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Tag: Bamanga Tukur

  • Mandela was too good to be lost, say Tukur, Okorie

    Mandela was too good to be lost, say Tukur, Okorie

    National Chairman of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Alhaji Bamanga Tukur, has described the late Nelson Mandela as a marvel, contending that the former freedom fighter cannot be replaced by any other person.

    Explaining that the demise of Mandela was a loss to the entire world, Tukur condoles with the immediate family of the legend and the government of South Africa, saying, “The Peoples Democratic Party in Nigeria and myself join in your grief and the sense of loss of the generality of South Africans. There will not be another Madiba because Mandela is irreplaceable.”

    Tukur also said “Mandela will be remembered as a no-nonsense nationalist, who fought bravely and strongly for the freedom of his people and their emancipation from the shackles of colonialism and apartheid. He aligned with his people to fight the great evil and scourge represented by apartheid.”

    In his condolence statement, Chief Chekwas Okorie, the National Chairman of United Progressive Party ( UPP) lamented that “a global Iroko has fallen.”

    He said “the leadership and members of United Progressive Party join millions of people around the world to mourn the death of Africa’s illustrious son, Nelson Mandela at a ripe age of 95years. The global iroko and colossus has fallen.

  • Good luck for him, bad luck for PDP

    Good luck for him, bad luck for PDP

    Scratch Alhaji Bamanga Tukur, the embattled national chairman of the crumbling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), and you probably would find, in his DNA, traces of a political undertaker.

    Back in the Second Republic, Alhaji Bamanga, fresh from a high-flying stint as top dog at Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), Nigeria’s national ruling parties’ cash cow, recorded a landslide to sweep into the Government House of the defunct Gongola State (now Adamawa and Taraba states), as National Party of Nigeria (NPN) gubernatorial candidate.

    Alhaji Bamanga’s landslide was part of the general electoral typhoon that shellacked the opposition; and which Alhaji Umaru Dikko, then President Shehu Shagari’s Transport minister and awesome man Friday, in roguish humour, christened a “moon slide”.

    That “moon slide”, by another election in 1987 the wise Dikko proclaimed, would explode into a “space slide”, by which time Dikko’s beloved NPN would have gobbled up the whole country (opposition be damned!), even if its incompetence was as clear as the moon at night.

    Compare NPN then to PDP now, and it is clear the PDP journey to perdition, under President Goodluck Jonathan, is not novel.

    Incidentally, there was no “1987”. The violently raped 1983 election rigged out the Second Republic. Three-month Governor, Tukur’s landslide mandate vanished under that republic’s rubble.

    Incidentally too, Alhaji Umaru is now chairman of PDP’s disciplinary committee, under the troubled national chairmanship of Alhaji Bamanga. Might the duo be comparing notes, with shared hindsight from the Second Republic crash, that might yet save their crumbling PDP?

    They had better! Otherwise, Alhaji Bamanga would yet earn another stripe as party undertaker – but this time, an hyperactive one. PDP’s crumbling fate is as much a result of past unconscionable impunities as it is Alhaji Bamanga’s reckless power grab, even with his suspect “election” (read presidential imposition) as PDP national chairman, after losing among delegates in his Adamawa base.

    Ironically, Chief Ebenezer Babatope, the much beloved Ebino Topsy of Awoist fame, is busy roaring like a lion in a new jungle, among PDP disciplinarians under Dikko – to underscore the neophyte progressive is in town to fix the conservative (if not reactionary) camp?

    Is he then fulfilling the post-1983 election Awo prophesy that after a political thesis and antithesis, a synthesis would align Nigeria’s political forces, such that those with Awo’s progressive inclination would ascend? Is Ebino then the Khalifa the PDP needs to set things right and yet triumph? Perhaps!

    Still, the Tukur mess is only a culmination of far too many bad calls. To start with, Tukur is only the party face of a dissembling president and a desperate Presidency, whose and which attitude to 2015, like that of former President Olusegun Obasanjo in 2007, is do-or-die.

    So, Tukur was supposed to do the dirty job and take the flak; while the real McCoy, the president breezes in, as prim and proper electoral statesman, to take the glory. It is the classical cant of Goodluck!

    Or why else would Chairman Tukur remain in charge, even if his party must become history? Unfortunately for Tukur and his principal, the “presidential chairman”, like the Achebe thief in A Man of the People, grabbed too much power for the owner not to notice – hence the PDP schism.

    Before the Jonathan-Tukur power show was the Obasanjo pious profanity of repudiating the PDP zoning arrangement – the same principle that propelled him to power – all in the bid to make Jonathan president, so he could be Baba’s poodle (Baba, that craved relevance at all cost), which Jonathan has not exactly been.

    Even before that was Obasanjo’s blatant subversion of party democratic principles, curling PDP round his fingers as first president of the Fourth Republic, ruthlessly purging those who might challenge him; and imposing on the party an unconscionable ethos of dog merrily eating dog; carefully veiled by a gruff military temper.

