Jonathan stalls govs plan to take over PDP

MUTUAL suspicion between loyalists of President Goodluck Jonathan and the Peoples Democratic Party’s national chairman, Bamanga Tukur, and those of the governors is delaying the convening of the party’s National Executive Council meeting,The PUNCH has found out.

The party’s National Working Committee has been unable to agree on when to hold the NEC meeting because of disagreement among the members, with the Jonathan/Tukur loyalists fearing that convening the meeting immediately as requested by the governors would mean handing over the party to the state chief executives.

A source in the top hierachy of the PDP told one of our correspondents on Thursday that “NEC can’t hold any meeting now. It will amount to handing the fate of the party to the governors.”

“If you are the President or the national chairman, would you allow the governors to take over the party over which you preside?” the source queried.

The governors had two weeks ago called for the immediate convening of the NEC meeting at the height of the internal wrangling in the party.

Membership of the PDP’s 12-member NWC is practically divided into two with the majority having sympathy for the governors’ call for immediate holding of the NEC meeting, but the Tukur faction is said to be wary of holding the meeting at the moment.

There are also suspicions that the state chief executives, who control the majority in NEC, would pass a vote of no confidence in Tukur at the meeting.

Sources in the party also said that President Goodluck Jonathan was not comfortable with the idea of  the NEC meeting at the instance of the governors. It is said that Jonathan is afraid of embarrassment if they should disgrace Tukur.

Jonathan is believed to be the backbone of Tukur whom the President is alleged to have recruited to facilitate his winning of the PDP ticket for the 2015 election.

 The governors’ faction in the NWC is led by the Deputy National Chairman of the PDP, Sam Jaja, and the faction is also loyal to and fighting the cause of the party’s sacked national secretary, Olagunsoye Oyinlola.

Only Tukur and the party’s new acting national secretary, Solomon Onwe, are in the Tukur faction.

Tukur had incurred the governors’ anger because of his alleged meddling and unilateral dissolution of the exco of the PDP in the Adamawa State chapter. Tukur is from Adamawa and there has been a fierce rivalry between him and the state governor, Sule Lamido, over the control of the PDP structure in the state.

Jaja, Oyinlola and other eight members of the PDP NWC had condemned and distanced themselves from the dissolution of the Adamawa exco.

 Members of the NEC, according to the party’s constitution in Section 31, are all the  governors, state chairmen of the party, 12 members of its NWC, the President, his deputy, chairman and secretary of the Board of Trustees.

Other members of the Board are also members of NEC, but they do not have voting rights.

The President of the Senate, his deputy, Senate Leader and Deputy Leader, Chief Whip and Deputy Chief Whip, two senators from each of the geopolitical zones, are also members.

In the House of Representatives, the Speaker, Deputy Speaker, the Leader and Deputy Leader, the Chief Whip and Deputy Chief Whip and three members of the House from each geopolitical zone, are also members.

Also in the NEC are six ex-officio members, and all former national chairmen, deputy national chairmen, national secretaries, chairmen and secretaries of BoT, who are still members of the party.

Many of these members are said to be loyal to the governors.

A member of the NWC of the party, who spoke with one of our correspondents on the condition of anonymity, said, “With the composition of NEC, I can tell you that it will be difficult for either the President or the chairman of the party to have their way.

“Unless the governors just decide to either respect the office of the President or the party’s chairman, their views will always scale through at any meeting.”

He also said that there were plans by the governors to rubbish some of the actions the party had taken, using its revised constitution.

The constitution, though had been adopted by the party at its National Convention in March 2012, had yet to be printed and circulated to members.

The PDP NEC, at its last meeting which held in July 2012, directed that the available copies be corrected and brought before the next NEC meeting.

But the Tukur-led NWC has started operating it, citing some sections of the constitution to back up its actions.

Tukur has however, said there was nothing wrong with the governors’ demand for a NEC meeting.

Tukur told one of our correspondents, “Yes, it will be done. Our job is to follow our constitution to the letter. Sure, the NEC will be convened.

“My job is to ensure that we carry out constitutionally, what the party constitution says.

“So, there is no fear and I also told you that the party is supreme. The party is above everybody, from the President, down to the councillor; they are all under that umbrella.”

Special Adviser to the President on Political Affairs, Alhaji Ahmed Gulak, has dismissed insinuations that the President was conceding too much to governors out of fear that they might frustrate his ambition should he decide to re-contest in 2015.

He said this in a telephone interview with one of our correspondents in Abuja, on Thursday.

He explained that the President’s intervention in the party’s internal crisis was predicated on his genuine interest in the growth and development of the party.

Asked whether there were fears that the governors could stop the President’s 2015 ambition, Gulak said, “It is not true.”

He said, “What I know is that my Principal and most of the governors are members of the PDP and when there is a crisis in the PDP, they will sit down and look for ways to settle the problem in a way that would carry everyone along.

“It is not as if he is conceding to the governors. The governors know very well that the party belongs to the people and the people are yearning for internal democracy within the party.

“And the President said we should give the party back to the people to decide who leads them and that is all I know.

“My principal is an advocate of internal democracy and giving the party back to the people and the development of the party at both the local and national level.”

  Meanwhile, Onwe told one of our correspondents on the telephone on Thursday that the party had written to the Independent National Electoral Commission, asking it to remove the name of Oyinlola as its national secretary.

“I can confirm to you that the party has written to INEC that his name be removed as the national secretary,” Onwe said.

Oyinlola was removed from office by a Federal High Court in Abuja, which ruled that the South-West congress that nominated him for the office was illegal.

INEC had last week said it had not received the court order removing Oyinlola from office nor any letter from the PDP intimating him of any change in the office, thus maintaining that Oyinlola was the party’s national secretary the commission knew.
TalkOfNaija