Thursday, 19 December 2013
"THE RULING PARTY IS DEAD, READY TO BE BURIED"- GOV. LAMINDO
IT was
a grim verdict yesterday on the fate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) by
one of its governors.
The
ruling party is dead, waiting to be buried, declared Jigawa State Governor Sule
Lamido.
Lamido,
one of the founding fathers of the PDP in 1998, was one of the Group of Seven
(G7) aggrieved governors who challenged the leadership of Alhaji Bamanga Tukur
and joined the Kawu Baraje-led New PDP.
Five of
the governors – Rotimi Amaechi (Rivers), Aliyu Wamakko (Sokoto), Murtala Nyako
(Adamawa), Rabiu Kwankwaso (Kano) and Abdultfatah Ahmed (Kwara) – have defected
to the All Progressives Congress (APC).
Lamido
and Niger State Governor Babangida Aliyu stayed back in the PDP.
Lamido
said he would not leave PDP because doing so is like leaving a house he built.
But
yesterday, Lamido reviewed the latest development in the troubled party
especially the defection on Wednesday of 37 House of Representatives members to
the APC and declared the PDP dead.
“We are
today witnessing the de-construction of what appears to be the final collapse
of our dear party, the PDP, under the inept and imbecile National Working
Committee (NWC) led by Bamanga Tukur,” he said, adding: “I am short of words to
express my pain. It is agonising to see the party built in every home, in every
village, town and cities all over Nigeria with lots of sacrifice being
destroyed.”
Urging
President Goodluck to take action, Lamido said: “Is it too late for the
‘leader’ of the party to intervene and save our party?”
He,
however, warned that “Nigeria’s democracy must not be truncated”.
But
Tukur insisted yesterday that he would not step down as demanded by the
governors elected on the platform of the party because the process being
adopted is illegal.
Tukur,
who spoke at a breakfast session with reporters in Abuja, said those after his
sack were trying to ambush the process.
He
said: “I was lawfully elected into the position by the party; so why should I
be removed through an illegal process. That is why I challenge them to allow
the rules prevail.
“Yes, I
have also heard that the party’s National Executive Council (NEC) meeting has
not held for a long time, but I will also remind the public and the party that
even at the state levels, there are executive councils and they have not also
held meetings in the past years, even in the states of those that hold against
me the NEC meeting issue.
“The
NEC does not exist on its own; it derives from the states and the states should
be in order before we put the national body and level in working order.”
Tukur
said the party, after the defection in the National Assembly, would begin
another round of reconciliation.
He
added: “There is never a time any party would rule out the importance of
reconciliation, and that is what I have been doing and many of the people you
hear kick against the leadership of the party still visit me here and hold
meetings with me.
“But
when one is bent on something, I have seen that some of them who engineer this
problem don’t relent in inciting others against the party.
“But I
promise you and I am sure the final move we have commenced will bring an end to
the problems and most, if not all, the members that left would be back.
“What
the public doesn’t also know is that new members and blocs have not ceased to
join the PDP.
“However,
I promise the aggrieved members that I am not the problem of the party and they
should feel free to tell me what I have done wrong and, as a family, we would
sit down and find a way out of it.”
He went
on: “In a situation where people have a mindset on an issue, it is difficult to
reconcile with such persons and that is what is playing out. I cannot tell you
I am not disturbed by the development in the party. It hasn’t been a healthy one
because much as we believe that the party still enjoys good standing among the
electorate, we know the strength of a party is in the membership it commands.
“I have
viewed the issues in the party and I know for sure that it is not getting
better but I can assure you that I can take any lawful condition the aggrieved
members come up with to make sure peace reigns in the party. I have heard it
many times from outside and the media that I am the problem of the party, but I
challenge you to have audience with the aggrieved members of the party and ask
them if I have not had private audiences with them.
“Whenever
they are with me, I ask them from a sincere mind what exactly I have done to be
the problem of the party, and I can swear to you that none of them ever told me
what the problem I constitute is.”
In
Tukur’s view, the problem may be that he disagrees with situations where
governors impose candidates on the electorate. “Some governors do not like
that. My agenda is to reform the party and stop the attitude of handpicking
candidates and imposing them on the people,” he said.
Explaining
that the crisis was being misunderstood by the public, Tukur said his prolonged
battle with governors started with his insistence that a governor and state
party chairman must not come from the same area in accordance with the
stipulations of the party’s constitution.
“Why
should a sitting governor decide who should succeed him at the end of his
tenure without any form of consultation with the people whose votes must count
at the elections?
“It was
the effort to change the negative status quo ante that created the protest,
which led to the existing crisis,” Tukur said.
The Nation
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