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| Alhaji Bamanga Tukur |
Party lifts suspension on Wamakko, silent on Amaechi
To hold NEC meeting Thursday to consider Mu'azu, Babayo,
others as interim chairman
Chuks Okocha
The crises in the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) came to a
head Monday when the committee set up by President Goodluck Jonathan to resolve
the spiralling crises in the party demanded the immediate resignation of the
party's National Working Committee (NWC) members led by the party’s National
Chairman, Alhaji Bamanga Tukur.
THISDAY sources at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, said the
decision was taken to “save the party from imminent collapse”.
The directive to Tukur and other NWC members to step down
came on the heels of the decision to lift the suspension slammed on the Sokoto
State Governor, Alhaji Aliyu Wamakko, by the PDP for insubordination.
THISDAY had exclusively reported last week that the
president had set up a committee headed by the Secretary to the Government of
the Federation (SGF), Senator Anyim Pius Anyim, to resolve the crises in the
party.
Other members of the committee included the Chief of Staff
to the President, Chief Mike Oghiadomhe, the President’s Special Adviser on
Political Matters, Alhaji Ahmed Gulak, Governors Godswill Akpabio (Akwa Ibom),
Emmanuel Uduaghan (Delta), Ibrahim Shema (Katsina), Gabriel Suswam (Benue), Isa
Yuguda (Bauchi) and Theodore Orji (Abia).
All members of the committee were present at their inaugural
meeting last Saturday night except Suswam.
Part of the recommendations that were to be made by the
committee, THISDAY had learnt, was for the resignation of the four NWC members
whose election had been recognised by the Independent National Electoral
Commission (INEC).
Although other members of the NWC may be considered
collateral damage, the real target, THISDAY learnt, was Tukur, who had been
blamed by several governors and other party chieftains for most of the crises
in the party.
The presidential directive was said to have been conveyed to
Tukur at a meeting at the Legacy House, Abuja, attended by Anyim and four PDP
governors.
According to party sources, “The president directed that the
entire NWC members should resign and that the party's National Executive Council
(NEC) meeting be convened immediately.
“The directive was as a result of the seemingly rudderless
leadership headed by Alhaji Tukur, which had been taking unilateral actions,
including the suspension of its top members.
“The president is unhappy with the inability of Tukur to
contain the growing level of indiscipline and discontent among members of the
party.
“Also, the presidency is worried about the number of court
cases pending in the various courts, even against the NWC members.
“The president has told them that if nothing urgent is done
to save the party, it will get to an embarrassing point which is why he
directed the resignation of the NWC members to stave off future embarrassment.
“The president believes that once the NWC is out of place and
a mid-term convention holds to elect a new set of executives, the trouble and
legal works will fizzle out.”
However, before the presidential directive had reached Tukur
Monday, the party's national chairman had earlier in the day announced the
lifting of the suspension slammed on Wamakko by the party.
But he was silent on Wamakko’s Rivers State counterpart, Chibuike
Amaechi, who was also suspended by the party for anti-party activities about a
month ago.
He also announced that the party would hold its National
Executive Committee (NEC) meeting on Thursday, June 20, 2013 by 12 noon. The
last NEC meeting of the PDP was held a year ago in July.
THISDAY had also exclusively reported yesterday that the
Anyim-led committee was scheduled to meet with the NWC yesterday, during which
a recommendation for Wamakko’s recall from suspension was going to be made.
The Anyim-led committee, which met during the weekend, had
resolved to push for Wamakko’s immediate recall, as his suspension was
considered a costly mistake on the part of the party.
However, providing clarification on the decision not to
rescind the suspension of Amaechi, Akpabio told journalists yesterday shortly
after the decision on Wamakko was taken that the party could not have lifted
Amaechi’s suspension because he was already in court.
“The matter is in court and doing anything on it would be
prejudicial. He is in court,” Akpabio explained.
Wamakko was suspended by the NWC on June 5 for allegedly
disrespecting Tukur.
Following his suspension, the PDP crises had taken a turn
for the worse, especially coming on the heels of Amaechi’s suspension.
Addressing reporters after a two-hour meeting the NWC
members held with the presidential committee, Tukur said: “NWC has rescinded
the suspension of the Sokoto State governor on the appeal of the PDP Governors’
Forum.
“Secondly, the national chairman is inviting PDP statutory
members to the meeting of National Executive Committee holding on Thursday, 20
at 12 noon.”
Speaking further on Wamakko’s suspension, Tukur added: “I
hope this issue will never come again. It is a great party and we believe in
our nation. We need a party as a platform to stand on, but it must be based on
unity, discipline and commitment.
“We are also going to have the NEC meeting, and we have the
support to rescind the suspension, which is a very important thing. We rescind
the suspension of our governor of Sokoto.
“With that, we are ready for further business because the
NEC meeting is the requirement of our own party, which is a way to get in touch
with the people to tell them of our programmes like the state of the nation and
also state of the party.
“So we are going to have our NEC meeting on Thursday the
20th of this month by 12 noon.”
Speaking shortly after Tukur had addressed the press,
Akpabio said: “I want to thank the national chairman and members of the working
committee for granting us the privilege of this meeting today.
“We came as a select committee of the Peoples Democratic
Party to discuss the state of affairs of our great party, particularly the
relationship between the working committee and the PDP governors and I want to
say that we made a very strong appeal to the working committee on behalf of our
colleague, the governor of Sokoto State, Governor Wamakko.
“Our appeal was very simple that the working committee
should reconsider the suspension, the decision suspending the governor and we
said as guarantors that we will be of good conduct and will do everything
possible to continue to show respect to our party and to ensure that a cordial
relationship is maintained between the working committee and the PDP
governors.”
Akpabio explained that their decision to appeal on behalf of
Wamakko was based on numerous media reports, some of which, he said, were
misleading and did not reflect the true relationship that exists between the
PDP governors and NWC.
“We are mindful of the fact that we are governors today
because the PDP gave us the opportunity to fly its flag. Therefore, we will not
do anything to undermine the party.
“Our appeal was very simple to the working committee that
the working committee should reconsider the suspension of our colleague and
just like they say both in the Koran and in the Bible: ‘When your child offends
you, you chastise the child but you call him back.’
“Yes, indeed, the suspension is a clear indication that the
party does not like indiscipline but we appealed that the decision should be
rescinded and we gave an undertaking to ensure that our colleague, the governor
of Sokoto would come with us to meet with the NWC.
“After that, whatever the issue of contention is, will be
definitely resolved. That was our appeal and that was our mission,” he said.
On the other aspect of the committee’s meeting with the NWC,
Akpabio added: “The working committee has also acceded to the request by the
PDP governors that there is a need for us to have a meeting of the National
Executive Committee.
“We have not had it for quite some time. But when we meet,
we can look at the status of our party and discuss issues affecting us, and so
that we can sit down as a strong party Nigerians have confidence in.”
On the decision by the party not to rescind Amaechi’s suspension,
Akpabio maintained, “The matter is in court and it would be prejudicial to
discuss any matter in court.”
In the meantime, THISDAY learnt that at the NEC meeting of
the party on Thursday, the party would consider the appointment of an interim
national chairman who would hold forth until the mid-term convention.
Names that were thrown up last night included the former
governor of Bauchi State, Adamu Mu'azu, and former national secretary of the
party, Musa Babayo, among others.
However, THISDAY gathered that Mu'azu's chances may be slim
due to the opposition he may face from his governor and the state chapter of
the party.
Since the 2007 general election, there has been no love lost
between Yuguda and Mu'azu.
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