The Nation Newspaper

Tag: PDP crises

Conflicting personal interests cause of PDP crises, says Oyinlola

• How peace can return to party, by Makinde

Conflicting interests of key party stalwarts are behind the crises in the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), according to reconciliation committee chairman.

Former Osun State Governor Olagunsoye Oyinlola, however raised the hope that the issues can be resolved, should the leaders cooperate and elevate party interests above personal interest.

Speaking during a meeting with Oyo State Governor Seyi Makinde in Ibadan yesterday, Oyinlola added: “There are no extraneous challenges other than those bothering on human interest. In any party, jostling for positions, wanting one thing or the other becomes the order because there is nobody who doesn’t like what is good.

For peace and unity to return to the PDP, the National Working Committee (NWC) should implement the report of the National Reconciliation Committee, Makinde said.

He spoke on the conditions for truce in the main opposition party.

Read Also; 13 repentant terrorists escape with govt rifles in Borno

The governor, who was represented by his deputy, Bayo Lawal, said the adoption and implementation of the report are critical to PDP’s preparation for 2027.

As the Reconciliation Committee intensifies its consultation across the six geo-political zones, the plot to shove Ambassador Umar Damagum aside as acting national chairman thickened.

Yesterday, a national chairmanship aspirant, Conrad Utaan, an engineer from Plateau State, kicked off his intra-party campaign to succeed the former chairman, Senator Iyorchia Ayu.

Receiving the Oyinlola Panel at the Presidential Lodge of Government House, Agodi, Makinde said PDP may be back to square one, if the report is jettisoned.

He said: “The National Working Committee had thought it wise at this point in time to put in place a National Reconciliation Committee headed by former Governor Olagunsoye Oyinlola.

“It couldn’t have been otherwise because we know the crisis that we went through leading to the 2023 general election and we saw the outcome which was not too good.

“Moving forward, it is aposite for us to step forward and do reconciliation. Our people are aggrieved. They are not happy and the issues are not the same across the states of our zone.

“That this NWC have put in place this strong reconciliation in place shows clearly that we are ready and willing to embrace reconciliation and we are ready to move the party forward against future elections.

“So, our appreciation, first and foremost, goes to the NWC of the PDP. Our second appreciation goes to members of the committee based on their rich experience. These are people coming with very rich experience in politics, in business, in profession.

“There’s no way we can pay tribute that would capture the sacrifice that you have put into this assignment. Only God Almighty would reward you and that reward would come when this assignment that you have undertaken sees the light of the day the way we want it.”

Makinde added: “I want to place on record that as you move on, the National Working Committee must ensure that the outcome of your exercise are really implemented. Without it, we will be back to square one.

“We don’t want to be back to square one. So, this is a call to the national working committee, the Board of Trustees and to all members of our great party, PDP.

“We know clearly that the six states in the Southwest geo-political zone have made representation to you in the last two days and you have listened to them and we know very clearly that because of who you are, you won’t shy away from telling each state the whole truth because without that, we won’t easily move forward.

“So, when you’re writing your report, ensure that whatever you observed as lapses, lacuna, all of those will come into play in terms of recommendation that would go to the national working committee of our party.”

Oyinlola, who shed light on the preliminary findings of the committee, said the findings were not too different from an earlier effort facilitated by Governor Makinde.

He said there were no extraneous challenges other than those bothering on human interest, adding that people wanted their interest protected.

Oyinlola expressed optimism that the issues would be addressed by the party.

He said: “For me as a person, what we have done in the Southwest is a repetition. Why did I say so? Not long ago, I led the same reconciliation committee that went round the Southwest. And as at then, we were able to identify the issues that were militating against our unity and success.

“Senator Kola Balogun was there then. We have gone round the state that time. Governor Seyi Makinde put it in place, having noticed the kind of acrimony within the party across the zone. That was why we went round the six states in the zone and we were able to identify the problems and challenges that were facing the party.

