"We Are Ready To Battle With PDP" - Amaechi Declares

The five Peoples Democratic Party (PDP)
members who defected to the opposition All
Progressives Congress are ready to meet the
ruling party in court, the Rivers State
Governor, Mr. Rotimi Amaechi, has said.
Amaechi made this known in Port Harcourt on
Wednesday just as the PDP National Chairman,
Bamanga Tukur, boasted that Amaechi and his
colleagues would willingly return to the party
soon.
The PDP had last month asked an Abuja Federal
High Court to sack the five governors. It also
prayed the court to order the houses of
assembly of Adamawa, Rivers, Sokoto, Kano and
Kwara states to commence impeachment
proceedings against the governors.
The Rivers State governor ,who featured in a
radio (95.1 FM, Port Harcourt) phone-in
programme in Port Harcourt, said they had
hired reputable lawyers to battle with the PDP .
He recalled that many governors had in the past
left other political parties and joined the PDP
without being sacked by the courts.
Amaechi said, "Courts don't impeach. But we
are waiting. The courts' position (in the past) is
very clear. Zamfara governor moved to the PDP
and the court held that he had a right to move
if there was a disagreement in his party.
"The Bauchi State governor moved from ANPP
(defunct All Nigerian Peoples Party) to the PDP
and another court held that he had the right to
move. Abia State governor (Theodore Orji)
moved from Progressives Peoples Alliance to the
PDP and Kebbi State governor also moved from
the ANPP to the PDP. They are so many and the
PDP was so happy absorbing them.
"Now that five of us have gone and the chances
of more governors moving to the APC appear to
be there, the PDP is panicking. We are ready to
meet them in court; we have hired lawyers and
our lawyers can battle with them."
But before Ameachi spoke, Tukur told a team of
Nigerian professionals in Europe on Wednesday
in London , that measures being put in place by
the PDP leadership and President Goodluck
Jonathan, would encourage those who defected
from the ruling party to return on their own.
Although Tukur did not mention the names of
the defectors, he apparently had in mind, the
five former- Amaechi, Abdulfatah Ahmed
(Kwara); Aliyu Wamakko (Sokoto); Murtala Nyako
(Adamawa); and Musa Kwankwaso (Kano).