As the battle to replace the embattled chairman of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Alhaji Bamanga Tukur, shifts to the arena of party leaders, indications have emerged that the wife of the president, Dame Patience Jonathan, has a preferred candidate for the job: the current minister of transport, Idris Umar from Borno State.
Tukur was said to have submitted his resignation letter to President Goodluck Jonathan yesterday, but he denied it while speaking to State House correspondents.
Tukur has been under intense pressure to step down as PDP chairman following a series of allegations against him including taking unilateral decisions and inappropriate actions as chairman of the party.
The climax of the pressure came as the majority members of the PDP National Working Committee (NWC) passed a vote of no confidence on him last week at a meeting with Jonathan in attendance.
The Board of Trustees (BoT), National Caucus, Body of State Chairmen of PDP as well as the PDP governors have all passed the same verdict as the NWC’s on Tukur.
LEADERSHIP gathered that as Tukur’s resignation came after a futile attempt by the president’s wife to sustain him in office, she extended her tentacles to party leaders, soliciting their support for Umar as PDP national chairman.
According to a source in the Tukur-must-go campaign, their desire to oust the national chairman had commenced immediately after the defection of the G-5 governors to the opposition All Progressives Congress (APC) in November last year.
The first lady’s choice of Umar has been criticised by some leaders of the PDP who are of the view that she was part of the trouble in the PDP.
The source said: “We have been on this struggle for long, even before the G-5 governors made good their threat to dump the PDP; but each time we tried to effect it, we were always hitting the rocks because the president’s wife was convinced that it was only Tukur who could deliver her husband in 2015
“And, unfortunately, there are some close aides of the president who, in connivance with the chairman, were always drumming it to her ears that those who want Tukur out were indeed after the president; all these are tissues of lies that actually prolonged the ultimate decision.
“But, again, even with his resignation, there is yet another challenge that is now threatening the unity of the PDP, and it is the influence of the president’s wife who again insists on Senator Idris Umar, the transport minister, to be made chairman.
“She has reached out to almost all those who matter in the party to support Umar but we will not bow to this because it is high time Her Excellency was counselled to be circumspect in the affairs of the PDP.”
Amidst all these, Tukur’s media aide, Oliver Okpala, said his principal had not resigned.
“Be informed that the national chairman has not resigned; it is all speculation. The national chairman will be at the BOT meeting tonight and will also attend the NEC of the party tomorrow,” he said.
At the PDP headquarters yesterday, NWC members rose from their meeting about 5pm and headed for the Presidential Villa for the rescheduled national caucus meeting of the party.
The party’s Board of Trustees (BoT) would hold at the same venue.
Tukur, who did not make an appearance at the party headquarters, it was gathered, avoided being suspended by the NWC of the party.
A source however told our correspondent that the NWC members left for the Villa for the larger meeting where the agenda of the NEC meeting would be adjusted in the face of current events.
The source said, “Before now, the agenda of the NEC meeting had stipulated for a motion to test the popularity of the national chairman via a vote, but now that we have heard of his resignation we will have to confirm with the presidency so that the agenda would be amended accordingly.”
Other issues lined up for deliberation at the meeting include the resignation of former President Olusegun Obasanjo as well as the style of leadership of Dr Bamanga Tukur.
Also, the meeting will assess the implications of the defection of five state governors from the party to the main opposition APC.
However, as required under the PDP constitution, Tukur addressed his resignation to the national leader of the party, President Jonathan.
Today’s NEC is expected to consider the options and map out a way forward for the party with Prince Uche Secondus, the deputy national chairman, taking over the leadership of the party in acting capacity, if the option to immediately pick Tukur’s replacement from his zone fails.
However, the final decision on who takes over from Tukur would rest on the National Executive Committee (NEC) which meets today.
•Jonathan, PDP govs move to bring back G5 govs
•Our 5 colleagues will come back - Babangida Aliyu
Embattled national chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Bamanga Tukur declared last night that he had not resigned his position.
This is coming just as President Goodluck Jonathan met with governors of the PDP last night in a frantic move to bring back five PDP governors who had defected to the All Progressives Congress (APC).
Clad a in brown guinea brocade kaftan with a cap to match, Tukur walked into the Banquet Hall of the Presidential Villa at 7:55pm for the Board of Trustees (BoT) meeting, after the party’s national caucus had ended.