“And where equity is not in place, there will be disunity. There’s nothing too serious, talking away from what we had done earlier that the party cannot easily address. For instance, there were complaints that congresses were not carried out in line with the dictates of the party’s constitution. That is an anomaly. These are the things we would try and make sure we do not repeat in future.

“What we have put in place, if we have not taken cognisance of the fact that things are not well with out party, this committee will not be in place and that is to tell you that we have identified our problems and we are taking steps to address them, that is what we have putting in place.”

Speaking specifically on Oyo PDP, Oyinlola said: “When we took Oyo State case, I was so happy within me, because, like I said, I had been through this exercise on the orders of Governor Seyi Makinde and when they came yesterday (Tuesday), I saw our leaders, all sitting together. Baba Saka Balogun, Mayor and even Hazeem Gbolarunmi. It was not so when we had the first exercise, and that’s the truth of the matter.

“So, we have moved away from what it was as at the time I carried out the last exercise from what it is today and we thank God for that.”

Utaan: Benue should produce next chairman

Utaan, who spoke with reporters in Abuja, lamented that the Northcentral region, particularly Benue State, has been sidelined in the leadership equation within the PDP.

He said “only a new face with strong focus towards reconciliation can unite and lead PDP towards 2027.”

The chairmanship aspirant said Damagum cannot occupy both the substantive post of National Deputy Chairman (North) and the Acting National Chairman.

He said he would be a humble servant of the party who can unite the party, adding that he has no baggage.

Utaan pointed out that the PDP internal zoning arrangements, as outlined in Section 47(6) of its constitution, dictate that a vacancy in the national chairmanship position should be filled by a candidate from the same region as the previous chairman

He said: “The law made him (Damagum) Acting National Chairman, and immediately the North Central nominates a replacement for Iyorchia Ayu, he (Damagum) should revert back to his position of Deputy Chairman (North).

“So, it is not about whether somebody is bigger than the party, or the governors are this, or that. If we interpret the concern of our party the way we intend to forcefully push for it to be interpreted, it will only be natural that it goes back to where Iyorchia Ayu was removed from.

“I do not expect that the Northcentral zone will bring up more than one name at the NEC of 24th of October. If the Northcentral comes up with a name and presents it to NEC on the 24th of October, a new Chairman has emerged.

“Once the name is ratified, that’s the new chairman, the substantive chairman of the PDP; it does not require a national convention.”

October 10, 2024
PDP crises grow in states

Makarfi overrules endorsement of aspirants

Battle for secretariat in Ogun

Gbolarumi, Ladoja fight for control

Party: chairman not Southwest’s show

The opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) appears to have slipped back into trouble, barely three months after the Supreme Court resolved its leadership tussle.

Ahead of the party’s December 9 national convention that will produce a new leader, it is battling to resolve crises in at least six states where the congresses for the election of delegates and state council executives have thrown up problems.

The troubled state chapters are: Oyo, Ogun, Osun, Adamawa, Zamfara and Gombe. The congress is yet to hold in Lagos where the party is also divided.

The party held parallel congresses in Oyo and Ogun states. Two factions were yesterday locked in a bitter struggle to take over the secretariat in Abeokuta, the Ogun State capital.

But the biggest confusion was raked up by some leaders in the Southwest who, believing that the party’s chairmanship had been zoned exclusively to the zone, excluded some aspirants from the race. They endorsed others.

But yesterday, the Ahmed Makarfi-led caretaker committee and Southwest Vice Chairman Eddy Olafeso dissociated themselves from the endorsement.

All aspirants interested in the race for national chairman were cleared to pursue their aspirations.

A November 3 document signed by Board of Trustees (BoT) member Alhaji Shuaibu Oyedokun shortlisted only three of the eight Southwest aspirants.

The Oyedokun document cleared Chief Olabode George, Prof Tunde Adeniran and Prof Taoheed Adedoja for the race. George and Adeniran are members of the BoT.

The list excluded Otunba Gbenga Daniel, Alhaji Rashidi Ladoja, Mr. Jimi Agbaje, Mr. Akintayo Akin-Deko and Prof Wale Oladipo.