    And before all that was the grand subversive genesis: the Army Arrangement, (AA, apologies to Fela) that, in illicit concert with the North’s top political elite, imposed Obasanjo as Hobson’s choice, if only to impress upon starry-eyed democracy agitators the reality of Greek philosopher, Parmenides: nothing ever changes – departure from military rule must be a return to military rule, even if the starched khaki gave way to flowing agbada or babariga!

    Of course, there was Election ’99, but only to ratify Selection ’99 of AA and allied power plotters!

    Well, everything worked perfectly, except that Obasanjo proved no poodle of the North, any more than Jonathan has proved his own poodle! Indeed, things have turned full circle: the “North” finds itself at the receiving end of its own plot, and Obasanjo is threatened by the putative irrelevance he so mortally feared!

    This play of power giants has landed the country with an umpteenth mess: a clumsy Jonathan, a clumsier Jonathan Presidency and the meltdown of the federal ruling party in the clumsiest of ways!

    But having served as undertaker to his PDP, no thanks to unbridled desperation to remain president, Jonathan may yet serve as undertaker to his country. If the Anambra poll is anything to go by – and if that was aimed at securing an ally for 2015 – Jonathan may well press to that extent to make something give.

    Now, flash your mind back to 1983 and Umaru Dikko’s “moon slide”. Back then, the Shagari Presidency was the most incompetent in the country’s history. Now, the Jonathan Presidency would appear to have beaten that record. Yet, Jonathan, at all cost, wants an encore!

    So, if Umaru Dikko’s “moon slide” rigged the country out of democracy, a “space slide” by 2015 might just slide Nigeria into worse. For a country touted to kaput by 2015, these are indeed perilous times!

    The All Progressives Congress (APC) will therefore do well to learn from the PDP pitfall. PDP, ab initio, prided itself an all-comers’ affair. So, it can contemptuously thrust its jaw at any charge of harbouring strange bed fellows.

    APC has no such luxury. It has committed itself to a “progressive” ideology. Yet, not every strand in its rainbow coalition is “progressive”. But it can overcome these teething problems by federalising and being task-driven.

    It can do this by submitting itself to local tendencies, while committing to some pan-Nigeria goals. Then, it must rein in party barons, beyond offering leadership to rally members to the party’s cause, and educating fellow Nigerians on the difference the party can make.

    It should also sort out the very peculiar problem of internal democracy, the main driver of the PDP split, from which none of the APC legacy parties was immune.

    But most importantly, it must work out a restructuring agenda for the country. Without proper federalism, the collapse of Nigeria is only a matter of time.

     

  • G5 + APC = tectonic shift

    G5 + APC = tectonic shift

    While questions are still being asked why two of the G7 governors of the new Peoples Democratic Party (nPDP) are surprisingly yet to migrate to the All Progressives Congress (APC), the movement of the other five into the main opposition party looks set to trigger a tectonic shift in Nigerian politics. The G5, comprising the governors of Kano, Adamawa, Kwara, Rivers and Sokoto States, have burnt their bridges and thrown in their lot with the 11 APC governors to form a formidable political organisation capable of taking on the increasingly weakened PDP behemoth. More governors are expected to join them, not the least the two reluctant governors of Niger and Jigawa States. If that should happen, Nigerian politics will experience the equivalent of a lockdown in which the ruling party would be paralysed and in danger of becoming the opposition party.

    The journey to this historic and exciting, if not revolutionary, shift was hard and long, complete with unending uncertainties. Major disagreements within the PDP, much of it consequent upon the coerced (some more sympathetic officials say coaxed) election of Bamanga Tukur as party chairman had triggered a most unsettling relationship between governors long used to enjoying unchallenged dominance in their states and Alhaji Tukur whose leadership style is meddlesome, grating, domineering and irreverent. Many PDP governors never liked Alhaji Tukur’s style, but it was only the G7 that embarked on open rebellion. And with the debacle in the Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF), what appeared like a covert war of attrition began to metamorphose into a clearly definable war in which the combatants were recognisable.

    President Goodluck Jonathan, who at first maintained impassive neutrality, believing he could reconcile the two camps, soon began to vacillate between studious detachment one day and open and undiluted animosity the next day. While Alhaji Tukur sustained his detestation of the rebellious governors, the president hesitated between dialogue and rebuff. But with the impasse in Rivers, in which Governor Rotimi Amaechi felt impelled to openly stand up to the president, it was all but clear that sooner rather than later, Nigerian politics would witness a major shift or realignment. The leaders of the APC themselves worked actively to encourage the dissonance within the ruling party, and hoped the disagreements would worsen until they became irreconcilable. Coupled with the festering sore in Adamawa, a sore engendered by certain PDP factions favourable to or promoted by the Alhaji Tukur/Jibril Aminu forces, the die seemed cast.

