President
Goodluck Jonathan on Thursday night held an emergency meeting with some
of his close allies over the continued call for the sack of the
National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party, Dr. Bamanga Tukur, SUNDAY PUNCH can authoritatively report.
Among those at the meeting were the
Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Senator Pius Anyim; Chief
of Staff to the President, Dr. Mike Oghiadomhe; Minister of Niger
Delta, Mr. Godsday Orubebe; and Governor Godswill Akpabio of Akwa Ibom
State.
The meeting, it was gathered, was called
to consider the unabated call for the removal of Tukur by governors
from the party and other stakeholders.
Investigations by our correspondents
showed that the President might have taken the decision to force Tukur
out after his meeting with the duo of Akpabio and the Governor of Delta
State, Dr. Emmanuel Uduaghan, earlier on Thursday.
At the meeting, both governors
reportedly briefed the President on what transpired at the peace meeting
called by former president Olusegun Obasanjo with governors elected on
the party’s platform.
The meeting lasted for two days in Abuja.
“The consensus is that Bamanga Tukur
should no longer be the national chairman of the party,” a source privy
to the discussion at the meeting told one of our correspondents.
At the meeting the President had with the aides, SUNDAY PUNCH learnt that it was suggested that Tukur must not be disgraced out of office but must be given a soft-landing.
Several suggestions were made on how to get him out.
One of which was that he should be asked
to resign like the other eight members of the National Working
Committee, whose resignations were accepted by the National Executive
Committee at its meeting held in Abuja on June 20.
Those, who resigned their positions as
members of the NWC on that date were the Deputy National Chairman, Dr.
Sam Jaja; National Organising Secretary, Abubakar Mustapha; National
Youth Leader, Mr. Garba Chima; Acting National Secretary, Mr. Solomon
Onwe; Woman Leader, Kema Chikwe; National Legal Adviser, Victor Kwom;
National Publicity Secretary, Mr. Olisa Metuh; and the National
Treasurer, Bala Kaoje.
Apart from the eight national officers,
12 other officers, who were either deputies or ex-officio members, also
resigned from their offices.
Their resignations followed the report
by the Independent National Electoral Commission, which declared the way
they emerged at the 2012 national convention, undemocratic.
But unlike others, whose resignations
were based on the commission’s report, Tukur, who is 77 years old, might
be asked to base his resignation on “old age.”
Baring any change in plan, Tukur might
announce his decision to quit soon as the Presidency is said to have
asked him to convene a NEC meeting.
The date of the meeting, which a top
source in the party has put as Thursday, will be announced after an
emergency meeting of NWC on Monday.
All members of the party’s NWC have a
four-year tenure. Tukur and two other members of the NWC are already on
their second year in office having been elected on March 20, 2012.
The NEC meeting, it was gathered, might
also push for the postponement of the party’s mini-National Convention,
already slated for August 31.
Initially, the date for the convention
was put at July 20 by the last NEC, but was later changed by the members
of the convention planning committee, headed by a former Minister of
Information, Prof. Jerry Gana.
By the arrangement of the party’s
leadership, eight interim members of the NWC of the party ought to have
left office on July 21.
Some of the governors and aides of the
President were said to have argued that their continued stay in office
without the approval of NEC was illegal.
A top source of the party said, “It was
NEC that gave them the exit date and also set the date for the
mini-convention. We were merely told that the date had been changed. We
did not authorise that.
“So, their continued stay in office is
illegal. We also want to be careful so that someone does not hide under
any guise to go to court to challenge the process that led to the
convention.”
Our correspondents’ efforts to reach the
politicians and government officials said to be at the meeting were
not successful. A telephone call placed to Orubebe’s mobile telephone
line indicated that it was switched off or in an area outside network
coverage. Also, Orubebe did not respond to a text message later sent to
him on the issue.
Several calls and text messages to the
Special Assistant (Media and Communication) to the Secretary to the
Government of the Federation, Mr. Sam Nwaobasi, were also not replied.
Efforts made to speak with the media aide of Tukur, Mr. Oliver Okpala, on Friday, were not successful.
Okpala, neither picked calls made to his mobile telephone nor responded to an SMS sent to him.
On Saturday, Okpala told one of our correspondents that he didn’t want to discuss the meeting the President had with his aides.
The party’s spokesman, Mr. Tony Okeke, also neither picked his calls nor responded to an SMS sent to him on Friday and Saturday.
Similarly, the Presidency kept mum on
the Thursday meeting. Presidential spokesman, Reuben Abati, declined
commenting on the meeting.
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Nigeria democracy is a curse.it shouldn't ve come to existence in any form.I wonder why democracy which is supposed to be govt of pple for the pple turns out to be instrument of punishment and destruction.of pple by few set of pple.they r busy having meeting day nd night bcus of 2015 which they r nt even sure if they wl be alive or not.but left the huge problems of the country untreated rather complicating it .God won't allow all the politicians that don't ve the luv of masses to c 2015.
ReplyDeleteSeconded! Amen.
ReplyDeleteeven Nigeria independence too has k leg.I wonder how this country will be if we are still under British rule!
ReplyDelete