Party spokesman Dayo Adeyeye yesterday described the endorsement of some aspirants as “a non issue because we read the report in the newspapers just like every other person did”.

“They never informed the national secretariat about the matter and that should not stop any interested aspirants from pursuing their aspirations.”

According to him, since the position of the chairman had been zoned to the South, qualified members from any of the three geopolitical zones in the South are eligible to contest.

A statement by Olafeso said: “The South West Zonal Executive takes serious cognisance of the purported endorsement of some aspirants to the office of the National Chairman of our Party and wishes to state very firmly that the executive dissociates itself from that action outright..

“We equally wish to underscore the fact that we detest this act of impunity and will not support any action that will infringe on the fundamental rights of any party man to aspire to the highest position in the party. In furtherance of this, we affirm that all those gentlemen from the Southeest that wish to contest for the position of the National Chairman of the party are at liberty to continue to pursue their ambition without encumbrance or hindrance.

“We also wish to respectfully declare that the said decision to shut out people from contesting the election is a mere personal decision of a few as many members of the BoT we have contacted on this score have firmly disassociated themselves from this action and even their absolute ignorance of any meeting called for that purpose.

The issue of adopting a common position in the party is a serious action that must take due cognizance of every tendency within the party. The PDP is a people’s party and not the personal estate of a few and this executive will not stand by idly and allow anyone, no matter their privilege status, to impose their views or desires on the generality of the party.

Party sources said the bitter battle in the Southwest might have opened the way for the Southsouth to grab the party’s top post as former Deputy National Chairman Uche Secondus is waiting in the wings with the support of some governors.

The argument of the party’s leaders from the south west is that it is the zone that should naturally be allowed to take the chairman’s slot having never produced a chairman in PDP’s 19 years of existence.

BoT Chairman Senator Walid Jibrin said the party would provide a level-playing ground to all the aspirants.

He insisted that the chairmanship position is zoned to the entire South.

He told reporters yesterday in Kaduna: “I want to state clearly that the meeting in which such decision (to endorse aspirants) was taken was never in the instant of the National Board of Trustees and that we cannot afford to hold such meeting now as done in South west”.

Jibrin added: “In the Southwest we have two BoT members contesting for chairman and who should never be in a meeting where such a sensitive decision was taken.

“I will like to urge all BoT members in all the zones not to undertake such meetings without first intimating the BoT Chairman. I have invited Chief Shuaibu Oyedokun to a national caucus to explain what led him to champion that exercise.

“I want to further advise all other organs of our party to be extra careful not to rush to any one-sided decision. All aspirants must exercise restraint of give and take and wait for proper guidelines from the National Working Committee.

“I want to assure all aspirants to the various positions in the National Convention that they will be given full and fair play. Never again will our party witness any impunity. Count me out in any game that deliberately excludes any aspirant from fair participation. The delegates of our convention should be allowed to decide in accordance with set-up rules of the party,” he stated.

Fight broke out in Osun State at the weekend during the state congress. The factions also did not agree on the way forward.

Caretaker Committee of the PDP in the state Sarafa Ishola and other members of the committee were at the party secretariat along Gbogan-Osogbo road when the fight broke out.

Security men had to fire gunshots into the air.

Ishola was accused of working for the Governorship ambition of Chief Iyiola Omisore by some factional members.

But one of his loyalists Dr. Bayo Faforiji denied the claim.

In Ekiti, PDP leaders are not seeing eye to eye with Governor Ayo Fayose as a result of the governor’s endorsement of his deputy Prof. Olusola Kolapo as candidate in next year’s election.

PDP Publicity Secretary Dayo Adeyeye and Senator Biodun Olujimi are openly opposed to the governor. Fayose is also known to have rejected the candidacy of Prof Adeniran, an Ekiti man seeking to be PDP chairman.

The governor has also declared his intention to contest for president.

November 7, 2017
PDP crises: Senators’ face-off with Jonathan deepens

The face-off between the Peoples Democratic (PDP) senators and President Goodluck Jonathan over the ward congresses of the party deepened yesterday.

