Senator Saraki Dares The Odds, Defects To APC http://naijasharpnews.com/?p=1572

Tukur In Final Battle, To Know Fate January 8th http://naijasharpnews.com/?p=1575

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At last, the National Executive Committee
(NEC) meeting of the Peoples Democratic
Party (PDP) will meet January 8 to decide
the fate of the National Chairman of the
party, Alhaji Bamanga Tukur.
Also, meetings of the National Caucus of
the party and the Board of Trustees (BoT)
have been scheduled to take place on
January 6 and 7 respectively as precursors
to the NEC meeting.
The NEC meeting, THISDAY was informed
by a party source, would have a number of
items on the agenda, but the most critical
of them is the crisis rocking the party and
how to resolve it so as to move the party
forward.
The PDP governors have variously accused
the embattled national chairman of
highhandedness and running the PDP as a
personal estate, and have pushed for his
ouster as prerequisite for peace.
“The NEC meeting will decide the fate of
Bamanga Tukur and other crises affecting
the party, especially the discord that led to
the defection of five PDP governors and 37
members of the House of Representatives
to the All Progressives Congress (APC).
“The meeting is further expected to discuss
the grievances of 22 members of the senate
who are threatening to defect to the APC.
The meeting is seen as crucial because
PDP used to have 28 governors before the
2011 general election, the number was
reduced to 23 governors after the election,
but with the defection of the five governors,
PDP has 18 governors and there are two
other governors that are sitting on the
sidelines.
“We have a crisis in our hands because out
of the present 18 governors of the party,
only four governors – those of Gombe,
Kaduna, Kogi and Bayelsa – are first term
governors and will be seeking a second
term in office. The rest are governors that
are completing their second terms.
“So the earlier the party starts addressing
its problems, the better it would be for the
PDP,” the source explained.
He said the leader of the party, President
Goodluck Jonathan, would prefer that it is
not the governors of the party who should
decide Tukur’s fate, adding, “As such, these
NEC, Board of Trustees and the National
Caucus meetings are crucial because the
elders of the party will decide whether
Tukur is the problem or there is something
else that is wrong with the party.”
THISDAY further learnt that the president
may use the occasion of the various
meetings to give some insight as to
whether he would be seeking re-election or
not.
Also, the NEC meeting is expected to
discuss the draft guidelines for the PDP
primaries, preparatory to the 2015 general
election.
The source explained that the meeting
would also discuss the position of the PDP
governors that the suspension of the Rivers
State Governor, Chibuike Amaechi, who has
defected to APC, be lifted, while the party
structures in Adamawa State be given back
to the governor, Murtala Nyako, who has
also defected to APC.
The source said though the governors of
Rivers and Adamawa have defected, if the
critical stakeholders of the party agree, the
principal organs could review their
defection and use it to lure them back to
PDP, saying, “After all, this is politics and
there is no sworn enemy but common
interests.”
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