AS the G7 governors and the presidency continues peace talks, more details have emerged over the
crisis, with former president, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, reported to have come hard on the national chairman of the party, Alhaji Bamanga Tukur, on ways out of the crisis.
Impeccable party source confided in the Nigerian Tribune that in one of the series of peace meetings brokered by the former president among the warring groups, he took the unusual step of directly conveying the request of the governors that the exit of Tukur is a condition for peace.
Chief Obasanjo was said to have openly confronted Tukur on the need for him to quit as demanded by the aggrieved governors, while Tukur was reported to have declared that he would not quit the leadership of the party.
Nigerian Tribune exclusively got the details of the conversation between the two leaders as follows:
OBJ- Chairman, governors want you out.
Tukur- I won’t go, because I am protecting an interest.
OBJ- Whose interest are you protecting?
Tukur- That of the party and President Jonathan.
OBJ- Can you do what a governor can do for Jonathan? You are just a delegate and the governors control delegates.
Nigerian Tribune did not, however, get the response of the PDP chairman to the last question asked by Obasanjo, but a top presidency official, a senior aide of the president, disclosed reasons Tukur could not go as demanded by the G7 governors.
According to the official, Tukur was the only nominee of the president on the party executive and that request that he should be removed would not be entertained, whatever the cost.
The source asked: “How can you say you are looking for peace but the condition is that the president must be stripped naked? Nobody will accept that. The governors, can they allow any other person to determine who will be the state chairmen of the party in their states?”
He said those pushing for Tukur’s removal were not going after the chairman but after the president.
While not foreclosing reconciliation within the party, the official said “any peace term demanding the capitulation of the president will not materialise and any call for removal of national chairman is a request for the head of the president.
“If they want peace, they should talk about issues, not about personality; I hope you people know that Governor (Murtala) Nyako is fighting the chairman and the president because they asked him to accommodate others in the Adamawa State leadership of the party,” he said.
‘New PDP’ treasurer rejoins Tukur’s factionNATIONAL Treasurer of the New PDP, Alhaji Tanko Isiaku Gwamma has announced his resignation from the National Working Committee of the group with immediate effect, rejoining and pledging loyalty to the Bamangar Tukur-led faction.
Briefing journalists at the presidential villa, Alhaji Tanko said he has carefully studied the unfolding events in his party and the consequences on the polity.
He said the crisis will not augur well for the unity of the country and urged all PDP faithful to ensure that the crisis is resolved peacefully.
The beginning of what has spiralled into a major crack in the ruling PDP started when five PDP governors stormed out of the PDP special convention, hence the birth of the ‘New PDP’.
Five of the governors – Abdulfatah Ahmed of Kwara; Muazu Aliyu of Niger; Musa Kwankwaso of Kano; Sule Lamido of Jigawa and Aliyu Wamakko of Sokoto State –walked out of party’s convention in Abuja, with a claim that a lot is not done right with the Tukur leadership.
Governors Murtala Nyako of Adamawa and Chibuike Amaechi of Rivers States, who were barred from attending the convention, also joined the other governors to form the factional PDP.
Former Vice President, Abubakar Atiku, Senator Bukola Saraki and former national secretary of the PDP also joined the newly formed PDP.
A news conference was held the same day, where the group announced that it had taken over the party’s structure, putting former acting national chairman of the party, Alhaji Abubakar Baraje as the new national chairman, while the position of the national secretary of the new PDP faction was given to Prince Oyinlola.
The group said they took the decision to salvage the PDP from those who have hijacked it.
The five governors claimed that they had visited some key leaders of the party to express their displeasure over the manner the party was being run. but nothing was done about it.
...Jonathan, G7 govs maintain hard stanceBy Taiwo Adisa -Abuja
THE peace meeting scheduled to resolve the crisis rocking the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) went underway in Abuja, on Sunday, with both parties sticking to their guns at the start of the meeting.
The aggrieved PDP members, who had announced the formation of the New PDP, met in the home of the factional chairman, Alhaji Kawu Baraje, on Sunday, ahead of the peace talks in the Presidential Villa.
Sources said all the top leaders of the New PDP were at the meeting, with former governor of Osun State, Prince Olagunsoye Oyinlola, flying into Abuja in the early hours of Sunday.
Sources said the G7 governors and their associates resolved to continue to push their position at the Villa meeting.
But contrary to claims by the splinter group in the media, sources close to the government said nobody had ever mentioned the issue of 2015 in the talks so far.
It was learnt that while the presidency understood that the main grouse of the G7 governors and their supporters was 2015, none of them had mentioned it in the meetings.
The source said so far, what had been seen was more of smokescreen issues being orchestrated in the media.
“We are fully aware that the G7 aggrieved PDP members have as their main grouse, the issue of how to stop President Goodluck Jonathan from contesting the 2015 polls, but none of them has, so far, mentioned that issue.
“The main issue tabled by the governor of Kano State, who spoke largely on behalf of the G7 so far, included the crisis rocking Rivers and Adamawa states, the crisis rocking the Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF), the issue of party structures in states and the alleged harassment of the government and former governors by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
“Nobody has mentioned the issue of whether the president should contest or not in 2015, but everyone seemed to have agreed that the issue is the main grouse.
“They should shy away from the chameleonic attitude and hit the iss
ue on the head,” the source said.
It further said President Jonathan had insisted on September 30 deadline to end all peace talks and move away from partisan political meetings orchestrated to stall the speed of achievements on the transformation agenda.
Sources also said while the president had decided to look into basic complaints by leaders of the party in the states, he would not tolerate anything that would tamper with the work of the EFCC.
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