Seething with anger, the majority PDP Senators forced the adjournment of plenary till next Tuesday.

On Tuesday, after returning from recess, the senators adjourned without doing any legislative work in plenary till yesterday, only to adjourn again.

But the opposition All Progressives Congress (APC) senators kicked, describing the sudden adjournment as “selfish and uncalled for”.

Signs that the Senate might be adjourned as threatened by PDP senators on Tuesday emerged early yesterday when some of them were seen holding group meetings.

Senate President David Mark, who presided, merely read a prepared address on his intention to intervene in the crisis rocking the House of Representatives over the adjournment of the lower chamber for about one month.

After the short address, Mark informed the senators that a meeting of the PDP Caucus in the Senate would hold immediately.

Thereafter, he signaled to Senate Leader Victor Ndoma-Egba to move for adjournment.

The Senate Leader promptly complied and moved that the 12 items on the Order Paper be stood down till another legislative day.

The PDP senators moved to Room 1 venue of the closed- door meeting.

After the over one hour meeting, the Senators made no comments. Ndoma-Egba told reporters that the parley was a continuation of the one they held on Tuesday over the party’s ward congresses.

He said: “I am sure that you are aware that the PDP caucus met yesterday (Tuesday) and today (Wednesday) on fundamental issues affecting democracy in Nigeria, arising from the ward congresses of our party last Saturday.

“The issue needed to be addressed very urgently by relevant PDP stakeholders in the interest of our democracy.”

A Senator who attended the meeting said part of their resolution was to meet with President Jonathan, PDP Chairman, Adamu Mu’azu and members of the party’s National Working Committee. That meeting was slated for last night.

He said the parley was scheduled for the Presidential Villa on the assumption that the President would return from his trip to Burkina Faso.

He said the senators were insisting on the cancellation of congresses where they were allegedly schemed out.

Another senator, who also attended the meeting said: “It is not a hidden fact. The meeting is in furtherance of the protest of senators against the violation of the processes of the ward congress.

‘Senators are endangered, we are trying to see how to save the day. How far we can go, I can’t tell.”

According to him, “it is obvious that the governors control the party structures at the state levels”.

“It is also not in doubt that President Jonathan needs the governors more than the senators to win the 2015 election,” he said, adding:

“So, no man can give what he does not have. Every politics is local. The governors have the state party structure; they call the shot at the state level.”

APC Senator Babafemi Ojudu decried what he called the self-centeredness of PDP senators.

Ojudu, who represents Ekiti Central Senatorial District, said PDP senators should not prevent them from performing their constitutional duty.

Ojudu noted that if opposition senators had their way, they would continue to sit.

He said: “The Peoples Democratic Party senators are now victims of their party’s impunity in a democracy; now they are complaining. We have suffered PDP impunity for three years.

“If we have our way, we will come here tomorrow and sit. It is not about personal interest it should be about our people.

“Now they have seen injustice; they are fighting. We have seen injustice for more than two and half years.

“We wanted to fight, our colleagues did not allow us to fight. Why must it be that it is when it affects us that we act? People should have standards. Now that they have seen that a lot of them are no longer welcome back in their homes, now that they have realised that they have made themselves slaves to the executive, they are shouting.

“When you present yourself as a slave, definitely, you will be treated as a slave. That is the consequence of their actions over the years. But Nigerians voted for them to come here and work. We must work.

“Unfortunately, under the rules, we cannot work. That is why the opposition senators were busy shouting, “nay, nay, nay” when the motion for adjournment was moved by the Senate Leader.

“If we are working for Nigeria, we should be seen to be doing so. Now that the PDP senators have problems with their party, the president and governors, they are not allowing us to work.

“We really want to work but the system does not allow us.

“It is unfortunate that the 2015 budget will be affected but we are in the minority, we will have our say but they will have their way.

“We are going to call a meeting of our party caucus and we are going to discuss this. We even expected that they will call us to an executive meeting and then we discuss this matter.

