Battle For PDP’s Soul Shifts To NASS: G-7 Govs, Tambuwal, Others In Secret Meeting By: George Agba, Donald Ojogo, Chibuzo Ukaibe Barring the unforeseen, today’s resumption of both chambers of the National Assembly may witness a feel of the crisis bedeviling the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) as the battle for the soul of the party shifts to the legislature. Indications to this effect emerged as the speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon. Aminu Waziri Tambuwal, the aggrieved governors, otherwise known as the G7 governors, and a sizeable number of federal lawmakers met at the Kano Governor’s Lodge in Asokoro last night. The meeting, according to an impeccable source, was to “fine-tune strategies aimed at getting having a majority of PDP lawmakers on the side of the new PDP”. The National Assembly resumes today from a two-month break. During the break, the crisis in the PDP reached a messy height with seven governors elected on the platform of the party forming what they called the new PDP after staging a walkout at the national convention of the party. Curiously, as the meeting at the Kano Governor’s Lodge was ongoing, another was also in progress as the chairman of the PDP Board of Trustees (BoT), Tony Anenih, also played host to pro-Jonathan federal lawmakers and some members of the party’s BoT. Both meetings were taking place a few metres away from each other in Asokoro. Journalists were not allowed access to both venues. At the meeting which took place at the Kano State Governor’s Lodge were Senators Bukola Saraki, Abdullahi Adamu, Shabba Lafiaji, Danjuma Goje, Ali Ndume, Mohammed Maccido and Umaru Dahiru. Also in attendance were no fewer than 95 members of the House of Representatives, but the source confided in LEADERSHIP that Tambuwal had to excuse himself for another meeting after the opening remarks. Among those at the meeting were Farouk Lawan, Bashir Adamu Kazaure, Bello Kumu, Mustapha Habib, Mamuda Sani Madaki, Abdulmuminu Jibril, Dakuku Peterside, Zakari Mohammed, Aliyu Wadada as well as a former speaker of the Sokoto State House of Assembly who is now a member of the lower chamber of the federal parliament. A source close to the meeting said the meeting became necessary in view of the past experience of the governors in the hands of Jonathan, adding that certain steps taken by the president and Bamanga Tukur between Sunday night and Monday morning showed that the president was not prepared for proper reconciliation. The source cited Monday’s inauguration of a caretaker committee for Kano State PDP without the knowledge of the governor as a major setback to the peace process. The source further disclosed that if necessary, there would be leadership changes at the National Assembly within the week as they relates to the PDP. But that last night’s meeting of the new PDP was to take stock of members of the National Assembly who are sympathetic to its cause. Director of press and public relations to Kano State governor, Halilu Dantiye, confirmed that a meeting was on at the governor’s lodge but declined to give details. “I think a meeting is going on at the lodge, but I don’t know the details of the meeting. Right now, I am outside the lodge,” Dantiye said. National chairman of the new PDP, Alhaji Abubakar Kawu Baraje and the party’s national secretary, Olagunsoye Oyinlola were also at the meeting. Another source said that at the resumption of the lawmakers today, the main focus would be to monitor activities of members with a view to identifying like minds. “There are two plans in the meantime, plan A and plan B. Plan A is to monitor the House as it resumes, but B is to push for the needed change of some principal officers of the parliament. “Already, there are about 28 impeachable offences against the president but those ones are not going to be explored for now; the only thing that is likely to happen is that the House might move a vote of no confidence on the president. He revealed that at the time of the meeting, the APC caucus of the House was also meeting at an undisclosed location in Abuja. At the venue of the meeting where Anenih was the host, a heavy presence of security operatives was noticed. A source, an aide to one of the governors, merely said: “It is usual for meetings to hold these days; others are meeting to plot, we are also meeting to counter them.” Presidency violates ceasefire agreement - Jonathan’s 2015 ambition stays, forecloses Tukur’s removal Less than 24 hours after an agreement that all parties involved in the crisis rocking the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) should observe a ceasefire, especially in media altercation, the presidency has made the first move in the opposite direction. The political adviser to the president, Alhaji Ali Ahmed Gulak, said the demand by the aggrieved governors that the party’s national chairman, Alhaji Bamanga Tukur, be removed was unacceptable. Gulak said the