The political mechanizations unfolding as the electioneering campaign unfolds towards the 2015 presidential election nears – appears to be unsettling many of the political quarters in the troubled north eastern region of the nation. This is particular with the Boko Haram plagued state of Borno. Information available to 247ureports.com from sources within the government house in Maiduguri indicates that a latent panic may have taken over the immediate emotions of the occupants of the state government house in Borno State following a recent information that one of the governor’s trusted aide and confidant, Usman Mamman Durkwa, may have decided to dump the All Progressive Congress [APC] for the Peoples Democratic Party [PDP].
Loading ...What makes the decamp of Usman Mamman Durkwa to the PDP a significant loss to the APC in Borno is that he was the immediate former commissioner for religious affairs – who has held cabinet positions in since 2003. He hails from the southern region of Borno state – where the current deputy governors also comes from. He is considered a heavy power broker in his hometown in Hawul local government area. He has considerable influence on who is elected to the House of Representative, House of Assembly, local council chairman and advisers in the state government’s cabinet. He has been reported to have shown interest in becoming the deputy governor to the present governor. But the governor is said to be unwilling to tap on him to deputize him.
To this end, the opposition PDP in the state approached Durkwa with mouth-watering offers in order to lure him to their side. The opposition is said to be aware of the soiling relationship between the governor and Dukwa – and thus has made an offer to Dukwa to join the party in return for an offer he is not likely to refuse.
According to a close ally of Dukwa, the situation is dicey for Dukwa. He may not be let with many choices since the governor has rejected his offer to become the deputy governor. In his words’ “Durkwa may be left with no option than to yield to the pressures of the PDP, especially when his former boss, Ali Sheriff, is the one said to be directly making the offers for Durkwa; we are not sure yet but if the negotiations go on fine, he might get the position of deputy governor or that of Chief of Staff to the governor, which the APC is now saying are off the limit for him”.
