PDP CRISIS: DEFECTORS WENT TOO FAR - TUKUR •Disciplinary committee recommends Oyinlola, Baraje’s expulsion •I remain PDP national secretary - Oyinlola NATIONAL chairman of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Alhaji Bamanga Tukur, on Wednesday, expressed shock over the reported defection of some of the aggrieved members of the G7 into the opposition party, All Progressives Congress (APC), at a time the leadership of PDP was making efforts to address their grievances through dialogue. Tukur, in a statement made available to newsmen in Abuja, on Wednesday, through electronic mail from China, said the aggrieved G7 members and others who defected to the opposition went too far. He, however, assured party members that there was no cause for alarm, saying that it was a normal thing in democracy. Tukur said party leaders would always put heads together to salvage PDP and further its desire to remain in power. According to him, “there is always a limit to demonstration of anger. If anger can cause you to pack all your bags and loads and then move into the home of your arch opponents, that, to me, is an anger so misdirected and it is unfortunate. “We cannot ask anyone not to leave the party if he so decided. After all, soldiers go, soldiers come. If any one leaves the PDP, many more people will join... it happens every time. “All the same, I seize this opportunity to say to others who want to remain to stay back and join the process of re-building and reforming PDP,” he added. Alhaji Tukur, while lamenting that he never “takes delight in having its key members defect to the opposition party,” pointed out that “those who did so had exercised their fundamental rights to associate as guaranteed by the law.” He assured that the turn of events would not halt the ongoing process of reform within the party and the desire by the leadership to entrench party supremacy, discipline and cohesion. Alhaji Tukur, however, waived an olive branch to willing members of the G7 and other aggrieved members of PDP to return into the party, assuring them that the party would always be eager to welcome back all returnees into its fold. According to Tukur, “we are still urging those that are willing to come back to do so now. We are ready to take them back. I am currently in China to study some modern day models of development that China can offer on party organisation and good governance. “I have taken note of so many things here. We will adopt the good ones to complement the reform process that is ongoing in PDP,” he said. Alhaji Tukur is expected back in the country today. Disciplinary committee asks NWC to expel Oyinlola, Baraje The Umaru Dikko-led disciplinary committee of PDP has recommended the expulsion of Alhaji Abubakar Baraje, Olagunsoye Oyinlola and Dr Sam Sam Jaja from the party, declaring the trio guilty of charges filed against them by the party’s National Working Committee (NWC). The deputy chairman of the committee, Chief Ebenezer Babatope, while addressing newsmen at the Legacy House, Abuja, on Wednesday, disclosed the recommendation of the committee. According to him, “three of the accused party chiefs, namely Baraje, Oyinlola and Jaja, are guilty as charged. As for Ibrahim Kazaure, we still want to inquire from him on the details of the charges levelled against him. “We recommend extension by a month, the suspension of Kazaure and he is to report before us in the next two weeks, that is by December 10.” Asked whether the accused party chiefs appeared before the committee, Chief Babatope said they were duly invited and that they had ignored the invitation of the committee. He, however, stated that the recommendation of the committee was to be forwarded to the NWC for further actions. Findings, however, revealed that Kazaure, a former minister and the national vice chairman (North-West) of the party, was spared expulsion, because of the intervention of the Jigawa State governor, Sule Lamido Chairman of the committee, Alhaji Umaru Dikko; Chief Emmanuel Iwuanyanwu, Alhaji Shuaib Oyedokun, Hajia Nana Abdukadir and the secretary of the committee, Solomon Onwe were also at the briefing. Reacting, sources close to Oyinlola’s camp expressed the opinion that in civilized climes, no honourable person would accept the invitation to sit on the disciplinary committee, as constituted, given its legal status and accusations levelled against NWC and its members. “Apart from the fact that the committee is not validly created, Alhaji Dikko, its chairman, is the national chairman of another political party and is not known to be a member of the PDP. “Chief Ebenezer Babatope, the deputy chairman, contested last year’s election into the office of PDP national secretary against Oyinlola and is known to be aggrieved, having stormed out of the Eagle Square, Abuja, venue of the national convention. “Incidentally, one of the allegations against Oyinlola is walking out of PDP’s convention last August, the same act committed by Babatope in the full glare of the president and other top party leaders. “The body’s secretary, Onwe, is known to have an interest in functioning as the acting national secretary of the PDP in the absence of the substantive holder of the position, Prince Oyinlola. “He wasted no time in accepting a celebrated swearing-in ceremony when Oyinlola was unjustly removed by Justice Abdul Kafarati last January. “It is obvious that Onwe will embrace and support the idea of removing Oyinlola to be able to take over the functions of the national secretary. “In the case of Chief Shuaib Oyedokun, he