    As if to stoke up the powder keg, the presidency turned its hostile attention to Kwara State and began what some interpreted as a systematic subversion of the person and influence of Bukola Saraki, the state’s former governor. Worse, Governor Aliyu Wammako’s Sokoto, whether based on hegemonic principles or simple political considerations, never quite cottoned on to Dr Jonathan’s politics. Instead the state began to oppose him even before he was elected candidate of the PDP and later president. For the unexpectedly reluctant Governors Babangida Aliyu of Niger and Sule Lamido of Jigawa, it is too early to say whether the shifting quicksand of politics would not at a later date make them change their minds. They may, on the other hand, hope to be courted by the desperate Jonathan forces, and be content to wring concessions from the presidency.

    What is much clearer is that the battle between Nigeria’s main political forces is about to be joined. The easiest part of course is merging of individuals and political interests. The hardest part is sustaining the merger in the face of a scathing and vengeful presidency whose style, disposition and tactics are both Neanderthal and sanguinary. Dr Jonathan has about him men and women whose unscrupulousness is fast becoming legendary. They are not clean or principled fighters. They do not mind biting the ears of an opponent, hitting him in the groin, or delivering all sorts of illegal and spiteful blows. Such tactics often work marvellously in the short run, and against an opponent without stamina, it could prove lethal. Famous for its awkwardness in negotiations and compromises, the Jonathan camp will sense danger in the coming together of the G5 plus APC camp and go for broke. Whether he will succeed in obliterating or weakening the new group will depend on how clever the enlarged opposition is and how ready it is for a protracted and bloody battle.

    If the enlarged opposition has not come too soon, and they prove agile in battle, holding forts and defending every inch of ground, it is almost guaranteed that their ranks would swell, with or without Niger and Jigawa. If the movement of the G5 governors is accompanied by wholesale movement of their local and national legislators, the Jonathan government, which has so far been clumsy in relating with the legislature, will find it even harder to govern. And much more than the new APC, which will doubtless gain a lot, the country will be the bigger gainer because the realignment of forces would probably lead to more robust and better lawmaking than it would promote legislative or bureaucratic paralysis.

    However, with the new enlargement of the opposition, any pretence of ideological purity must be discarded by the APC. Even in the days of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), the party had had its progressivism questioned by purists. The ideological dilution became more pronounced when clearly conservative parties merged with the ACN to form the APC. Now, with the addition of five more parties, the APC has unquestionably become an amalgam of political parties whose immediate priority is to take power in 2015, and later begin the slow process of reconstructing and remaking the deformed polity. The synthesization of its ideology will follow, if necessary, and when appropriate. Welcome, the Age of Realpolitik.

    What is certain to make news in the coming days will be the desperate attempt by the Jonathan presidency to undermine the legality of the migration of the five governors to the APC. The PDP will not fight a clean war. More, they will take the battle to the five states and attempt to foment rebellion against the governors, and then infiltrate party ranks in each state by harassing and intimidating the weak among them. It is likely the APC has anticipated the shape of the coming war and may possess one or two jokers. If the war is fought lawfully, there is no way the country will not be better off, for Nigeria is overdue for a revolutionary makeover, whether by an opportunistic amalgam or a systematically expanded opposition. Anything but the status quo in 2015 should give the country a breather and raise hopes of a better tomorrow.

     

  • PDP’s roiling crisis

    For quite some time now, the Nigerian political theatre has been embroiled in crises of unimaginable proportion. Every other day, new dimensions are added to the contentious issues. Surprisingly, most of these issues border on conflict of supremacy and arbitrary use of power through which many party faithful have been either emasculated or ignominiously shovelled out of the parties. Indications are rife that there is a gradual incursion of tyranny in the administration of the parties.

    The major culprit in this whole shenanigan is the ruling People’s Democratic Party, PDP, a party that prides itself as the biggest party in Africa. As they say, rather jokingly, the bigger the head, the bigger the headache. In the first instance, many of our political parties are apparently nests provided for strange bed-fellows to cohabitate. That is probably why the struggle for supremacy and control of party machinery has assumed a war of survival on its own. In the ongoing war within the parties, there is a systematic annihilation of political opponents or those whose views are considered to be injurious to the interest of the few who have monopolised power. This has invariably led to what political scientists would refer to as democratic centralism.

    We are all aware of the nature of scheming and internecine war that have engulfed the PDP since Bamanga Tukur, its present chairman, took over the reign of leadership of the party in March 2012. It started like a fratricidal war among the members of the National Working Committee, NWC, of the party. With Olagunsoye Oyinlola, the secretary of the party, as the arrowhead of the dissenting group in the committee, Tukur was perpetually placed on his toes as the group perfected their strategy to unseat him. But for the moles within the NWC, by now, Tukur would have become history in the party hierarchy.

    Much later, the party’s NWC was dissolved and Oyinlola was removed as secretary. Rather than solve anything, the removal of Oyinlola and other officers who had become a thorn in Tukur’s flesh, further deepened the crisis in the party. The struggle for reform in the party later snowballed into a major conflagration last August, when some party leaders, led by some state governors, staged a walkout from the party’s national convention ground in Abuja.

