Trouble is looming in the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, as governors on the party’s ticket are rallying for a showdown with the National Chairman of the party, Alhaji Bamanga Tukur over his alleged unsavoury attitude towards them.
The hard stance of the governors, it was
learnt, had last night sent some members of
the National Working Committee, NWC, of the
party into a panic mode, following agitation
by the governors for the dissolution of the
body. “There is trouble,” one senior party official
said yesterday evening in between trouble-
shooting meetings, one of several held in the
federal capital yesterday. The governors, Vanguard learnt, yesterday
were mobilizing to convene a meeting of the
National Executive Committee, NEC of the party
which is expected to reverse some of the
actions of the NWC, particularly as it affects
Adamawa State. Yesterday, Governor Sule Lamido who heads
the committee instituted by President
Goodluck Jonathan to resolve the Adamawa
crisis, met with some members of the
committee including Governor Theodore Orji
during where issues affecting Adamawa were reviewed.Govs to use NEC against NWC The governors who nominated most of the
members of the NEC are now poised to use the
body to reverse the actions of the NWC
concerning Adamawa. Besides, the governors
are also threatening to mobilize the NEC to
convene a special convention of the party for the singular purpose of dissolving the NWC. It was as such not surprising that the
hitherto unanimous support Tukur was
getting from NWC in his battle with Governor
Murtala Nyako has dwindled as the NWC
members moved to save their necks. A number
of the NWC members, yesterday, had sent emissaries to the seething governors on their
readiness to soft pedal. The grouse of the governors flowed from the
dissolution of the Adamawa State executive
of the party on the instruction of the NWC led
by the national chairman, Tukur. Tukur is from
Adamawa State and until his election, he did
not have much say in the affairs of the party in his state as the whole party structure was
controlled by Governor Nyako. However, following his election last March,
Tukur moved to strengthen his hands in the
state with the dissolution of the state
executive of the party. The NWC said the
reason for the move was that the state
chairman, Alhaji Umaru Mijinyawa Kugama had overstayed his tenure and was from the same
senatorial district as Governor Nyako. The dissolution of the state executive was,
however, opposed by the governors who
alleged, among others, that it would inspire
anarchy and lead to a situation where NWC
members at the least provocation would
dissolve state executives of the party. The state executives of the party are in almost all
cases loyal to the governors and the decision
against the Adamawa State chapter was seen
as something that, if not checked, could in
future affect all of them. Yesterday, the same fear was expressed at
the meeting of the governors in Abuja. The governors at the instance of President
Goodluck Jonathan, had agreed to the
establishment of the Lamido committee as a
soft landing for Tukur. The expectation, it
was learnt, was that Tukur would use the
report of the Lamido committee as the basis for reversing the dissolution of the Adamawa
executive. However, to the chagrin of the
governors, Tukur using the NWC forged ahead
with the fresh congresses in Adamawa State
last month with the aim of putting the state
executive out of the control of Governor Murtala Nyako. Besides sacking the Adamawa executive, Tukur
is being accused of dictatorship following the
suspension from office of the National Vice-
Chairman, North-East, Alhaji Girigiri Lawal by
the NWC on the allegation of not
collaborating with the National Chairman’s agenda to weaken Nyako in Adamawa. Tukur is also being accused of hobnobbing
with the party’s local enemies in Adamawa
State for the purpose of humbling Governor
Nyako. It is claimed that supporters of the
Congress for Progressive Change, CPC
candidate in the last Adamawa State gubernatorial election, Gen. Buba Marwa (rtd.)
had been integrated into the structure of the
PDP faction sympathetic to Tukur in Adamawa
State drawing concerns from Nyako’s
loyalists.
www.informationng.com/2013/01/trouble-in-pdp.html

If care is not taken, Adamawa PDP will remain factionalised just as Ogun state PDP.

Power tussle.