The president, some governors of PDP, party stakeholders loyal to him and the aggrieved governors had agreed in their meeting of September 15, held at the Presidential Villa, to sheathe their swords and return to a final round of meeting today, where they hoped all outstanding disagreements would be resolved.
But the Abubakar Baraje-led splinter group, to which the rebel governors were loyal, in a media statement last week, indicated that it was seeking a postponement of the meeting, as it coincided with the time most of the seven governors would be out of the country on Muslim pigrimage.
But the Nigerian Tribune learnt on Sunday that beyond what it saw on the pages of the newspapers, the presidency had not been officially notified of their decision not to attend.
It is, therefore, going ahead with the preparations for the meeting, which was expected to take place at the First Lady wing of the Presidential Villa.
The Special Adviser to the President, Alhaji Ahmed Gulak, confirmed to the Nigerian Tribune in a phone call on Sunday that President Jonathan was ready to receive the governors today or any time at all.
He said though the presidency had seen the statement of the splinter group in the media, it was yet to be officially informed, adding that the presidency would not act on media speculations.
Asked to confirm if the meeting had been put off, he said “the meeting is supposed to hold tomorrow (today). Let’s wait for tomorrow before you begin to ask questions.”
Reminded that New PDP had said the aggrieved governors would not be available, Gulak added: “That’s the report we are reading in the newspapers, but the best thing is to wait for tomorrow (today) whether the meeting will hold or not. If the meeting doesn’t hold, you can call me (to find out) and if we have any reason to give, we can then give you.
“But, as of today (Sunday), I don’t work on speculations on the papers, I have not seen their formal letter of request to postpone the meeting. I just read it in the pages of newspapers. So, maybe by tomorrow (today), we will know the correct position.
“Well, as far as we are concerned, the president is waiting, any time any day.”
The presidential aide also responded to the claim made on Saturday by Governor Sule Lamido of Jigawa State that both President Jonathan and the national chairman of PDP, Alhaji Bamanga Tukur, were joiners, who wanted to take over a house that did not belong to them.
Receiving some of his supporters from Kano State, Lamido had said “at the time Tukur became chairman, we were already governors. He contributed nothing to us; we are the ones who favoured him after he was rejected by his zone and defeated by Babayo Gamawa in a shadow election conducted in the North-West zone. We said, don’t worry let us meet in Abuja. We met in Abuja, we supported him and we made him the national chairman.
“At that time, Nyako, Kwankwaso, Wamakko, Babangida Aliyu, Amaechi and I were already in office, having won our second term elections. What did Bamanga contribute to us? Who favoured who between us?
“There is no way someone who was favoured and is squatting would be allowed to claim a house and attempt to send owners of the house out of their own compound. When the PDP was formed and registered, where were Tukur and Jonathan?”
But the presidential aide debunked the claim, saying both Jonathan and Tukur were original members of the PDP.
While he noted that Jonathan was the deputy governor of his state in 1999, less than a year after the party’s formation, he also recalled that Tukur was a founding father of PDP.
According to Gulak, “Tukur was one of the pioneer members of PDP. Tukur is a founding father of PDP in 1998. So, they should know. Any governor should know that. Any governor that was there from G-18 to G-34 to PDP. Tukur was always there. So, nobody can tell us that Tukur was not there when PDP was formed.
“As for the president, he was there when PDP was formed and, in 1999, he was the deputy governor of his state and today, by the grace of God, he is the leader of the party by all intent and purposes. So, nobody can call him a tenant in PDP.
“He is the real landlord that he is and he is the leader of the party. So, the fact remains the same, the president is the leader of the party and Bamanga Tukur is the national chairman. This is legally and constitutionally recognised.”
He added that there was only one certificate of registration of PDP with the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), adding that “these are facts, they are not speculations.”
New PDP demands Tukur’s resignation, unified convention
The leadership of the Baraje-led faction of PDP, again, demanded the immediate resignation of Alhaji Tukur on the ground that he was not a registered and card-carrying member of the party.
The faction also called for the holding of a unity convention under Baraje, whom it asked should take over the party after the resignation of Tukur.
In a statement issued by its national publicity Secretary, Chief Eze Chukwuemeka, it accused Tukur of attempting to falsify party records to cover up facts about his irregular return to the party after his earlier expulsion, warning that such an action was criminal.
The faction alleged that Tukur, who was expelled from PDP in 2006, had not officially returned to the party, adding that all records at its disposal showed that the embattled chairman had not followed due process for his re-admission into the party.
“He neither apply for, nor obtained the requisite waiver by the National Executive Committee (NEC) of the party before offering himself for election into the office of national chairman in 2012.
“This makes his membership incurably defective and his emergence as PDP national chairman null and void and of no effect whatsoever, since he is the product of a flawed process,” the faction insisted .
Warning that Tukur’s continued occupation of the office of national chairman was fraudulent, illegal and unconstitutional, the faction added that “all the actions he has taken as the chairman of PDP since his purported election in March 2012, including the illegal, contentious convention of August 2013, are null and void and of no effect.”
The statement then canvassed that Tukur be eased out by offering him a ministerial appointment and Baraje, who handed over to Tukur, be recalled to continue in office.
“We hereby formally suggest the immediate recall of Alhaji Baraje, who erroneously handed over to Alhaji Tukur as the national chairman of PDP.
“This will enable Alhaji Baraje to organise a proper, unified convention that will usher in a duly elected National Working Committee (NWC) of the party as early as possible, to enable us to face the business of positioning PDP as the ruling party in 2015,” the faction stated.
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