    The insistence of the group on reforms within the PDP and its hierarchical structure has created a deadlock, which has remained unbroken for so long. Not only have the various reconciliation meetings even with President Goodluck Jonathan in attendance failed to yield any fruitful result, there appears to be the presence of a certain clique within the party that is opposed to any form of reconciliation with aggrieved members. The reason for this is the fear that such reconciliation may pose a threat to their present comfort zone in the party. Therefore, they are hell bent on maintaining the status quo.

    Several meetings, which attempted to resolve the two knotty issues involved in the whole saga, have yielded no tangible result. The issues are Jonathan’s candidature in the 2015 election and the fate of Tukur as national chairman.  Going by the body language of the party’s hierarchy, the issue of Jonathan’s candidature in the 2015 election appears to be cast in iron, meaning that it is a no-go area. In order to consolidate the hawks’ hold on the party machinery, Tukur has become a willing puppet used to perpetrate illegality and arbitrariness in the party. Unfortunately, his fate has always been hanging precariously in the balance.

    In recent times, the leaders of the breakaway faction, with seven state governors as point men, have come under severe emotional, psychological and even mental torture all over the place. The G7 governors are Sule Lamido of Jigawa, Chibuike Amaechi of Rivers, Mu’azu Babangida Aliyu of Niger, Rabiu Kwakwanso of Kano, Muritala Nyako of Adamawa, Abdulfatah Ahmed of Kwara and Aliyu Wamakko of Sokoto.

    Lamido has come under intense security binoculars for some time now. Early this year, Aminu Sule Lamido, one of his sons, was held at the Aminu Kano International Airport over an allegation that he was trying to go out of the country with $50, 000 as against the $10, 000 allowed by law.  He was convicted on July 12, by a federal high court in Kano for money laundering. Last Thursday, operatives of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, again, arrested Aminu and Mustapha, another son of Lamido, over yet another allegation of money laundering.

    The story is the same for Amaechi of Rivers State, who has known no peace since the rumble in the Nigeria Governors’ Forum, NGF, erupted many months ago. The crisis in the NGF over the election of its President, which was believed to have been won by Amaechi, has seriously polarised the body into two factions. The one headed by Amaechi is believed to be the authentic NGF, while the other one led by Jonah Jang of Plateau State is a surrogate of the Presidency.

    The climax of this regime of terror unleashed on the group was the recent disruption of the governors’ meeting at the Kano State Governor’s Lodge in Abuja. The meeting was held to discuss their grievances against the PDP and how to marshal their points ahead of their planned meeting with Jonathan. That meeting may never see the light of the day anymore because a recent event has overtaken such consideration. On Wednesday, November 6, a Court of Appeal sitting in Abuja reinstated Oyinlola as the National Secretary of the PDP. The three-man panel, chaired by Justice Amiru Sanusi, upturned the January 11 judgment of the Federal High court, Abuja, which sacked Oyinlola.

    One would have thought that this judgement would provide a good opportunity for the party to resolve the intractable crisis that has engulfed it, but rather than find a solution to the crisis, some desperate elements within the party went ahead to suspend Oyinlola and others under flimsy excuses. This action has clearly vindicated those who are calling for reform in the party. Moreover, that decision has the potential of setting the judiciary against the party and its government because it is seen as a negation of Jonathan’s avowed commitment to the rule of law.

    The Presidency has since come under heat from some stakeholders in the government who felt that certain forces were exploiting the situation for their selfish motives. Some governors loyal to the President were said to have made contacts among themselves and with the President all through last week, expressing deep concerns that the leadership of the party scuttled the opportunity for peace presented by the Appeal Court verdict.

    The legal and ethical issues thrown up by the suspension order have also engaged the attention of stakeholders who are viewing, with concern, the legality of decisions being currently taken by the party with the sitting secretary whose appointment has been declared illegal by the court. This is why Tukur may have incurred the wrath of Jonathan over his latest handling of the moves to resolve the crisis in the party.  The Presidency is believed to be tinkering with the idea of directing the party leadership to reverse itself on the suspension issue.

    If that happens, then Tukur’s days are numbered as the President is said to be unhappy with the unilateral decision he took to suspend the party leaders, including Oyinlola, who have been reinstated to his post by the appellate court. The Presidency is worried that instead of the party creating and getting more followers and friends, the hierarchy is busy creating more enemies for the party and the Jonathan administration.

    So far, Tukur’s tenure as party leader has turned out to be an unmitigated disaster. It has been dogged by series of arbitrary use of power, witch-hunting and indiscriminate removal of national officers and dissolution of party executives across the country. The suspension of Oyinlola is nothing but a deliberate ploy to circumvent the Court of Appeal judgement which recognised him as the National Secretary of PDP. By that action, the PDP has foreclosed the possibility of any reconciliation and portray itself as a lawless party.

