Members of the National Working Committee (NWC) of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) have passed a vote of no confidence on Alhaji Bamanga Tukur, the national chairman of the embattled party.
In a report they presented to President Goodluck Jonathan at a late-night meeting on Friday, they warned that the party would lose the 2015 general elections should Tukur remain the chairman.
But countering their scathing analysis of his leadership, Tukur alleged that a member of the PDP Stakeholders Forum had demanded a bribe of N20m in return for mobilising support for Tukur to stem the defection of party members to the All Progressives Congress (APC).
According to the NWC, Tukur has been running the PDP like a sole proprietorship, as they are unaware of most of his decisions while his personal residence at Wuse has literally become the National Secretariat of the party. They also complained about the dissolution of the Sokoto and Kwara State executive councils without recourse to the opinion of NWC members.
After the meeting, a NWC member said Tukur has not recorded a single feat since the NWC was inaugurated in March 2012. He described Tukur has the root of a never-seen-before crisis that has seen five serving governors and hordes several lawmakers defect to the opposition.
But Tukur denied most of these allegations, claiming that the NWC is united and all that is needed to bolster the existing relationship of members. He also claimed to be the target of those against Jonathan’s 2015 ambition.
An insider said Jonathan expressed shock that the problems within the NWC were that deep-seated, but appealed to the NWC members for clam, saying their concerns would be examined at next week’s meeting of the Board of Trustees (BoT) as well as national caucus meetings and National Executive Committee (NEC) meetings.
Present at the meeting were the likes of National Secretary, Prof. Wale Oladipo; Deputy National Chairman, Prince Uche Secondus; National Auditor, Adewole Adeyanju; National Publicity Secretary, Chief Olisa Metuh; National Organising Secretary, Abubakar Mustapha; National Treasurer; National Financial Secretary, Elder Bolaji Anani; National Woman Leader, Mrs Kema Chikwe; National Legal Adviser, Victor Kwom and National Youth Leader, Abdullahi MaiBasira. However, Deputy National Secretary, Onwe Solomon Onwe, who is still in the East, was absent.
In the bribery allegation, Special Assistant to Tukur on Media, Prince Oliver Okpala revealed that a PDP chieftain promised to mobilise support for the beleaguered chairman with a sum of N20m; and when his bribe was not granted, he spearheaded a media war against the chairman.
”The brain behind the SMS and blackmail is a selfish political opportunist who recently approached the National Chairman of PDP, Alhaji Tukur and demanded N20 million to enable him mobilise support for the National Chairman following the defection of PDP Governors to the APC, an amount he claimed would also be utilized for massive propaganda and blackmail against the defected governors”, Okpala wrote.
“Given that Alhaji Tukur is a statesman with a strong strength of character and probity, he refused to dance to the wishes and demands of the chieftain, who got annoyed and promised that he was going to engage in serious blackmail against Dr. Tukur, which certainly has led to his present crusade of blackmail against the national chairman.
“Nigerians, mostly media houses in the country are therefore advised to be wary of this said (person), his utterances and scandalous documents in other to avoid undeserved libel and litigations.
“For the avoidance of doubt, there is no iota of truth in the malicious propaganda against the PDP and Dr. Tukur. The alleged issue of $20,000 dollars bribe to NEC members only exist in the imagination of this person and his anti-democratic elements”.
But the chieftain believed to be the target of the allegation, Imo Ugochinyere, denied making such demand, branding the allegation as baseless, nonsensical, childish and an attempt by a sinking old man to hold on to power said.
Ugochinyere said the emergency press briefing by the “Bamanga Tukur’s dying PDP over the issue of the ongoing bribing of some PDP NEC members following next week’s NEC meeting with $20, 000 [is] to help get a vote of confidence endorsement for his rotten regime and his weak paymaster, which I exposed to the public some days ago”.
Members of the National Working Committee (NWC) of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) have passed a vote of no confidence on Alhaji Bamanga Tukur, the national chairman of the embattled party.
In a report they presented to President Goodluck Jonathan at a late-night meeting on Friday, they warned that the party would lose the 2015 general elections should Tukur remain the chairman.
But countering their scathing analysis of his leadership, Tukur alleged that a member of the PDP Stakeholders Forum had demanded a bribe of N20m in return for mobilising support for Tukur to stem the defection of party members to the All Progressives Congress (APC).
According to the NWC, Tukur has been running the PDP like a sole proprietorship, as they are unaware of most of his decisions while his personal residence at Wuse has literally become the National Secretariat of the party. They also complained about the dissolution of the Sokoto and Kwara State executive councils without recourse to the opinion of NWC members.
After the meeting, a NWC member said Tukur has not recorded a single feat since the NWC was inaugurated in March 2012. He described Tukur has the root of a never-seen-before crisis that has seen five serving governors and hordes several lawmakers defect to the opposition.
But Tukur denied most of these allegations, claiming that the NWC is united and all that is needed to bolster the existing relationship of members. He also claimed to be the target of those against Jonathan’s 2015 ambition.
An insider said Jonathan expressed shock that the problems within the NWC were that deep-seated, but appealed to the NWC members for clam, saying their concerns would be examined at next week’s meeting of the Board of Trustees (BoT) as well as national caucus meetings and National Executive Committee (NEC) meetings.
Present at the meeting were the likes of National Secretary, Prof. Wale Oladipo; Deputy National Chairman, Prince Uche Secondus; National Auditor, Adewole Adeyanju; National Publicity Secretary, Chief Olisa Metuh; National Organising Secretary, Abubakar Mustapha; National Treasurer; National Financial Secretary, Elder Bolaji Anani; National Woman Leader, Mrs Kema Chikwe; National Legal Adviser, Victor Kwom and National Youth Leader, Abdullahi MaiBasira. However, Deputy National Secretary, Onwe Solomon Onwe, who is still in the East, was absent.
In the bribery allegation, Special Assistant to Tukur on Media, Prince Oliver Okpala revealed that a PDP chieftain promised to mobilise support for the beleaguered chairman with a sum of N20m; and when his bribe was not granted, he spearheaded a media war against the chairman.
”The brain behind the SMS and blackmail is a selfish political opportunist who recently approached the National Chairman of PDP, Alhaji Tukur and demanded N20 million to enable him mobilise support for the National Chairman following the defection of PDP Governors to the APC, an amount he claimed would also be utilized for massive propaganda and blackmail against the defected governors”, Okpala wrote.
“Given that Alhaji Tukur is a statesman with a strong strength of character and probity, he refused to dance to the wishes and demands of the chieftain, who got annoyed and promised that he was going to engage in serious blackmail against Dr. Tukur, which certainly has led to his present crusade of blackmail against the national chairman.
“Nigerians, mostly media houses in the country are therefore advised to be wary of this said (person), his utterances and scandalous documents in other to avoid undeserved libel and litigations.
“For the avoidance of doubt, there is no iota of truth in the malicious propaganda against the PDP and Dr. Tukur. The alleged issue of $20,000 dollars bribe to NEC members only exist in the imagination of this person and his anti-democratic elements”.
But the chieftain believed to be the target of the allegation, Imo Ugochinyere, denied making such demand, branding the allegation as baseless, nonsensical, childish and an attempt by a sinking old man to hold on to power said.
Ugochinyere said the emergency press briefing by the “Bamanga Tukur’s dying PDP over the issue of the ongoing bribing of some PDP NEC members following next week’s NEC meeting with $20, 000 [is] to help get a vote of confidence endorsement for his rotten regime and his weak paymaster, which I exposed to the public some days ago”.
