Atiku/Governors faction urges court to stop Tukur
The civil war in the Peoples Democratic
Party (PDP) is likely to escalate, with aggrieved governors giving four
conditions for peace.
They tabled the conditions at a meeting
on Sunday night with President Goodluck Jonathan, 16 governors, and the
Chairman of the Board of Trustees (BoT) of a faction of the party, Chief
Tony Anenih.
The conditions are that:
•factional National Chairman Bamanga Tukur should be sacked;
•President Jonathan should do one term only and forget re-election in 2015;
•the Nigeria Governors Forum (NGF) and Rivers State crises should be resolved; and
•”harassment” of governors by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) should be stopped.
Attempts were made to narrow the conditions to two but no progress was made, The Nation learnt.
The two factions only succeeded in setting agenda for resumption of talks today.
But the National Secretary of the
Atiku-Governors faction of the PDP, Prince Olagunsoye Oyinlola, said
yesterday that despite the intervention by Jonathan, ex-President
Olusegun Obasanjo and other party leaders, members of the New PDP would
not abandon their struggle.
Oyinlola, who issued a statement in
Abuja, said the faction would not disappoint members in the mission to
make the PDP work again in the interest of Nigeria and its people.
Sources said that Sunday’s meeting was a no-holds-barred type, with Jonathan feeling overwhelmed.
It was gathered that the seven governors,
who were represented by four of their colleagues, complained lack of
internal democracy in the party and “repression” by the Presidency.
“The governors demanded the removal of
the factional National Chairman of PDP, Alhaji Bamanga Tukur to have
genuine reconciliation in the party, a source said, adding: “They also
asked the President to stick to the agreement he purportedly had with
party leaders to spend one term in office. They urged Jonathan to come
out openly on his rumoured re-election bid in 2015.
They listed the crises in the NGF and
Rivers State and promotion of parallel party structure in some PDP
states as their grouses.
Another source at the session said
Kwankwaso spoke first, complaining against the use of EFCC by the
Presidency to witch-hunt governors who have mere political disagreements
with the President.
Said the source: “Kwankwaso cited the
arrest and prosecution of a son of the Governor of Jigawa State, Alhaji
Sule Lamido, by the EFCC. He insisted that the prosecution of Lamido’s
son was triggered by the Presidency when it was obvious that the victim
was on a medical trip to Egypt.
“Kwara State Governor Abdulfatah Ahmed,
whose brother was recently grilled by one of the anti-graft agencies
over alleged N60million contract, was quoted as saying ‘I have been
facing EFCC probe because I served in the executive of Senator Bukola
Saraki. There is an atmosphere of fear in Kwara over activities of the
EFCC’.
Governors Jonah Jang, Godswill Akpabio, and Gabriel Suswam reportedly pleaded for understanding.
Jang was said to have attributed the challenges being faced by the party to what he called “deception”.
The source quoted Jang as saying: “People
should not be using deception in politics. The same people who said I
should go and contest for the NGF chairmanship as a consensus candidate
later moved against me. As adults, we should not engage in politics of
deception.
“On EFCC investigation, this should not
be an issue because it applies to everyone. For three years, I was
placed under investigation by the commission.”
Suswam spoke in a similar manner, saying EFCC was not the problem because “I am also being investigated”.
Akpabio was quoted as saying: “I do not
see anything bad in EFCC investigation. My sister, who was on a medical
trip, was sent back from Germany because she is a relation of a
political office holder.
“I think we should all give peace a chance because nobody will be in office for life.”
A worried factional Chairman of the Board
of Trustees of PDP, Chief Tony Anenih, pleaded with the aggrieved
governors to give peace a chance, it was learnt.
Jonathan, according to the sources, described the party’s challenges as “resolvable”.
Another source quoted Jonathan as follows: “All the problems analysed are within human capacity, we will address them.
“Those within my powers, I will address them personally and those for the party, I will get the party to address them
“But we should all remember that PDP is a
party in all localities in Nigeria and because of that we will not
allow anything that will undermine the PDP.”
There were attempts to build a consensus
on some of the problems, but two were “nasty” – in the view of a source.
These are removal of Tukur and dumping of second term ambition by
Jonathan.
Oyinlola said despite intervention, the struggle would go on.
Oyinlola’s statement reads in part:
“Alhaji Baraje and other leaders of the party appreciate the
overwhelming outpouring of support and encouragement from genuine
members and leaders of the party across the country.
“We assure them that we will not
disappoint them in the mission to make the PDP work again in the
interest of Nigeria and its people.
“We also appreciate the efforts of
leaders of the party, particularly President Goodluck Jonathan and
former President Olusegun Obasanjo who, we note, have scheduled a
meeting of the party elders for this week.
“We respect the elders and will be guided
by them even as we stress that we will not abandon the ideals of
justice and fairness that gave birth to the new party leadership under
Alhaji Baraje.
“We equally call on all party members
across the country to remain peaceful and law abiding as the PDP rescue
process is being pursued with vigour.
“We owe the coming generation of
Nigerians a duty of ensuring that impunity and dictatorship do not take
any root in our democracy and, indeed, in our nation.”
The new party commiserated with families,
associates and friends of the Adamawa State delegates who died in
Saturday’s road crash.
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