  • Youths condemn Lamido’s sons’ arrest

    Youths condemn Lamido’s sons’ arrest

    Hundreds of youths yesterday marched on the streets of Dutse, the Jigawa State capital, to protest the arrest of Governor Sule Lamido’s sons.

    The protesters, under the aegis of the National Volunteers for Sule Lamido (NVFS), marched on the city and House of Assembly where they were received by the Speaker, Adamu Ahmed Sarawa.

    The group’s leader, Musa Gambo Guri, condemned the arrest and detention of Lamido’s sons by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and called for their release.

    Guri expressed their support for the governor and hailed his socio-economic performance in the state.

    He said: “The Lamido-led administration is the most transparent and accountable in the country. It is only Governor Lamido, who has achieved over 90 percent budget implementation in all his six years in office.

    “President Goodluck Jonathan witnessed these improvements when he visited the state to inaugurate projects and laid foundation of some others.”

    The group called on the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) National Chairman Bamanga Tukur to resign. It urged the Presidency to stop harassing and intimidating the Group of Seven Governors (G7).

    The Speaker assured the protesters that their message would be presented to the Assembly for deliberation.

    Sarawa said: “As you know the Assembly is not a one-man show, so your complaint would be presented to all the members during plenary.

    “The PDP is one family in this state and we will remain united under the able leadership of Governor Sule Lamido.”

     

  • Can Oyinlola work with Tukur?

    Can Oyinlola work with Tukur?

    The Appeal Court’s judgment that the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) should reinstate its estranged National Secretary, Prince Olagunsoye Oyinlola, has generated ripples. Assistant Editor GBADE OGUNWALE examines the implications of the verdict for the self acclaimed party in Africa.

    Former Osun State Governor Olagunsoye Oyinlola has cause to smile. The Appeal Court has ruled that he should be reinstated as the National Secretary of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). But he has also not renounced his position as the National Secretary of the Baraje faction.

    The puzzle is: can Oyinlola work harmoniously with the National Chairman, Alhaji Bamanga Tukur?

    The Okuku-born politician is at war with the party that launched him into partisan politics 14 years ago. The party is also at war with him.

    Little did the chieftains guess that the intra-party wriggling, which was triggered by the distribution of party positions a year ago, would fester. The members of the National Working Committee (NWC) led by Tukur came into office amid the controversy. The PDP national convention, which held in Abuja on March 24, last year, was the bone of contention. Many chieftains complained that they were excluded from the exercise.

    A crisis broke out between Tukur and Oyinlola, few days after the party officials were sworn-in. The 2015 presidential elections divided the two leaders. While Tukur is believed to be supporting President Goodluck Jonathan for a second term; it was difficult for the President to get the secretary’s support.

    The relationship between the two leaders degenerated when they started exchanging memos. Oyinlola accused Tukur’s aides of usurping the functions of the national secretary. He drew the attention of the chairman to extant establishment manual guiding the day-to-day running of the secretariat. Responding to Oyinlola’s memo, Habu Fari, for Chief of Staff to the national chairman, cast aspersions on the office and person of the national secretary.

    Things started falling apart at the PDP secretariat. Miffed by what he described as the aide’s insolence and disregard for constituted authority, Oyinlola demanded Fari’s sack. It degenerated to open confrontation between the chairman and the national secretary. The furore died down when Tukur eventually fired Fari. But that did not end the animosity between the chair manand the scribe. On September 11, 2013, Tukur and Oyinlola took one other to the cleaners. Tukur had through his Special Adviser on Media, Oliver Okpara, described Oyinlola as an incompetent official, whose politics is at variance with the prevailing political dispensation.

    The chairman also accused Oyinlola of getting into elective positions through the “back door”, citing his ouster as the governor of Osun State by the Court of Appeal in 2010 and his removal from office as the PDP National Secretary. Tukur also accused Oyinlola of directing his frustrations at him, since he was removed as National Secretary. he said: “Under normal circumstance, he should not be heard to resort to platitudes or righteous pontifications on the ideals of democracy and the rule of law.

    “This is because, by training and orientation, he (Oyinlola) is a slave to ‘Order and Command’ of the military. Oyinlola was smuggled in as the National Secretary of the PDP, when he was bereft of the basic competence, experience and the pedigree to hold such a sensitive position in a big political organisation like the PDP. Since his removal from office, following the patent loop-holes in the electoral process that produced him, Oyinlola has continued to besiege the portals of our courts in search of far-fetch reliefs, which are neither here nor there. Besides, he now relishes brick-bats and vitrioli on perceived enemies, especially Alhaji Tukur.

    “Unfortunately, Oyinlola has refused to understand that Tukur is not the architect of his political problems. Oyinlola’ nemesis is traceable and also has its roots in the way and manner in which he was foisted on our party. His political career will continue to nose-dive, until he undertakes a political re-think. The major mantra in PDP is adherence to the core values of rule of law and due process. In politics, rules and regulations are obeyed, for a statesman is judged by his selfless love and service to his people and not by the enormity of effusions and vituperations from his mouth or pen. Oyinlola should retrace his steps, return to the path of political rectitude, remove his military toga and dictatorial tendencies, study the manifesto and constitution of any party he chooses to join in order to have a place in our current political dispensation.