“They don’t have to come in and adjourn like that. Some of us came from our constituencies in far away places so that we could sit for this week. But here we are, we are not allowed to sit.

“At the moment, Mubi has been taken over by insurgents. This is the time when all of us should guard our loins and fight on behalf of our compatriots who are being displaced.

“Go and look at the photographs of people who are running away from their homes. If you had lived in a place for about 20 to 30 years and you have to carry a small bag and run away from there, do you know how traumatic that can be? Instead of thinking of ourselves alone, we should be thinking of those people.”

A PDP Senator who does not want his name in print described the action of his colleagues as “absolute mark of insensitivity, especially when Boko Haram has overrun a greater part of the Northeast.”

Mark, who read a short speech to senators before adjournment, said it would be inconceivable for him to fold his arms or pretend that all is well.

The Senate President, who is also Chairman of the National Assembly, was referring to the crisis of confidence rocking the House of Representatives following the defection of Speaker Aminu Waziri Tambuwal from the PDP to the APC.

Mark said: “We are not to interfere in the internal affairs of each House. However, as Chairman of the National Assembly, I cannot fold my arms or pretend that all is well in the current crisis.

“Furthermore, the matter is already in a court of law, we cannot, therefore, discuss the issue in this chamber. I am, therefore, going to do all I can to resolve the current impasse.

“Furthermore, the matter is already in a court of law; we cannot, therefore, discuss the issues here.

“I want to assure all of you that I will do the needful to protect and defend the legislature at all cost.”

November 6, 2014
nPDP: We are more than seven governors, says Gov Aliyu

Niger state governor and member of the G7 governors, Dr. Mu’azu Babangida Aliyu has said that Bamanga Tukur led Peoples Democratic Party would be shocked to know that the Kawu Baraje-led fraction has more than the identified seven governors.

He said other governors have deliberately chosen to silently support the nPDP.

Speaking in Minna while receiving the Executive Director of the Sir. Ahmadu Bello Memorial Foundation, Aliyu who refused to disclosed the identity of the ‘silent members’, said, “there are many members of the G7 who intends to remain silent. They are silent members.”

He explained that people only identify the G7 because they (the G7 governors) are the ones most visible explaining that there are some other governors who are in support of them.

The governor enjoined the Sarduana Foundation to ensure that they carry on the good work and promote unity in the north.

He urged the foundation to work in collaboration with other bodies to harness income and improve the lot of northern Nigeria.

He assured the foundation that he would plead with other state governors who have not redeemed their pledges to the foundation.

Earlier, the Executive Director of the Foundation, Dr. Shettima Ajayi disclosed that the foundation has trained 350 women and youths in vocational and entrepreneurship programs adding that most of the trainees have started their own businesses.

He said the foundation has reached out to some northern states affected with insecurity and has been able to give some form of compensation to them.

Ajayi further expressed his appreciation to the Niger state governor for his support to the foundation as the foundation has been able to make impact to the people of the north in all its programmes.

September 20, 2013
PDP crises‘ll end soon, says Uduaghan

Delta State Governor Emmanuel Uduaghan yesterday spoke on the protracted Peoples Democratic party (PDP) crises, giving reasons the Southsouth should not oppose President Goodluck Jonathan’s perceived aspiration for a second term.

The governor objected to the factional Nigerian Governors’ Forum (NGF)’s demand for the resignation of Finance Minister Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, saying it lacked justification.

Uduaghan said the governors should blame the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) for the dwindling national revenue, instead of heaping the blame on Mrs. Okonjo-Iweala and Petroleum Resources Minister Diezani Alison-Maduekwe.

The governor spoke with reporters on the state of the nation in Lagos.

Reiterating President Goodluck Jonathan’s determination to halt the PDP crises, he said a lot of “fence-mending” and “crisis-resolution” would precede the resumption of reconciliation on October 7.

Uduaghan, who lent his voice to the clamour for a National Conference, said distrust and suspicion have affected the relationship among the various ethnic groups.

