Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Alhaji Bamanga Tukur will continue to retain his office despite dissent from five northern governors because President Goodluck Jonathan cannot unilaterally remove him, Special Adviser to the President on Political Matters, Ahmed Gulak said on Sunday.
In a meeting on Saturday with the president, Governor of Adamawa State, Muritala Nyako; Governor of Kano State, Rabiu Kwankanso; Governor of Niger State, Babangida Aliyu; Governor of Jigawa State, Sule Lamido; and Governor of Sokoto State, Aliyu Wamakko had demanded Tukur’s sack has condition for peace in the party.They also demanded fresh elections into all other positions in the party’s National Working Committee, saying that having new faces in the NWC would also encourage peace.
The governors accused Tukur of high-handedness and consistent interference with activities at the state chapters of the party. They complained, too, of subtle marginalisation by certain high-ranking officers of the party.
But speaking on the matter, Gulak explained that Jonathan could not remove Tukur, as he was duly elected into the office of National Chairman.
“It amounts to political immaturity for the governors to ambush the president and ask him to sack the PDP chairman,” Gulak said.
“That is not supposed to be the line of negotiation. When you go for a negotiation, all cards must be on the table. You can’t go and ambush the President and ask him to sack somebody that was elected at a national convention of the party.
“As senior members of the party, the governors know that Tukur is a product of election. The President can’t sack him alone. That will not be proper. There are processes stipulated in the PDP constitution for officers to be removed from office and they (governors) are aware of the procedure.”
At another forum, Chairman of the PDP Special Convention Committee, Professor Jerry Gana expressed enthusiasm that the party would survive its latest wave of crises. Gana was interacting with newsmen in Abuja during the public presentation of three books written by Head of the Department of European Languages, University of Lagos, Prof. Jide Timothy-Asobele.
“When people see a little bit of crisis in PDP, they think it is going to die,” he said. “We should come together to make progress; we must not rig elections and we must allow the people to speak. That is the essence of democracy.”
Meanwhile, Tukur’s battle to retain his office continues on Monday, when an Abuja High Court hears an amended motion by some members seeking his sack and that of the acting members of the party’s NWC for the conduct of fresh elections.
On Thursday, Justice Suleiman Belgore of the same court ordered the party to suspend the special national convention it originally scheduled for 31st August. 2013. However, it declined to either restrain Tukur from serving as National Chairman or sack the acting members of the NWC.
