ caught with Millions of Dollars while he was Bayelsa Governor.
I think you really need to get off his d.i.c.k,
Or Betterstill

[b]Advice GEJ to seek workable partnership with ACN to fulfill his Presidential dream,

olafolarin:

Dimeji Can decamp to ACN if he wants but he'll never be given the Guber ticket.
He might be compensated with a Senatorial slot,

Browser69:

[/b]

Which workable partnership with ACN, so that he can repeat what OBJ did to S/west Governors in 2003. no way

Ileke-IdI:

We do not want.

People like Fayemi should not be mixed with these ole!

Mr.Chyz:

ACN=Rebirth of PDP=Crooks=Failures.

Mr.Chyz:

ACN=Rebirth of PDP=Crooks=Failures.

olafolarin:

Dimeji Can decamp to ACN if he wants but he'll never be given the Guber ticket.
He might be compensated with a Senatorial slot,

Tinubu was a good Governor compared to GEJ caught with Millions of Dollars while he was Bayelsa Governor.
I think you really need to get off his d.i.c.k,
Or Betterstill

Advice GEJ to seek workable partnership with ACN to fulfill his Presidential dream,

Ileke-IdI:

We do not want.

People like Fayemi should not be mixed with these ole!

Kobojunkie:

Are you kidding me? A party already with it's own class of OLE's should not let him in simply because he is an OLE? ROFLMAO!!

Kobojunkie:

Are you kidding me? A party already with it's own class of OLE's should not let him in simply because he is an OLE? ROFLMAO!!

Gbawe:

The main problem with you is that you do not have even a basic grasp of evolution as applied to nation building , the struggles that led to the emergence of strong national institutions and the pragmatic agitation that have preceded the enshrinement of sustainable political tenets and ideology. In the history of most nations of the world, developmental, societal and political evolution has involved the notion of good men , rather than stand aside impotently only to criticise as you do,  pragmatically embracing "the better devil" as a precursor to the birth of the beautiful ones.

What do you actually want? That twenty Winston Churchills, 30 Marcus Garveys and 50 Martin Luthers will suddenly appear to deliver Nigeria ? We have to work with what we have in recognising that progressive national evolution , differently paced for every nation , includes a need to deal with the prevailing political and socio-economic conditions of the day. You seem not to believe in anything or anyone and I really dont see how your stance , most of the time, is not defeatist and unhelpful.

nulldev:

Excellent post. There are 2 ways our country can make any significant progress, either through a violent overthrow of some sorts which will have to involve a few selfless individuals ready to risk life and limb all for the greater good, resist the attractions of absolute power (will be needed to bring some sanity to government) which I seriously doubt is happening any time soon. The more realistic and much slower path will be for a regular occurrence of 'anomalies' like Fashola which rise from within the establishment, stir the pot gently but ultimately raise the bar and create a window of opportunity for more such occurrences.

I do not know the inner workings of the squabbles within the AC but there is no doubt that the goodwill Fashola has built up over the past 4 years will play a large part in him getting the nomination for a second term (if he does) in spite of the possible friction between himself and Tinubu. It is beyond delusion to expect some outsider like a Gani for instance to rise out of nowhere, defeat BOTH the establishment AND the short sighted general populace and take over the reigns of government while the establishment say 'bravo, well done sir, we were outmatched by your superior values and intellect'.

Kobojunkie:

Are you kidding me? A party already with it's own class of OLE's should not let him in simply because he is an OLE? ROFLMAO!!

Ileke-IdI:

Oya, which naija party no dey ole ole?

ole get level o. so stop that thing.

Kobojunkie:

No give me that jazz! You are the one who posited that he ought to be rejected simply on the grounds that he was an OLE, and I am simply saying "WHAT THE FRELL?" lol.
That is nothing but DISCRIMINATION . . . ROFLMAO!!

Ileke-IdI:

KoboJ, make we no fight for this christmas o

I say Ole get level. Even your Obama is an ole. Even Jesus was an ole. You see, ole get level.

Bankole in PDP is trouble. He should decamp to APGA