He said: “I thought Nigeria needed a National Conference three years ago. What we do not need is a Sovereign National Conference. There are regional, security, religious and economic challenges and we should discuss. them. There is so much distrust and suspicion in the country.

“Many people say there is a quarrel between Jonathan and other people because he is from the Niger Delta. That is why we believe the region should not oppose Jonathan.”

The governor urged Southsouth people to ‘build bridges of understanding’ with other regions.

On the call for Mrs. Okonjo-Iweala’s resignation, he attributed the shortage of funds in the Federation Account to the inefficiency of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), the Customs Service and the Board of Inland Revenue.

Uduaghan said oil theft, pipeline vandalism and disruption of mining activities were responsible for the low productivity that translated into a drop in revenue.

He said: “NNPC is telling us that there is no money. Is it the minister’s responsibility to get money or the NNPC? The question should be put to the NNPC, not the minister. What happens to the money? The money to be shared is accumulating. The pressure should be on the NNPC, not the minister. Pressures should be on the right quarters so that we will not sacrifice the wrong person.”

The governor said the castigation of the economic management team was misplaced because the advisory body is made up of the best and brightest brains in the sector.

He said the National Economic Council had been coming up with robust advice.

Uduaghan said since oil theft has reduced, the nation should demand accountability and efficiency from the technical agencies charged with revenue generation.

Lamenting that the transient drop in the revenue to states may delay regular payment of workers’ salary, he said the state and federal governments should focus on the diversification of the economy.

Uduaghan said: “The Nigerian economy should not be built solely on oil. Because most states depend on oil, there may be challenges in paying salary. States have been getting 75 per cent of what they should get and it may lead to shortfalls.”

He predicted an end to the PDP crises, saying efforts were on to reconcile aggrieved members with the party.

The governor said despite the crises, he and his Rivers State counterpart, Rotimi Amaechi, are best of friends.

He decried the fracas on the floor of the House of Representatives, saying the PDP would soon “bid crises farewell”.

Uduaghan said: “The reconciliation process is on. The President is on top of it. There may be hiccups on the way, but they will not derail the reconciliation process. It may not end by October 7, but before then, a lot of processes would have taken place.”

September 19, 2013
PDP crises take toll on governance

The protracted crises rocking the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) may have diverted the attention of the President and governors from governance. More energies are concentrated on crisis management, instead of prudent management of public affairs, writes Assistant Editor LEKE SALAUDEEN.

The crisis rocking the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) is taking its tolls on governance at the fedral and state levels.

Governance, according to observers, is at a standstill. President Goodluck Jonathan has been presiding over a cabinet that has been polarised by the crisis. His priority is pulling the rug off the feet of the Kawu Baraje’s faction of the PDP. He is holding regular meetings with his trusted aides on how strategies for consolidating his hold on the party and government.

Also, the governors loyal to him have literarily relocated to Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) for brainstorming sessions. Sources said that they go to Abuja with state files. Many commissioners and advisers are also on the trail of their governors. Thus, the business of state suffers neglect.

The seven governor in the Baraje’s group face the asame predicament. They hold court in Abuja, strategising on the litigation arising from the split in the ruling party. The deputy governors also lend support to their efforts outside their respective states.

The fact that the crisis is precipitated by the second term ambition of President Goodluck Jonathan. Baraje’s faction is believed to be plotting to abort the President’s ambition, based on the PDP zoning principle. But the President, it is believed, is also bent on re-contesting. According to his supporters, he is at liberty to seek re-nomination, based on the provisions of the 1999 Constitution, which give opportunity for him to execrise the right.

Meetings and deliberations on how to resolve the crisis are the pre-occupation of the President and his political associates. But reconciliation has proved difficult.

Last week, the President reshuffled his cabinet. The reshufle was informed by his desire to strengthen his base against further onslaught by the faction.

The confusion in the PDP also costs the nation huge resources that could have channelled towards development. The public fund is been expended on the crisis, especially for propaganda.