    “Oyinlola was one of those militray putchists, who held down our democracy for a long time. As a former military man, Oyinlola is an unrepentant dictator of the first-order. He lacks any credible credential to sermonise on democracy and due process, including rule of law. No self respecting party can afford the chalice of imposition of candidates like in Oyinlola’s case, which is the bane of Nigerian politics. Oyinlola’s antecedents are well-known. He has been a miliatry dictator, who suddenly became a letter-day democrat. He miraculously became the governor of Osun State and was booted out, following litigation over his election which swept him out through judicial fiat.

    “There must therefore, be something vehemently wrong with Oyinlola and his peculiar brand of politics, which always sees him mount the saddle of leadership only to be found tumbling and crashing thereafter. Oyinlola has refused to change with time. He has failed to come to terms with the fact that democratic dispensation is in place in Nigeria and that the ways of democracy are not the same with the command structure of the military. Oyinlola might have been a good military tactician,but a kindergarten politician who requires total political re-adjustment and the removal of his military toga to face the realities of the moment. Oyinlola’s differences with the chairman stemmed from the fact that he could not appreciate the essence of rule of law against the essence of rule by force. It is his lack of democratic posture that made it impossible for him to work with Tukur who is an accomplished statesman, politician and a highly successful businessman with outstanding administrative sagacity and acumen”. Many believe that the statement was full of bile.

    But Oyinlola would not let the verbal assualt go unchallenged. According to him, the party chairmnan must have gone senile, owing to his advanced age. He said: “ While I don’t want to join issues with Baba Tukur, out of respect for his old age, one can excuse him on his account of senility.

    “Tukur has gone senile. In addition, the fact that I trained as a military officer has never negatively affected my administrative capabilities and abilities. I remain a gentleman in all my services as a public officer and a politician. Tukur should attempt to do an opinion survey at the headquarters of his PDP and I can assure him that his findings would make him abdicate his position without further delay, based on the fact that he lacks the support of the members of staff, who regard his authoritative style as being responsible for the crisis in the PDP.

    “That I’m a stickler for due process is a plus for me and Tukur should find out, if I ever circumvented rules and regulations or acted in an improper manner that he (Tukur) always does in company with his co-travelers. I remember he (Tukur) once granted an interview, in which he described me as a fine officer and a gentleman. This same view was expressed by Olisa Metuh in a media interview recently. His statement shows inconsistency and poor leadership qualities”.

    Oyinlola described his brief tenure as the National Secretary as the best ever, adding that the records are there to speak for him. He stressed: “It is on record at the headquarters of the PDP, that the period I served as the National Secretary marked remarkable changes in the administration of the PDP. For instance, I made sure that all the rules and regulations of the PDP were strictly followed to the letter and that made it impossible for Tukur to appoint the Chief of Staff, which he wanted, in violation of extant rules and regulations. He also attempted to appoint innumerable special advisers, who were unknown to the establishment manual of the PDP. It is on record, and you can ask any member of the National Working Committee, that he (Tukur) used his special advisers as parallel NWC members, thus effectively undermining the leadership of the party.

    “Everybody knows that Tukur’s tenure, so far, has been the worst in the 14 years of the party and nobody should be surprised that Tukur, who came in with pre-conceived personal agenda of caging and antagonizing state governors and other interest groups in the PDP, has been a monumental failure and he is the root of all the crises within the PDP today.

    “I ask that the leadership of the PDP should subject our tenure to a management audit to be able to determine who serially violated the PDP constitution through reckless administrative actions and who attempted to sanitise the whole administrative procedure at the national headquarters”.

    The staff at the PDP national secretariat will never forget Oyinlola’s brief stay as the national secretary. Within few weeks, he ensured an upward salary review for the workers, who had been on the same salary level, since the inception of the PDP in 2008.

    He also ensured that all outstanding allowances owed the staff were cleared. Up to now, the workers testify to the fact that Oyinlola brought a new lease of life to the PDP. So, it was bad news for the workers when a Federal High Court in Abuja, on Friday, January 11, voided Oyinlola’s election as the National Secretary. On January 14, the party replaced Oyinlola with his deputy, Onwe Solomon Onwe, as the Acting National Secretary, pending the time a new national secretary would emerge. Justifying Oyinlola’s replacement, Tukur said: “Pursuant to the powers conferred on the National Chairman by Chapter V Section 35 (1), 35 (1)(b), as well as section 36(2) of the constitution of the Peoples Democratic Party, (as amended), the Deputy National Secretary of the PDP, Barrister Solomon Onwe, is hereby directed to assume duties as the Acting National Secretary of the PDP. Barr. Onwe shall, by this directive, conduct all correspondences of the party, issue notices of meetings of the National Convention, the National Executive Committee, the National Caucus and the National Working Committee as stipulated in the Constitution of our great Party.