demand was a breach of the party’s constitution. Excerpts of the interview: How do you feel about the latest development in the political terrain? Gulak: I have always said PDP has its internal mechanism to resolve its problems -- whatever crisis the outsiders may think we have. We are talking, we are dialoguing, peace is gradually returning to PDP in accordance with the constitution of the party and in accordance with the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. These two documents are our guide, we abide by them and we are dialoguing in accordance with the provision of the constitution. But sceptics believe this crisis will mark the end of PDP; how do you react? I will tell you that PDP is the only national party that has maintained its name and identity since 1998 till date. Nobody can beat that record. Will the national chairman survive this factional crisis? The national chairman has no problem. He was elected and I always say that as there are processes for election, there are processes for removal or resignation. So nobody can cajole anybody to say the national chairman will not survive. Nobody is against the national chairman. Among the conditions listed by the aggrieved governors, which one will your faction agree to? I have said it before that 2015, national chairman, EFCC -- these are the three demands -- we have to be guided by the constitution. The Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999, as amended, as given Mr President the right to offer himself for a second term if he so chooses and nobody, either individual or group, can abridge his constitutional right. If he decides not to contest, let it be on his own volition, not because he is intimidated or cajoled into doing that. Secondly, about EFCC, I have said it before and will say it again: Mr President will never ask such an independent body not to carry out their job or statutory function. The third is about national chairman and I have said he emerged through the process of election and his removal is also guided by constitutional provisions. There is the rumour that your party has started the process of filling the vacancies of the ministerial posts? Mr President has the constitutional power to hire and fire. So since there are vacancies in the cabinet, it’s Mr President’s prerogative to nominate to the Senate ministers from the various states to fill the vacancies. So it’s not unexpected. What sort of people are we looking for? It is for Mr President to set the criteria but, in accordance with the transformation agenda, to bring in people that will work as a team for the success of the transformation. Before peace of this nature can be achieved, there has to be give and take; so what is your camp willing to give? Politics is about give and take. What camp are you talking about? There is no camp. Which is Tukur’s faction? There is only one PDP please and that PDP as at today is led by Bamanga Tukur. There is only one PDP; that we have some aggrieved members does not deviate from the fact that there is only one PDP. And these aggrieved members -- the elders are already talking to them and they are understanding the constitutional provisions and all of us must be guided by the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and by the constitution of our party. We don’t do things just because we want to do them; we must abide by the principles of democracy. The treasurer of the new PDP resigned. It is being alleged he was forced to resign? I have never said there is a faction. I have always said they are aggrieved members. There was even no national treasurer as far as we are concerned. The national treasurer of the party is Accountant Bala Buhari. That is the man we elected at Eagle Square on the 31st of August. I have never said there is any faction. Jonathan can run in 2015 - Akpabio As Gulak spoke, indications emerged that the issue on whether or not President Jonathan should contest the 2015 presidency was resolved in favour of the president: that he can run as long as he is qualified. Chairman of the PDP Governors’ Forum and Akwa Ibom State governor Godswill Akpabio told State House correspondents yesterday that, at the meeting, both sides agreed that the 2015 presidential bid of Jonathan was a non-issue as everybody was entitled to the right of nursing an ambition. He said, “That is why I said that the processes are on and, of course, on the issue of 2015, both sides agreed that it wasn’t an issue for discussion because every single person has a right to have ambition. Some of the governors may have ambition like I have ambition to go to Senate, and you can’t discuss anything about another person’s ambition. You are the only person that can discuss your own ambition. Ambition is personal. So both parties agreed to that,” Akpabio stated. Mohammed Abacha returns to PDP Meanwhile, the son of the late military head of state Sani Abacha and former governorship aspirant of the