Many Nigerians are unhappy over the neglect of the vital sectors, following the crisis. The members of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) have been on strike since July because of the non-implementation of the agreement the government signed with them in 2009. The industrial crisis has not been resolved. The Federal Government seems to have brushed aside the ASUU matter, since the lecturers failed to accept its offer. Consequently, academic activities have been put on hold. Students now roam about the streets and their parents are in pains. The universities are supposed to re-open this month for the new academic year. There is no hope that government will acceed to the lecturers’ demands.

At a time the government is expected to fight the infrastructure battle, it’s commitment appears to be waning. For instance, the Federal Government claimed to have awarded contracts for the rehabilitation of Lagos-Ibadan Expressway and Apapa-Oshodi Highway. These roads still constitute nightmares for the commuters because the contractors are yet to start work on them. The Minister in the Ministry of Works, Mike Onolomeme, is pre-occupied with the PDP crisis resolution and the second term bid of President Jonathan.

Also, government activities have ground to a halt in the PDP- controlled states. The governors have abandoned their states and relocated to Abuja in the wake of the crises. Those loyal to the President now from the Presidential Villa.

Most of the governors from both sides have refused to go back to their states since August 31 when the controversial special convention was held in Abuja.

At the controversial convention, the seven governors stormed out to form a new faction.

Sources said that some governors run their states by proxy. Strategic matters and programmes requiring their attention, approval and confirmation are suspended. The weekly State Executive Council meetings are not held regularly.

As well as major policy documents that require the authority and signature of the governors had been suspended. Where necessary such documents are taken to Abuja.

In Akwa Ibom State, the indigenes are worried over the absence of Governor Godswill Akpabio, who had relocated to Abuja a week before the convention and is yet to return.

As a result, government activities have been at low ebb in the past three weeks. Akpabio’s aides are shuttling between the state capital and Abuja with files and documents meant for the attention of the governor.

A senior civil servant, who expressed concern over the governor’s absence, said that the abadonment of state duties is injurious to the welfare of the people.

The people of Bayelsa State are also worried over the absence of Governor Seriake Dickson. The opposition and other concerned indigenes the have criticised the neglect of state functions. Dickson is the Chairman of the PDP Reconciliation Committee. But the panel has not achieved much success. Investigations revealed that the governor hardly spend one week in Government House without travelling to Abuja. Described as the most mobile governor, the governor now treats files in Abuja.

Governor Gabriel Suswam has also relocated to Abuja over the crisis. Although he was given the assignment to broker peace between the Federakl Government and ASUU, he has not achieved success. The State Chairman of Nigerian Conference of Nigerian Political Parties (CNPP), Mr Baba Agan, has accused him of governing the state from outside.

Nigerians are worried that the PDP crises have paralysed government activities such that officials have no time to attend to public matters.

Constitutional lawyer and Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) Professor Itse Sagay said that the President and the PDP governors have abandoned their constitutional responsibility of providing good governance.

Sagay noted that the attention of the presidency is diverted by the crises.

He went further: “A level of neglect is going on in the country. The fight over the presidential ticket for 2015 election is the focus of the President. The split in the PDP has made it worse. The Presidency has no other thing to think about than how to bring the break- away faction back to the fold. The PDP governors too have relocated to Abuja, abandoning governance in their states for party reconciliation and peace talk.”

Civil Rights activist Shehu Sani believes there is no government in Nigeria because, according to him, all the attention, emotion and passion of the President and his cabinet are now chained to the PDP crisis.

He observed that there is confusion as the machinery of government is stuck in the mud of the PDP crisis. The crisis, he said, has superseded the interest of the country.

Sani said that PDP is noted for crisis. He recalled that during the Obasanjo regime, the Atiku-Obasanjo feud over heated the polity; under Umaru Yar’Adua, the politics of the cabal incinerated the polity and under Goodluck Jonathan, the PDP crisis has crippled state activities.

