meeting of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, where a
successor to the immediate past National Chairman, Alhaji
Bamanga Tukur, will emerge, strong indications emerged,
yesterday, that President Goodluck Jonathan was under
pressure to dump the Minister of Transport, Idris Umar.
Sunday Vanguard gathered that following the plan by
governors elected on the platform of the PDP to protest
against the President if he succumbs to submitting Umar's
name to the NEC as the new party leader, Jonathan has begun
to beam his searchlight on Senator Abubakar Mahdi; a former
Special Adviser to the President on National Assembly
Matters, Senator Abba Aji; and former National Chairman,
Grassroots Democratic Movement, GDM, Gambo Lawan, all
from Borno State.
Before yesterday's pressure on the President, he was said to
have favoured the Transport Minister for the position against
the backdrop that he is an absolutely loyal personality and his
name was coming from his wife, Patience.
A source told Sunday Vanguard that Governors Isa Yuguda of
Bauchi and Ibrahim Dankwanbo of Gombe and acting
governor of Taraba State, Umar Garba, all from the North-
east to which the PDP national chairmanship is zoned, had
settled for Mahdi as their candidate.
According to the source, the governors discussed the name,
presented it to the PDP Governors Forum and subsequently to
Jonathan.
A source said several blocs have also emerged to be part of
the selection of Tukur's replacement, just as the Chairman,
Board of Trustees, BoT, Chief Tony Anenih, was said to be
rooting for Mahdi as a leader of his group, Peoples
Democratic Movement, PDM, while the former federal
commissioner and Ijaw leader, Chief Edwin Clark, and his
group were, reportedly, backing Aji for the position of the
PDP National Chairman.
But when contacted yesterday by one of our correspondents
on the matter and whether he was supporting Aji, Clark said
he was not part of the process as he had chosen to be neutral.
Tukur Resigns: From left, former National Chairman of
PDP, Alhaji Bamanga Tukur; President Goodluck
Jonathan with Tukur's resignation letter and Vice
President Namadi Sambo at 63rd National Executive
Committee meeting of PDP held in Abuja, yesterday.
Photo: Gbemiga Olamikan.
According to a source, the pendulum is shifting to Borno, a
non-PDP state, to avoid having a party National Chairman
from a state with a PDP governor to guard against what
happened in Enugu State where Governor Sullivan Chime and
former PDP National Chairman, Dr. Okwesilize Nwodo,
engaged in a cat and mouse relationship throughout Nwodo's
tenure, as well as the fight between Tukur and his governor,
Murtala Nyako.
Aji is seen as a stabilising factor in the PDP, a good party
man, but a source disclosed that issues that revolved round the
alleged letter by the late President Umaru Yar'Adua to the
National Assembly when he sought medical vacation, even as
it caused disquiet then in Aso Rock, may work against him,
just as the Presidency is of the view that having Lawan is like
having former governor of Delta State, Chief James Ibori.
The position of the PDP National Chairman was, in 2012,
zoned to North-east where Tukur, from Adamawa State,
emerged from while the zone, as part of continuity, retains the
position.
The underlining factor now is that the fight is between the
PDP and non-PDP controlled states in North- east. The PDP
states are Bauchi, Gombe and Taraba while Adamawa, Yobe
and Borno are the non-PDP states.
Still as top contenders are the former Acting National
Secretary, Dr. Musa Babayo, from Bauchi State, who was the
choice of the zone in 2012 before politics played out and
Tukur got it. Also from Bauchi is former Governor Adamu
Mauzu. Babayo and Muazu are said to be good party men,
humble, loyal, and loved by the people.
The list of aspirants include Barrister Ibrahim Birma, Shettima
Mustapha, Abba Gana, all from Borno State.
Speaking with Sunday Vanguard on the development, a
member of the PDP BoT said, "We have discovered that the
problem of PDP is orchestrated by associates of party
leadership and not members themselves.
"In the present circumstance, we want to elect a National
Chairman who will help the President to unify the party and
ensure his victory in 2015″.
" We don't want any candidate who is being sponsored by any
individual or group within the party. "
Forces against minister
It is against the backdrop that some forces do not want a
sponsored candidate that the state chairmen of the PDP were
said to be strategising to field a candidate for the post of
National Chairman at tomorrow's NEC meeting in the event
the First Lady, Dame Patience Jonathan, continued to canvass
for Transport Minister, Idris Umar.
The chairmen, still basking in their decisive role in the ousting
of Tukur, are particular to stop any candidate they believe to
be pushed by the First Lady, on account of what they claimed
was her role in stretching Tukur's stay in office far longer
than he should have left.
*Idris Umar
The state chairmen, who met in Abuja, on Friday, and were
set for another meeting, last night, it was learnt, have found
coherence with the state governors from the North-east, and
are threatening to cause a vote at the NEC meeting if a
candidate they deem to be unacceptable is presented.
A decision on the course of action is, however, to be taken
this night at an enlarged meeting, one of the state chairmen
from the South-west told Sunday Vanguard.
Meanwhile, another state chairman of the PDP from the
North-central, pleaded that the leadership of the party,
meaning the Presidency and the National Assembly, be given
full powers to nominate an acceptable candidate who he said
should be a team player.
Already some of the candidates angling for the PDP top office
had made contacts with the chairmen and one of the leading
aspirants, a former presidential adviser, it was learnt, was
scheduled to meet the chairmen last night. Irrespective of that
encounter, the chairmen are also mulling throwing up one of
the state chairmen from the North-east zone acceptable to the
governors for consideration as a candidate in the event of an
unacceptable candidate from the first family.
The state chairmen by themselves form the single largest
voting bloc within the PDP NEC and with the governors
almost form half of the voting bloc in the body.
The decision of the chairmen to pass a vote of no confidence
on Tukur, last Tuesday, was one of the decisive factors that
finally brought about the forced resignation of the immediate
past PDP National Chairman of the party the following day.
"This idea of the First Lady bringing somebody will be
seriously resisted by the chairmen who feel that Tukur stayed
that long because of the overt support he was enjoying from
the First Lady," one of the state chairmen told Sunday
Vanguard. "The decision that was finally taken on Thursday
(resignation of Tukur), if it had been taken about four, five
months ago, the state chairmen feel that only one governor
would have gone and that would have been Amaechi. Other
governors who left were complaining about Tukur and his
style of administration as characterised by the unwarranted
dissolution of state excos and planting his own structures in
those states and that, if this decision was taken about five
months ago, the party would have been saved the
embarrassment of the five governors leaving at the same time.
"This time around, we are set to resist any attempt where
somebody would be imposed without us being properly
consulted and convinced that that person will serve first and
foremost, the interest of the party rather than the interest of an
individual."
It was understood that the chairmen have scheduled to meet
for today to put final touches to their strategies of ensuring
that only somebody who will be able to discharge
responsibilities to the promotion and growth of the party will
emerge at tomorrow's NEC meeting.
"We feel that what we started would not be seen as complete
unless the right person emerges as the Chairman. Anything
short of that may lead to a call for a vote on the floor of NEC
on Monday."
Among the criteria the state chairmen are insisting the
candidate who will emerge the new PDP National Chairman
should have, according to the source, are that "the person
must be a politician who is accessible, ready to promote the
interest of the party and not that of an individual, who is
prepared to go round the 36 states of the federation to see for
himself the state of the party and to ensure that the party is
galvanised in preparation for elections." The source added:
"We don't want a chairman who will only visit states where
there is a presidential campaign. We want a chairman who
will run an open door policy to all party faithful, a Chairman
who will be committed to bringing back the five governors
who left as a result of Tukur's high handed policies."
Via: Vanguard
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