Peoples Democratic Party’s
governors from four northern states, who are bent on unseating the national
chairman of the party, Alhaji Bamanga Tukur, have given conditions for a truce.
The governors, Murtala Nyako (Adamawa), Sule Lamido (Jigawa),
Aliyu Wamako (Sokoto) and Rabiu Kwankwaso (Kano), according to a source are
willing to make peace with Tukur leadership if he meets their conditions which
include returning to the recommendation of the Sule Lamido led presidential
reconciliation committee on Adamawa PDP crisis.
The conditions also include that the hounding of the party
members, PDP governors inclusive, by the National Working Committee (NWC)must
be addressed and that the leadership roles of the governors as the chief
executives of the states must be clearly defined.
The governors who insist that they would not dump PDP for any
other party, the source said, declared that the national headquarters must be
open and positive as regards the 2015 general election as every party member
must be encouraged to vie for any elective position at all levels.
The governors, it was gathered, are positive that until the
conditions are met, it would be difficult to give maximum support to the party leadership.
A senior aide to the Adamawa State governor, Adamu Bagda, told
Saturday Mirror that the disagreement between Tukur and the Northern governors
started with the way the national chairman discarded the recommendation of a
committee put together by the president.
“The entire problem started with the Adamawa issue, the decison
to put the Lamido committee was a collective one by all stakeholders and now
after they have toiled and come up with a recommendation, he spurned it, the
recommendation was not even considered not to talk of being debated.
The implication is that no PDP governor is safe under the
present party leadership. “Bamanga Tukur unilaterally dissolved the state exco
and the president and the PDP governors agreed that what he did was wrong.
A presidential committee was set up and Governor Lamido was
asked to head it to see how peace can return to the state.
He refused to work with the committee and he went ahead to
conduct his own exco at the ward, local government and state. He refused to
listen to the presidential committee. His plan was to dispose the governor in
the state.
What will a governor do with a party he has no say in, he is
supposed to be the leader of the party in the state. But the national chairman
brought members of the opposition.
Every thing was done in flagrant disrespect to the people that
matter in the party.” Another source who is a commissioner to one of the
governors told Saturday Mirror, “How do we support a chairman, who is a
northerner but has no interest of the North at heart.
He has already sold the ticket for the 2015 to the present
occupant without giving opportunity for other interested aspirants to test
their popularity.
“This is unfortunate. The governors will not support that
illegality and until he comes out boldly to state the fact about the rotation
policy of the party and where the power must reside in the 2015, then it would
be difficult to guarantee the support of the northern governors.
Presently, most northerners are beginning to see reasons with
the four governors. I can assure you, it is not about personal interest, it is
purely an issue which bothers on equity and fair-play.” Recall that when the
Norhern governors have visited Obasanjo a fortnight ago.
They were quoted as telling him that “We have come to discuss
some of the political problems affecting the nation especially as it affects
the North, Rivers State and our democracy as a whole.”
Also, speaking after their meeting with former heads of state,
Ibrahim Babangida and Abdulsalami Abubarkar in Minna, they affirmed that their
meeting was fruitful, adding that they would also meet with more northern
leaders in the days to come to “chart the way forward for the region.”
They also told him of their plans to visit eminent stakeholders
within the PDP, leaders which include some founding fathers like Dr. Alex
Ekwueme, Chief Solomon Lar, and Theophilus Danjuma amongst others in order to
stop the rapid disintegration of the ailing ruling party.
Speaking after their meeting with IBB and Abubarkar, they affirmed
that their meeting was fruitful, adding that they would also meet with more
northern leaders in the days to come to “chart the way forward for the region.”
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