President Goodluck Jonathan has scheduled a meeting with all
Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) governors for Saturday to
discuss the clamour for the ouster of the party's National
Chairman, Alhaji Bamanga Tukur.
Saturday's meeting, it was learnt, was part of efforts by the
president to finally resolve the crisis rocking the party, whose
one of the root causes is Tukur's leadership style that has
alienated many top party members.
THISDAY gathered yesterday that the president, who is on a
two-nation visit to South Africa and Kenya, fixed the meeting
after his talks with members of the National Working
Committee (NWC) of the party at the Presidential Villa,
Abuja on Monday night. He is billed to return tomorrow.
PDP governors, in recent weeks, have renewed the clamour
for the removal of Tukur who is being accused of running the
party like a personal fiefdom.
They have held three successive meetings on how to remove
Tukur as the national chairman of the PDP and at their last
meeting, attended by no less than 13 governors, they
reiterated their position that the national chairman must go to
enable the party manage its preparations for the 2015 general
election.
In all the meetings of the PDP governors, they have
consistently accused the party's national chairman of being the
cause of the crisis rocking the PDP.
One of the PDP governors, Dr. Mu'azu Babangida Aliyu from
Niger State, had accused Tukur of administering PDP as a
personal estate, while other governors are blaming the
national chairman for pushing five PDP governors to join the
All Progressives Congress (APC).
It was gathered that Jonathan who was in South Africa
yesterday for the national memorial service for the country's
former President Nelson Mandela, would be in Nairobi
tomorrow to attend the independence day anniversary of
Kenya.
On his return, he will go to Jos on Friday for the burial of the
former National Chairman of the party, Chief Solomon Lar.
According to a source, the president, after his engagement for
the week, will thereafter meet with all the PDP governors on
Saturday to discuss their grievances against Tukur and take a
decision of how to finally tackle the crisis in the party.
However, multiple sources have told THISDAY why despite
the recurring demand for Tukur's removal from office, the
president is unwilling to bow to pressure to sacrifice him for
peace in the party.
It was learnt that the Saturday meeting between the president
and the PDP governors would decide the fate of the national
chairman and the way forward in resolving the crisis in the
party.
But ahead of the Saturday meeting, party and presidency
sources told THISDAY that the president may not endorsed
the sack of Tukur.
They said the president was in a dilemma on how to handle
the matter, hence his pussyfooting.
"The inner caucus around the president is often bothered
about the unpopularity of Tukur. In fact, he has become an
albatross around the neck of the president. But the president
cannot see a situation where Tukur would be disgraced out of
office. Tukur has been very loyal to the president and he
(Jonathan) believes giving the man the boot is totally unfair to
the old man.
Of course, the president is concerned but he is doing
everything to save Tukur. He believes Tukur is the best
person for that post. Don't forget that Tukur is even married
to a South-south lady and he is not a radical even in his faith.
Tukur, though a thoroughbred northern leader, is committed
to the prospect of retaining power in the south," one of the
sources said.
He added that Jonathan has explicit faith in Tukur to deliver
on his succession bid in 2015 and he doubted the fact that any
"other northerner in the shoes of Tukur would be able to
actualise his hope of becoming president in 2015."
"The president always counter his kitchen cabinet, when the
matter comes up, that Tukur is the only one he can trust
especially as a buffer against top northern politicians like
Atiku Abubakar. "Besides, Tukur appears materially
comfortable enough to be bought over by the president's
opponents. Tukur is a fierce fighter and can take on all of the
president traducers, especially those from the north. Tukur
himself has told the president that only those oppose to his
succession bid want him out of the way," he said.
But another source explained that although he is bent on
saving Tukur's job, the president might eventually cave in to
pressure if it becomes too much for him to bear.
"The president is being reassured on a daily basis that sacking
Tukur may not affect his ambition. He also being told that
there are other northerners who can commit to the cause even
more than Tukur. They are telling the president that Tukur's
sack may actually strengthen the party and restore goodwill
rather than weaken it," the source added.
In a related development, the party's National Disciplinary
Committee yesterday waited in vain for the suspended
National Vice Chairman (North-west) of the PDP,
Ambassador Ibrahim Kazaure, to appear before it.
The committee had adjourned until yesterday to enable him to
appear before it, explaining that Kazaure's case was different
from that of the suspended National Secretary of the party,
Oyinlola Olagunsoye and Dr. Sam Sam Jaja and Alhaji
Abubakar Baraje.
But members of the disciplinary committee waited in vain for
Kazaure to honour their invitation. No reason was given for
his absence.
The disciplinary committee had two weeks ago
recommended the expulsion of Oyinlola, Baraje and Jaja for
anti-party activities.
The trio of Oyinlola, Baraje and Jaja had written to the
committee that they would not appear because of a subsisting
case before the Federal High Court, where they are asking the
court to allow them enforce their rights to fair hearing.
Culled from Thisday
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