defunct Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) in Kano State, Mohammed Abacha, yesterday returned to the PDP. This development came as the PDP national leadership swore in Alhaji Hassan Kafayos and Andrew Musa as chairman and secretary respectively of an 11-member interim state executive of Kano State PDP. Observers regard these developments as early signs of the collapse of the reconciliation talks by the party and the planned take-over of party structure from the aggrieved PDP governors. But fielding questions from journalists after a closed-door meeting with the executives of the party, Abacha said he did not consult the governor of the state, Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso, even though he recognised him as the leader of the party in the state. He added that the issue of waiver over his return to the party would be discussed later. The party’s constitution (8A,b) demands that returnees to the party get waiver from the ward level up. He dispelled insinuations that his return to the party was to wrest power from the incumbent governor. He said: “We had wide consultations with the people back home on the major issues that made us leave then and all the issues were cleared; that is why we are here. “I did not consult with Kwankwaso. I did not consult with him. I am just coming back to the party. When I get back I will consult with him... Of course, Kwankwaso is the leader of the party in the state.” Responding to insinuations that he was out to tackle the state governor, he said “power belongs to God, God gives power. Nobody is here to wrest power from anyone”. However, briefing newsmen after the NWC meeting of the party, the national publicity secretary of the PDP, Chief Oliseh Metuh, admitted that the issue of waiver for Abacha’s return to the party was not discussed. He however assured that all the interests in the party, including those of Governor Kwankwaso, would be considered in the composition of the caretaker committee. Speaking after the swearing in of the chairman and secretary of the caretaker committee, the national chairman of the PDP, Alhaji Tukur, urged the committee to return to the state and ensure they retain the party for PDP. He admitted that “the opposition in the state has become stronger than before. So make sure that the party is organised and motivated and bring back PDP in 2015”. He said the party is not owned by any individual just as he pleaded for cooperation. In his response, Kafayos said the doors of the state party remained open to all factions of the party in the state. Gwamna was Tukur’s mole in our midst - new PDP In the meantime, the new PDP has described its former national treasurer, Alhaji Isiaku Gwamna, as a mole planted by Tukur in its midst. In a statement by the faction’s national publicity secretary, Eze Chukwuemeka Eze, the new PDP said it had evidence that Gwamna was a spy. The statement reads in part: “We have read with dismay the purported resignation of our erstwhile national treasurer, Alhaji Tanko Isiaku Gwamna, while the fact is that he was sacked by the party. This unprincipled politician was sacked after being discovered to be a mole and has since been replaced by a seasoned and principled politician, Engr. Abubakar Gambo Umar, who has been an active grassroots politician and mobiliser in his native Taraba State since 1999. “Alhaji Gwamna’s fate became sealed when a report on his true status was tabled before the National Working Committee of PDP during its inaugural meeting held at the residence of the party’s national chairman, Abubakar Kawu Baraje, in Abuja on September 15, 2013. The damning report on Gwamna was submitted by the PDP national secretary Prince Olagunsoye Oyinlola. According to the report, it was found that Alhaji Gwamna was a mole planted by the Tukur faction of PDP to monitor our activities and report back to it with a view to sabotaging our activities. “Oyinlola’s report further indicted Gwamna as one of those executing contracts for the federal government and under threat to have all his contracts terminated should he fail to spy on us as directed. Like the Judas that he is, Gwamna agreed to mortgage his conscience in his mistaken belief that he could successfully sabotage our mission to bring sanity to our party being hijacked by hawks whose aim is to destroy a party that they do not know how it was formed. “When Gwamna got wind of his impending sack, this false democrat rushed to the presidency to alert his paymasters that he had been discovered to be a mole and was at the verge of dismissal. To save his ugly face, the presidency quickly drafted a press statement announcing his resignation and gave him to sign and immediately released it to the press last night.” - See more at: leadership.ng/news/170913/battle-pdp-s-soul-shifts-nass-g-7-govs-tambuwal-others-secret-meeting#sthash.zoAMJe60.dpuf
Posted on: Tue, 17 Sep 2013 10:17:00 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015