THE unending multi -faceted crises rocking the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has taken a new turn as the governors elected on the platform of the party were said to have insisted that the Alhaji Bamanga Tukur-led National Working Committee (NWC) of the party must go, for peace to reign, pledging absolute loyalty to President Goodluck Jonathan and the Chairman of the Board of Trustees (BOT), Chief Tony Anenih.
“PDP as the leading political party in the whole black race remains solid, we have no crisis ,we are loyal to the leader of the Party, who is also the President and the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, Dr Goodluck Jonathan and the new Chairman of the BOT, Chief Tony Anenih, in fact, it may interest you to note that President Jonathan is a life member of both the Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF) and the recently created PDP Governors’ forum, he is free to attend the meetings of the two organisations, he was a product of the system,that is why we are ready to fight this battle to a logical conclusion,” one the governors told the Nigerian Tribune in confidence in Abuja on Wednesday.
According to him, “based on consensus, we the governors produced the National Secretary of the party and we honoured the President to Produce the National Chairman and in the middle of the game Tukur changed the rules of the game and wants to paint us black before the President, nonsense!!!, we are aware of his game plan,we still love PDP,we hope things will change,we hope Mr President will wade in swiftly, our party is in great mess, Tukur is highly respected, but he must go!”.
The source said that the governors have resolved to align with Chief Anenih’s peace move in all the states of the federation for the trust and respect they have for him with his ability to handle the critical era of the former President Olusegun Obasanjo .
This is coming just as it was gathered that the governors have resolved to sack the entire NWC members of the party should Alhaji Tukur refuse to step aside since all attempts to reconcile with him especially on Prince Olagunsoye Oyinlola and the Adamawa State Chapter of the party failed.
The Nigerian Tribune gathered that already the governors have resolved to settle for the following prominent members of the party as replacement of Prince Oyinlola. Chief Ebenezer Babatope, former Transport and Aviation Minister and National Director of Mobilization of the defunct Unity Party of Nigeria (UPN), Professors Tunde Adeniran, Tahoreed Adedoja and Chief Olusola Oke, the immediate past National Legal Adviser of the Party and governorship candidate in Ondo State.
Meanwhile, National Publicity Secretary of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Chief Olisa Metuh has said that the party does not plan to give automatic ticket to President Jonathan to contest the 2015 presidential election.
Metuh, who fielded questions from newsmen in Abuja on Wednesday, said that the PDP Constitution provides for primaries and that the party intends to comply with the constitutional provision.
The PDP spokesman also denied media reports which indicated that the party was planning to amend its constitution to give the President and governors the right of first refusal to pick automatic tickets.
According to Metuh, the National Executive Committee (NEC) of the party does not have any power to amend the party’s constitution, adding that as the spokesman of the party, he has not been informed of any such plan.
JD: That the PDP will implode is not in doubt.What we cannot determine now is the level of damage that might be done and the casualties that will follow.It is apparent thatTukur’s tenure as Chairman is probably the worst the party has ever seen.Does it have to do with his personality?Most likely given the mess he has created in Adamawa because he wants his son to be governor.Does it have to do with his principal,PresidentJonathan?Definitely!it appears the President doesn’t have the political savvy to hold the party together.combined with his l lackluster performance and strong desire to stay on after 2015 ,it is no surprise the party is divided along many lines and as we move closer to 2015 more will retreat to the trenches.The opposition might benefit from all this and could win the ultimate prize but given the way the registeration of the party is being handled, Nigerians may find that they haven’t gotten down from the one chance vehicle
Be the first to comment