    “This directive takes immediate effect and is hereby communicated to all the levels and offices of the party”. Many said the speed with which the national chairman replaced Oyinlola with Onwe smacked of vindictiveness.

    But the party defended the chairman, saying that the action was in compliance with the court judgment that voided Oyinlola’s election. The statement, dated January 15, 2013 and signed by Metuh said: “The National Working Committee wants to make it very clear that what happened was nothing more than obedience of a court judgement, and the consequential application of the relevant sections of the party’s constitution. Section 45 (1) states that if a national officer of the party is removed or resigns from office, he shall immediately hand over to the National Secretary all records, files and other properties of the party in his or her possession. Section 45 (2) states that inthe case of the National Secretary, he shall hand over to the Deputy National Secretary.

    “We want to make it clear that our great party is a law abiding party, which bases its conducts and activities on internal democracy and rule of law. Whatever a court of competent jurisdiction decides on any matter involving the party, the PDP will have no hesitation in obeying and implementing the judgement”. Metuh, in that statement had acknowledged the fact that Oyinlola had appealed the judgment and that the case was pending before the Court of Appeal”.

    Metuh also gave a commitment that the party would accord Oyinlola immediate recognition, should he win the appeal.

    He said: “In any event, reports have indicated that Prince Olagunsoye Oyinlola has appealed against the court judgement and the NWC wants to say that, as soon as the appeal is decided, the party will, in the same way as it did in the case of the Federal High Court ruling, obey the appeal decision”.

    Now that the Appeal Court has ruled in Oyinlola’s favour, will the PDP honour its own word?.

    However, when he was contacted, the National Publicity Secretary said that the matter has not been discused because the chairman travelled out of the country. He also said that the party’s National Legal Adviser said he did not have a copy of the ruling yet. Metuh promised that the leadership of the party would meet today to take a decision.

    The ruling party, according to analysts, have some options. The party can appeal the ruling at the Supreme Court or reinstate Oyinlola in the spirit of reconciliation.

    Also, since Tukur and Oyinlola are not the best of friends, the party should broker peace between them, so that they can cohabit peacefully at the PDP secretariat.

    But, are politicians good in mence mending?

  • PDP crisis: Clark wants crackdown on G-7

    PDP crisis: Clark wants crackdown on G-7

    •Tells Oyinlola to show remorse first

    The Ijaw leader, Chief Edwin Clark, has told the National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party(PDP), Bamanga Tukur, to wield the big stick on the dissenting seven governors.

    Governors Sule Lamido (Jigawa),Aliyu Wamakko (Sokoto),Babangida Aliyu (Niger),Rabiu Kwankwaso (Kano),Murtala Nyako (Adamawa)Abdulfatah Ahmed (Kwara) and Rotimi Amaechi (Rivers)are rooting for the removal of Tukur as party Chairman and other reforms in the PDP.

    They are part of the nPDP along with Alhaji Kawu Baraje, who is the chairman and Prince Olagunsoye Oyinlola, who   recently won his case at the Court of Appeal to be reinstated as national secretary of the party.

    But Clark, an elder of the PDP says the court’s judgment may have been rendered impotent by recent events in the party.

    He said in an open letter to the party that the court’s decision cannot be implemented in view of Oyinlola’s role in the nPDP.

    Clark said that even if Oyinlola must return to his position, he has to show remorse above any other thing and be ready to abide by the rules.

    In the letter entitled “PDP INACTION OR FAILURE TO DISCIPLINE OR RECONCILE THE RECALCITRANT AND UNPATRIOTIC GANG OF 7 AND ITS COHORT, IS A THREAT TO THE SECURITY AND POLITICAL STABILITY OF NIGERIA,” he said the recalcitrant governors should be made to face  disciplinary action for their anti-party activities as a way of restoring party discipline.

    He said:” Enough is enough. If this ugly situation which is affecting the security of the nation and the stability of the party must be addressed immediately either you reconcile with them, if they show any remorse, and then refer their case to the Reconciliation Committee of Governor Seriake Dickson, Governor of Bayelsa state, and if this is not possible, refer them to the Disciplinary Committee of Alhaji Umaru Dikko because it is not in the interest of the party and Nigerians if this ugly, bewitched and macabre dance of these Gang of 7 and their cohort is allowed to continue endlessly.

    “I repeat, the party under your leadership is greater than any individual member of the party and you were properly elected at the Convention of the Party and these Gang of 7 were part of the convention where you were elected.

    “Act now while I remain your loyal, committed and devoted Elder member of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

    “You have a duty therefore, to prevent the distraction, the insolence and the tension being created by these governors, who have no regard for you and the National Working Committee [NWC]. You must do something immediately to save the image of this great party.

    “The party is greater than any other party leader including yourself.”

    He accused the governors of acting as if they are above the law.

    “Nobody controls them. Everyone of them makes speeches.  There must be discipline.”

