In a sly reaction to our editorial captioned Obasanjo’s Proxy War against Jonathan, the breakaway faction of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has made attempt to exonerate the former President, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo and disclaim widespread belief that he is the undercover mastermind of the crisis currently engulfing the party.
Huhonline.com can disclose that ex-president is ardent advocate of power shift to the North. In reference to Goodluck Jonathan during one of his visits to Jigawa State, Obasanjo had said, “You can give a man a job, but you can’t force him to do the job.” He then went ahead to identify Governor of the state, Sule Lamido as the right man for the job in 2015.
Asides debunking the notion, the new PDP urged members of the party to blame the protraction of the crisis on the faction led by Bamanga Tukur, which has been obstinate in negotiations for peace thus far.
Four of the aggrieved seven state Governors (Babangida Aliyu of Niger, Rabiu Kwankwaso of Kano, Murtala Nyako of Adamawa and Abdulfatah Ahmed of Kwara) loyal to Alhaji Abubakar Kawu Baraje’s faction met with President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan in Abuja on Tuesday but it ended in deadlock.
According to the breakaway faction, yesterday’s meeting is yet the latest in a series of gestures made by PDP under Alhaji Abubakar Kawu Baraje’s leadership to amicably resolve the crisis orchestrated by the party’s factional National Chairman, Alhaji Bamanga Tukur for reasons it cannot fathom.
“Unfortunately, the belligerence of the Alhaji Tukur-led National Working Committee (NWC) has so far frustrated all efforts being made by the party leader, President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, as well as by PDP Elders such as Dr. Ahmadu Ali, Dr Gemade and former Presidents Olusegun Obasanjo and Ibrahim Babangida to amicably resolve the crisis,” National Publicity Secretary of the faction, Chief Eze Chukwuemeka Eze wrote in a statement.
“We plead with them not to be deterred by those who are feeding fat on the crisis as we are ready to assist them in any way possible to enable them restore peace to our great party.
“The latest of the belligerent actions by the Tukur faction is the ill-advised move to take over the party’s structures in the States of the Governors loyal to Baraje’s leadership. We wish to advise Tukur and his NWC against this or any other action capable of worsening the crisis. We say: ENOUGH IS ENOUGH!”
The faction commended Jonathan and PDP Elders for their various efforts at resolving the crisis which, by its own admission, can only lead to the further weakening of the party if allowed to continue. It appealed to them never to tire until they achieve their set objectives, and also appealed to Tukur and his NWC to respect the “distinguished” party elders and give peace a chance.
“Mr. President should not be deceived by some party leaders who are making him believe that he can do without us. Most of these leaders currently cannot under a properly organised free and fair elections win their wards,” Eze continued.
“It is obvious that no presidential election in Nigeria can be won without states like Rivers, Kano, Sokoto, Adamawa, Kwara and Niger States, Kebbi, and these are states we are controlling. Check the past general elections and see that some of these media-created PDP leaders have no followers in their states at the moment talk less of making any impact come 2015.”
He then condemned those blaming Obasanjo and Chairman of the Board of Trustees (BoT) for the party’s travails, saying members of the faction are mature enough to make up their minds on events in the party without being manipulated by anyone.
“We have noticed the erroneous insinuation and propaganda by Tukur’s faction that the distinguished statesman, General Oulsegun Obasanjo, had a hand in our staging a walkout during the ill-conceived mini-convention of PDP and that he is the brain behind most of our activities.
“We view this as disparagement on us, creating the impression that we are not matured enough to determine our political future; and most importantly, it was an attempt to smear the international image of General Obasanjo as a distinguished statesman and father of PDP and rubbish his current efforts to restore peace to a party, the very existence of which is being threatened by the undemocratic acts of some of its leaders. We can now understand why Tukur’s faction is hell-bent on destroying every effort to bring peace to the party.
“We are also aware of the attempts being made to rubbish and ridicule the BoT Chairman, Chief Tony Anenih, for stating that we have genuine reasons for what we are doing. We want to assure Chief Anenih, knowing all his sacrifices and efforts in making PDP whatever it is by today, that we will not sit and watch some jokers in Tukur’s faction rubbish him or make him look ordinary in the affairs of the party. The truth will always see us through.”
Eze then reiterated the faction’s demands, saying all it asks for is internal democracy, and it will remain unyielding in its quest to restore it to the party.
“Actually, what are we asking for? We are asking that internal democracy be allowed to thrive within the party and that Tukur and his undemocratic gang should not see the party as their personal property in which they can wake up any day and fire whoever they dreamt about in their sleep.
“We will no longer condone such undemocratic reasoning and acts. Enough is enough! No matter how many times he wants to take us to court to ask that we be committed to prison, we are not deterred or afraid of going to prison.
“We are adamant on achieving our aim of restoring democratic normalcy within the PDP as envisaged by the founding fathers of the party. This is a battle to which we have committed ourselves and there is no going back until undemocratic elements within our party are flushed out as their acts have done much harm and brought much shame to our great party.
He also thanked “all Nigerians that are on a daily basis identifying with our aspirations and vision, particularly the Kano, Kaduna and Baylesa Chapters of our great party and other states that have resolved to join the progressive train of the Baraje-led revolution.
“We are in the majority,” he concluded, “and the few selfish cabal led by Alhaji Tukur cannot frustrate us in this regard.”