“The reality of the moment is that President Jonathan is a man with penchant for sowing divisions. He sowed division between the North and Southsouth. He has sown division between the Hausa/Fulani and the minorities in the North; between the Ibo of Imo and that of Anambra. He has sown division in the Nigerian Governors Forum (NGF) and in the National Youth Council of Nigeria. He has now sown division in the PDP.

“President Jonathan’s divisive politics is harmful, corrosive and dangerous to the corporate existence of Nigeria. He is surrounded by a mix of political vampires, hyenas and vultures. He’s hostage in that game reserve.

“The division in PDP is caused by the ambition of Jonathan to contest the 2015 election and the very fact that the life of some people depend on it”, he added.

Sagay said the crisis is characterised by the use of abusive language and ferocious attack can lead this country to another civil war.

“My worry is that some of the gladiators are old men who lived and witnessed how this kind of bitterness brought down the First Republic. I expect people like Bamanga Tukur to be cautious in his utterances and settle the differences rather than telling aggrieved party to go to hell. The crisis in the PDP may have devastating effects on the polity, if not carefully handled”, Sagay concluded.

September 19, 2013
Wamakko, Lamido, Kwankwaso, others to lose seats – Tukur

. . . Atiku, Oyinlola, Baraje risk expulsion

The National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Alhaji Bamanga Tukur, has vowed to ensure that governors and National Assembly members that joined the Abubakar Baraje led breakaway faction of the party lose their seats.

Similarly, Tukur said other PDP chieftains that joined the faction would be expelled from the ruling party.

At a press conference he addressed at the party’s secretariat on Wednesday, the PDP chairman described leaders of the breakaway faction as impostors, saying that security agencies have been detailed to treat them as such.

He said: “Consequently, we shall ensure that any person who is not duly elected into any leadership position in our great party and has not been duly assigned any role but goes ahead to arrogate such to himself will be made to face the full wrath of the law.

“Similarly, all persons elected on the platform of our great party at all levels who identify with these enemies of the oneness and greatness of our party shall have their seats declared vacant as required by law.

“We shall leave no stone unturned to ensure that such persons and indeed any other individual who attempts to subvert the leadership of the PDP shall reap in full, the consequences of such actions.”

Stating that the PDP has no faction, Tukur said there was neither room nor reason whatsoever for such a claim under any guise.

“The PDP has only one duly elected National Executive Committee (NEC) under my chairmanship. I wish therefore to state with all emphasis that any group of persons parading themselves as leaders of NEC or any other organ of our party are impostors and I urge all Nigerians, especially the security agencies and other institutions of democracy to regard them as such.

“Let me state categorically that the PDP as the sole custodian of the sacred mandate of over 160 million Nigerians and who in the last fourteen years has lifted high the banner of democracy will not fold its arms while some undemocratic and unpatriotic elements destroy our common destiny by causing divisions and confusion among the people.

“There is only one lawfully recognised PDP and I am firmly in charge, “Tukur declared.

September 4, 2013
Ex- PDP member blames Obasanjo,Tukur for party crises

… Flay Anenih, Clark

A founding member of the Peoples Democratic Party, Chief Abu King Shuluwa, on Wednesday said former president Olusegun Obasanjo and the National Chairman of the party, Alhaji Bamanga Tukur should be blamed for the crises rocking the party.

He also faulted roles played by the Chairman of PDP Board of Trustees; Chief Tony Anenih and a prominent Ijaw leader; Chief Edwin Clark in the current hostility within the party.

Addressing journalists in his Makurdi residence, Shuluwa, an associate of the late Shehu Musa Yar’Adua and former vice president Atiku Abubakar, said the quartet took advantage of President Goodluck Jonathan’s perceived weakness to mislead the party and pursued their personal agenda.

“Don’t forget that Anenih is the chief financier of the People Democratic Movement and don’t that he wants it to be registered as a party. The entire governors fighting the president are loyalists of ex – president Obasanjo while Clark is drumming ethic war.

“Tukur is running the party like a private property, bringing crises for the President.

“President Jonathan does not know the power play currently going, he is innocent and they are making him to look confused,” Shuluwa stated.

September 4, 2013