  • Tukur for peace, reconciliation

    The National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Alhaji Bamanga Tukur, yesterday pledged that the leadership of the party would not waver in the task of effecting the needed reforms.

    He restated the party’s commitment to seeking peace, unity and reconciliation among the membership.

    The party chairman said: “There is no going back in this struggle to entrench democracy and good governance in our country. No going back in seeking peace, unity and reconciliation of our differences.

    “I want all of you to understand where our family is and the family will always adjust and move forward and do what is in the best interest of the family.

    “I can assure you of our journey to rebuilding our party based on equity and justice in which there is no going back. We will entrench a process of election, and not selection. Our philosophy remains consensus and not imposition.

    “When you have a strong united and peaceful political party you are sure of having a good developmental programme for the nation”.

    Tukur stated this yesterday when some interest groups visited the party’s secretariat.

  • Marching against Nigeria?

    Marching against Nigeria?

    •President Jonathan should work more for the country placed under his charge than for self-perpetuation through a two million-man march

    The report in major national newspapers that the presidency and the ruling national political party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) have concluded plans to stage a series of solidarity rallies in all parts of the country is shocking. The report, linked to a memo from the office of the National Chairman of the PDP, Alhaji Bamanga Tukur, indicates that plans have been concluded to hold a mega rally in Abuja and others at the zones and cities to “showcase the achievements of the Jonathan administration” and kick-start a campaign for a second term.

    We find it difficult to see the rational for such a move at a time that the country is confronted with serious challenges. It is a march to an inglorious past when military leaders, out to perpetuate their hold on government lever and consolidate their seizure of the national treasury chose to manipulate national opinion and confuse the international community with such rallies. We recall, in particular, the infamous five million-man march staged by the late General Sani Abacha in Abuja when he had concluded plans to transmute from a military dictator to a civilian ruler.

    The Jonathan/PDP plan is a sad reminder that all is not well with the country yet. Around the time that all Nigerians should be mobilised to reflect on the state of the country, the presidency is being linked to a plan that is, at best, a carnival lacking in sincerity and further draining the resources that should be used to fix infrastructure. It is difficult to reconcile with the logic informing this move at a time that murderers, kidnappers and armed robbers are striking at will in different parts of the country. Life in Nigeria today is akin to that described by Thomas Hobbes as “short and brutish”.

    We concede that the right to demonstrate support and stage protests is at the heart of democracy. It is inalienable. However, the precarious situation of things in the country dictates that the leaders roll up their sleeves and galvanise action to keep the ship of state afloat. The frightening rate of unemployment, the school dropout rate and the explosion of non-communicable diseases should attract more attention from the man at the head of affairs.

    A political party that has, by all standards failed the country has no right to be faking popular support. We are worried by the security implications of such a march. What would happen if the agents of death in the land decide to strike at such a time? Wouldn’t that further polarise the country?

    President Goodluck Jonathan should spend more time finding ways of leaving a legacy of service and honour. The shows of shame being staged by the PDP and the consequent embarrassment to the country call for more attention by the ruling party. Factions of the party are constantly at war, sometimes leading to desecration of institutions like the National Assembly that combatants in the party have turned to stages for boxing bouts. The tension created in the polity by the rancour in the party is not lost on any politically educated Nigerian. Yet, the party is said to be out to stage a rally demonstrating that it is united.

    It is, in any case, immoral for the Federal Government to be involved in plans to stage rallies when opposition parties and leaders are daily harassed and denied such a basic right. In the last lap of his six-year tenancy of the Aso Villa, President Jonathan should think more of the mandate handed him and work for a place in the hearts of Nigerians. No one is deceived by the denial by the official spokesman of the PDP. Nigeria deserves greater attention by those who have found themselves somewhat controlling the levers of power.

  • Lar will get a befitting burial – Tukur

    Lar will get a befitting burial – Tukur

    The National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party, Alhaji Bamanga Tukur, on Thursday said the party would ensure a befitting burial for the late Chief Solomon Lar, its pioneer national chairman.

     

    Tukur, who said this in Abuja when he briefed journalists, said the party would greatly miss Lar who was “a light in the political firmament.’’

    He said the vacuum created by the death of Lar would be difficult to fill “because he was an emancipator of the less privileged and a democrat of repute.”

    The PDP national chairman said Lar as a former Governor of Plateau and one who had always been in the corridors of power, never compromised his stance.

    “He started young as a Parliamentary Secretary and was always in the corridors of power and politics but never compromised, “the News Agency of Nigeria quoted Tukur as saying to journalists.

    He stated that although Lar was dead, the PDP leadership would continue to work toward ensuring enduring peace in the party.

    This, according to him, was the desire of Lar as manifested symbolically in the white handkerchief he always waved at political meetings.

    “It is a pity that Lar had gone, but we will continue to pray and ask for peace which he had already prayed for, “Tukur said.

    He prayed God to grant his soul a peaceful rest and his family, the PDP family and the nation the fortitude to bear his loss.