Elders of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) plan to wade into the protracted crisis of confidence that has pitched the National Chairman, Bamanga Tukur against Governors elected on the party’s platform, Daily Independent has gathered.
The planned intervention is said to be informed by the fear of “dire consequences that await the PDP” if the crisis was not resolved amicably in the face of current permutations in the opposition circles.
Coming on the heels of unconfirmed reports that some second term Governors whose tenures will lapse in 2015 are threatening to dump the party and join forces with the opposition parties that have already consummated a merger, the planned intervention was said to have been communicated to President Goodluck Jonathan who is the leader of the party before leaving the country for an overseas trip on Tuesday.
“We will not sit back and allow things go wrong this way; we fear that dire consequences await us as a party if things are allowed to go on like this,” a source, who was a key player in the politics of the Second Republic told Daily Independent on Thursday.
The proposed intervention will be without the “media hype that greeted such moves in the past,” the source said.
“A lot of things are happening within the polity and these things will adversely affect the PDP as a party. But the challenge we have is that not all those in positions of authority today are open to dialogue.
“There are stories that one of the Senators who wanted to dump his party for the PDP was dissuaded by his PDP colleagues who are aggrieved and are preparing to dump the party.
“Some of us are not surprised that the particular Senator was among those who sat to announce a new party that will challenge the PDP in 2015; something bad is looming that we need to avert before it breeds dire consequences for the PDP,” the elder statesman told Daily Independent.
He disclosed that a few elders of the party who are not alligned with any of the contending factions within the PDP have indicated their willingness to be part of the new mediation effort.
“Our effort is going to be selfless and devoid of the usual media hype that has greeted similar ones before now,” he said.
At Wednesday’s announcement of a new political party by opposition parties, a former Governor from the North who is now a Senator confided in Daily Independent that no fewer than six PDP Governors and an undisclosed number of National Assembly members of the party have indicated interest to join the newly formed All Progressives Congress (APC).
“All they wanted was a new name that will be devoid of any attachment to the control of an individual; no fewer than six Governors of that troubled party (referring to the PDP) are in touch with us and shall make known their stand, you just wait and see.
“As for the national lawmakers, I cannot be categorical but quite a sizeable number will be on board too because they are fed up with the things that are going on in their party,” the Senator told our correspondent.
The ruling party at the centre has been mired in crisis in recent times.
First is the thrice-postponed election of the chairman of the party’s Board of Trustees (BoT) which had affected the relationship between former President Olusegun Obasanjo and Jonathan.
Obasanjo, who had quit the BoT chairmanship last year, wanted his close friend and former National Chairman of the PDP, Ahmadu Ali, as a replacement but Jonathan preferred former Works Minister, Anthony Anenih, to return to his former position as chairman of BoT.
Similarly, Governors elected on the platform of the party had to reverse Tukur on the controversial sack of the Mijinjiwa Kauguma-led executive committee of the PDP in Adamawa State.
DailyIndependent
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