nurses an unexplained grudge against Oyinlola, right from his days as deputy national chairman of PDP and stoutly opposed Oyinlola’s bid to fly PDP’s flag as its governorship aspirant in 2003. “The reason why Tukur chose these people are well known to right-thinking members of the party and the society, but the good thing is that the committee has not been legally constituted. At least, three members of the disciplinary committee, - Dikko, Babatope and Onwe, are lawyers,” the sources said. I remain PDP national secretary —Oyinlola Meanwhile, Oyinlola has said he remains the national secretary of PDP, despite the fusion of the New PDP into the APC. A statement issued in Abuja by Oyinlola’s principal secretary, Femi Adelegan, said the former governor would continue to lay claim to his legal status as the scribe of the party. “Following several inquiries from various quarters, particularly from well meaning political associates, friends and well-wishers, it has become necessary to clarify the position of things as they concern Prince Oyinlola on the current political terrain in the country. “Prince Oyinlola remains the national secretary of PDP and will continue to lay claim to his legal and valid status as the national secretary of the party,” the statement read. It also noted that “Oyinlola’s purported suspension does not invalidate his substantive position as PDP national secretary,” adding that the former governor was resolutely committed to leadership through dedicated and selfless service. The statement added that “Oyinlola was elected at the PDP national convention of March 24, 2012 and confirmed by the report of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) on the exercise, as well as the Court of Appeal, through its judgment on November 6, 2013.” PDP plans automatic tickets for senators, Reps The leadership of PDP is said to have taken a second look at the automatic ticket proposal raised by the chairman of its Board of Trustees (BoT), Chief Tony Anenih, some months ago. Party insiders confirmed to the Nigerian Tribune that the move would reassure loyalists of the mainstream PDP in the National Assembly that they would be rewarded if they remained in the party. Sources told the Nigerian Tribune that contrary to indications that the proposal for automatic tickets for office holders, as proposed by Chief Anenih, was rejected, the party only felt that adequate attention would be paid to the issue when the time came. It was gathered that leaders of the party believed that the time was ripe for it to take a closer look at the proposal. The move, according to sources, would also assist in dousing the tension in the National Assembly, especially moves by APC to secure at least a simple majority in the House of Representatives. The APC was said to be looking for, at least, 49 members to guarantee it a simple majority in the lower chamber, just as it was also looking for the defection of a number of senators to enable it to push for the seat of deputy Senate president. While it was believed that the APC objective could be realisable in the House of Representatives, sources said the Senate could be a hard nut for the opposition party. “I can tell you that some leaders have exhumed the proposal and are pushing it through among the leaders. “Once this is accepted, the NWC would be asked to implement it,” the source said. Jang hails Lamido’s decision to stay in PDP Plateau State governor, Jonah Jang, on Wednesday, lauded his Jigawa State counterpart, Sule Lamido, for opting to remain in PDP, at a time five other governors defected to APC. Lamido, a key member of the G7, declined to join APC on Tuesday, arguing that he could not leave PDP, a political party he said he laboured to build. Governor Babangida Aliyu of Niger State also refused to join APC on Tuesday. In a statement issued in Abuja, signed on his behalf by Kassim Yakubu of the Nigerian Governors’ Forum (NGF) media office, Governor Jang noted that Lamido had exhibited wisdom, maturity and unimpeachable judgment in deciding to remain in the party to iron out his differences with the party leadership. He, therefore, called on the Jigawa governor to join the NGF under his leadership, “to work for the good of the people of Nigeria now that it is clear that a different NGF exists solely as an opposition party to the PDP-led Federal Government.” Why I left PDP —Nyako Governor Murtala Nyako of Adamawa State, on Wednesday, told the PDP and its leadership that no decent people will want to remain in the party with the way it is being run. Nyako, in an interview with newsmen on arrival from Abuja, at Yola airport, said PDP and its leadership had disappointed Nigerians, both at home and in the diaspora, by the high level of impunity and injustice, coupled with complete absence of internal democracy and rule of law. Nyako cited the dissolution of Adamawa executive of the party by “the decision of one man,” adding that all committees set up to look into that action by the president recommended reversal of that decision, but no action was taken. On the decision by some G7 governors to dissociate themselves from the merger, Nyako said the said governors would soon join them, adding that they were just taking time to make consultations with their people. Defection, democracy in action —IBB Former military president, Ibrahim Babangida, speaking after the launch of a book on Atiku Abubakar, said the defection of PDP governors was democracy in action
Posted on: Thu, 28 Nov 2013 00:43:56 +0000
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