There were indications in Abuja on
Tuesday that the Presidency had set up a secret committee to look into
the crises rocking the ruling Peoples Democratic Party and proffer
solutions to them.
It was gathered that the idea was mooted
by some close aides of President Goodluck Jonathan, who advised him to
take keen interest in the crises because of his political career and the
determination of opposition political parties to merge and wrest power
from the PDP in 2015.
The President was said to have also been
told by the aides that the gale of suspensions in the PDP was capable
of derailing the party.
Those believed to be in the committee
are the Chief of Staff to the President, Chief Mike Ogiadohme; the
Political Adviser to the President, Ahmed Gulak; and some governors.
A Presidency source said the committee
would pay specific attention to the suspension of two governors – Rotimi
Amaechi (Rivers) and Aliyu Wamakko(Sokoto) – and the effect of the
report of the Independent National Electoral Commission, which queried
the manner majority of members of the PDP National Working Committee
emerged.
Before the committee was raised, the
President was said to have also been told that the suspension of the
governors within a spate of two weeks was an indication that the party
was not healthy.
Amaechi was suspended because of his
refusal to intervene in the State House of Assembly decision to suspend
the executive council of Obiokpor Local Government Council of Rivers
State. Wamakko, on the other hand, was suspended because of his alleged
insubordination to the PDP National Chairman, Bamanga Tukur.
A governor, who spoke with one of our
correspondents, said the leadership of the PDP might have been advising
the President wrongly on how to enforce discipline among members.
He said the President might have realised that and that that could be the reason why he set up the committee.
The governor said, “There is no
President who fights during his first tenure. Not even former President
Olusegun Obasanjo, who we all knew was a ‘strong man.’
“Obasanjo did not fight even when his
deputy, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, was almost snatching the PDP ticket from
him. He did not fight until he got the second term ticket of the party
and was also elected.
“The fear among the governors is that if
the President could do this to some of us when he is still seeking our
cooperation for a second term ticket, what will he do when he gets it
and he is eventually elected?
“We have let the President know this and he is acting on it.”
The governor particularly frowned on the
reasons adduced for the suspension of Amaechi and Wamakko, saying they
were not convincing enough.
He said that the suspension of Wamakko
could also send wrong signals to the governors in the North-West, adding
that “we all knew what Obasanjo did to bring the zone to the PDP.”
The governor said it would be wrong to
allow the zone, which has the largest number of states in the country,
to be snatched by the opposition again “due to the misadventure of few
people in the party.”
It will also be recalled that the INEC
report on the PDP convention, which produced the national officers of
the party, had become a source of worry to the Presidency.
Those whose elections were ratified by
affirmation instead of election as expected by INEC were the Deputy
NationalChairman, Dr. Sam Sam Jaja; National Organising Secretary,
Abubakar Mustapha; National Youth Leader, Alhaji Garba Chima; Deputy
National Youth Leader, Dennis Alonger; and Acting National Secretary,
Solomon Onwe.
Others were Senator Umar Ibrahim
(deputy national auditor); Hanatu Ulam (deputy national woman leader);
Kema Chikwe (woman leader); Okechukwu Nnadozie (deputy national
treasurer); Victor Kwom (national legal adviser); Olisa Metuh
(national publicity secretary); and Binta Goje (deputy national
publicity secretary).
Eight of these officers are members of the NWC, which sees to the running of the party on a day-to-day basis.
The President was said to have been
advised by the governors that it might not be wise to allow these
officers to conduct the next presidential primary of the PDP as its
result could be a subject of litigation.
This problem, it was also gathered, was
one of the reasons why it had been difficult for the PDP to hold its
National Executive Committee meeting.
The last meeting was in July 2012,
whereas the party constitution stipulates that NEC meeting must be held
at least in every quarter.
When contacted, Gulak told one of our
correspondents that he had yet to be informed about the workings of the
newly constituted committee.
He said, “Where did you get that from? I
am yet to be contacted. I do not know anything about it. If I am a
member, I should be contacted.”
Meanwhile, the party has described as a
basket of empty shells, the unfolding of All Progressives Congress
blueprint by a former Governor of Lagos State, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, at
the British House of Commons in London on Tuesday.
A statement by Metuh described the
agenda as grossly lacking in essentials, in fundamentals; deep in
cosmetics and devoid of originality.
According to him, the blueprint is
laced with half truths and outright lies and grittily divorced from the
substance and incidentals that ginger national growth.
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