PDP crisis: NEC meets, decides Tukur’s fate

[Mirror]

...five governors too . Buhari, Tinubu storm Abuja

The National Executive Council of the Peoples Democratic Party will tomorrow decide the fate of the party's National Chairman, Alhaji Bamanga Tukur, at an emergency meeting called to deliberate on the crisis rocking the party.

Apart from Tukur's case, the meeting of the party's highest decision making organ will also assess the success of the re-conciliatory efforts by its National Working Committee, NWC, and ratify the August 31 date for its Special National Congress.

The party's NEC held on June 20 proposed July 20 for the special congress, but the date was later moved to the 31st of this month. President Goodluck Jonathan and governors, who are expected at the meeting, will also review recent developments in the party with a view to positioning the for the 2015 general elections.

Tukur, who may be forced to resign his position after the meeting, has been under pressure from some PDP stakeholders, including governors, to quit and the pave way for peace in the ruling party.

The PDP national chairman has, however, declared that he will not leave, insisting that it is in the interest of President Jonathan that the party gets back on the track to peace ahead of the 2015 general elections.

In a statement he personally signed on Monday, Tukur said he was in good accord with the President and other stakeholders, blaming "some black legs in and out of the PDP" who had been funding negative media reports on the activities of the party, both at the state and national levels to back the call for his removal.

The NEC meeting was confirmed in a statement by the PDP Acting National Secretary, Dr. Charles Akitoye.

Also billed to be discussed, according to the memo, is the crisis currently rocking the South-West zonal chapter of the party. It was revealed yesterday that some members had obtained a court injunction from an Osogbo High Court in Osun State to stop the special congress scheduled to hold in the zone this weekend.

Prince Olagunsoye Oyinlola, the ousted National Secretary of the party, it was said, obtained the injunction restraining the PDP from conducting the South-West zonal congress on the grounds that he still had a pending matter at the Federal Court of Appeal.

The court had ruled that status quo be maintained pending the determination of the case. Similarly, the sacked National Auditor of the party, Chief Bode Mustapha, is also challenging his removal from the party's NWC at the Supreme Court. He was sacked for violating the PDP's constitution by holding the position of meant for a professional accountant.

It is equally expected that the PDP's NEC will strategise on the oncoming governorship election in Anambra and Ekiti states.

National Mirror also gathered yesterday that the plan to reposition the PDP ahead of the 2015 elections has become even important in the face of the recent registration of the All Progressives Congress, APC, and the Peoples Democratic Movement, PDM, by the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC. President Jonathan had been under pressure to dispense away with the services of Tukur as PDP national chairman.

The plot to sack Tukur got to a head last week when top presidential aides including the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Senator Anyim Pius Anyim; Chief of Staff to the President, Chief Mike Ogiadomhe, recommended the removal of the National Chairman.

A source close to the Presidency said this development informed the convocation of an emergency NEC meeting for Thursday.

An influential member of the NEC, who is a Board of Trustees, BoT, member told National Mirror that Tukur has to go for PDP to find its bearing.

Even some northern governors, especially Sule Lamido (Jigawa), Aliyu Wammako (Sokoto), Aliyu Babangida (Niger), Rabiu Kwankwaso (Kano) and Murtala Nyako (Adamawa) have consistently demanded for Tukur's sack for peace to reign in the party. But Tukur has vowed not to throw in the towel.

On Monday, he declared that he was not under pressure to resign. Meanwhile, APC leaders, including Gen. Muhammadu Buhari and Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, will today storm the Federal Capital Territory for a meeting expected to chart a clear pathway towards achieving electoral success in 2015.

This is as the party has asked the Federal Government to honour its agreement with the Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU, in order to end the ongoing strike that has paralyzed academic activities in the nation's public universities.

An impeccable source informed National Mirror that the meeting which is expected to hold in one of the hotels in Abuja will also attract stakeholders of the party from the states as well as intending defectors into the party.

The source said the APC leaders will make a policy statement over their determination to take over government from the ruling PDP.

National Mirror

[Folami David]

As I've said before, all this crisis in political parties is pointless, baseless and useless.They have to resolve whatever is the issue FAST!