Asked by State House correspondents whether it was true that he had resigned as reported in online media, Tukur simply said, “If I resign you will know. I am not somebody that would resign and you will not know. I have not resigned.”
President Jonathan had earlier met with the PDP governors before the caucus meeting started.
Tukur was, however, absent at the PDP caucus meeting even though he was sighted at the Presidential Villa a few minutes before the commencement of the meeting which lasted just about 30 minutes.
After the meeting with the president, Benue State governor, Gabriel Suswam, told State House correspondents that the governors’ meeting with Jonathan last night bordered on issues concerning the dwindling fortunes of the party, particularly the arduous task on how to win back their colleagues who defected to the APC.
He said the issue of Tukur’s resignation did not come up at the governors’ meeting with the president.
Suswam said, “First, we met with the president as PDP governors to discuss issues of the party and the way forward. And that meeting is continuing; we just touched based with the president to discuss issues that affect the party.
“The issue discussed with the president was basically on how to re-strategise and re-position our party and how to move forward as a party. The second meeting is the national caucus and I am not in a position to comment on that; after the BoT meeting, the vice president will brief on the outcome.”
Asked if the issue of the chairman’s resignation was discussed, Suswam said the vice president will comment on that after the BoT meeting, even as he insisted that, in the PDP governors’ meeting with the president, “issues like that was not discussed”.
“I think it’s the responsibility of the national caucus and the BoT, and the vice president will adequately brief you on the outcome,” the governor added.
Noting that no demand was made by the governors from the president, Suswam said, “It is not an issue of demand; we are just touching base with the president. The president is the PDP party man and so, from time to time, all PDP governors meet with him.”
On concerns raised at the meeting, he said: “The concern is that the fortunes of our party are dwindling and so we need to address that. How do we re-position our party to win the forthcoming elections in Ekiti and Osun? How do we win back our colleagues that have stepped aside? We don’t believe that they have left the party; they only stepped aside. These are the issues that were raised.”
Niger State governor Muazu Babangida Aliyu, who chipped in some words while the interview with Suswam was going on, stated that the five governors who left the party would definitely return.
He said the G5 governors were just on the side-lines and that as soon as the party is restructured following ongoing effort, they would return.
The governors who attended the meeting include Emmanuel Uduaghan (Delta), Ibrahim Shema (Katsina), Gabriel Suswam (Benue), Theodore Orji (Abia), Jonah Jang (Plateau), Godswil Akpabio (Akwa Ibom), Isa Yuguda (Bauchi), Garba Umar (Taraba), Ralaman Yero (Kaduna), Idris Wada (Kogi), Liyel Imoke (Cross River), and Babangida Aliyu (Niger).
At the caucus meeting were Vice President Namadi Sambo, Senate president David Mark, Speaker Aminu Tambuwal, deputy Senate president Ike Ekweremadu, deputy speaker Emeka Ihedioha; Senate leader Victor Ndoma-Egba, Mulikat Adeola-Akande, BoT chairman Tony Anenih, Dr Ahmadu Ali, PDP NWC member Chief Emmanuel Iwuanyanwu, Chief Bode George, former Rivers governor Peter Odilli, former Akwa Ibom governor Obong Victor Attah, Nigerian high commissioner to Britain Sariki Tafida, among others.
Those in attendance at the caucus meeting were Vice President Sambo and the governors of Delta, Katsina, Benue, Abia, Plateau, Akwa Ibom and Bauchi states.
Others who were at the caucus meeting include Senator David Mark, Hon. Aminu Tambuwal, Chief Tony Anenih, other principal officers of the National Assembly and NWC members.
But speaking for the G-5 governors, the chief press secretary to Adamawa State governor Murtala Nyako, Ahmed Sajoh said, “I’m not aware that the leadership of the PDP and the presidency have reached out to my boss and his colleagues; that is one. The second and perhaps the most important of all is the fact that whatever remedial measure both the PDP and the presidency contemplate now is rather too late in the day.
“My principal and his colleagues who took the decision to leave the party they toiled to form are men of character and integrity. They took their time to access the situation; they complained loud enough but none listened; lies were idolised and truth was sacrificed. They will not say one thing and do another because they are men of honour.”
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