PDP crisis: Day of decision for Tukur •As Jonathan, govs meet tonight •Bribery allegations rock party Written by Olawale Rasheed - Abuja Sunday, 12 January 2014 00:00 IN a desperate bid to prevent the final collapse of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), President Goodluck Jonathan and all the governors elected on the ticket of the party will hold a crucial meeting tonight. This meeting is coming on the heels of the crucial meeting held last Thursday with the president at the Aso Rock Villa. Tonight’s meeting will finally decide what fate to befall the embattled chairman of the party, Alhaji Bamanga Tukur, as well as give direction of the National Executive Council (NEC) meeting and other such meetings scheduled to hold from tomorrow. However, a few hours to the crucial meetings to save the party from self-immolation, the leadership of the party is now embroiled in another round of controversy as they trade accusations over bribery allegation to influence the outcome of the yet-to-be held meeting of its NEC. At the centre of the controversies is the attempt by some leaders of the party to remove Tukur from office and replace him with a new leader allegedly being shortlisted. As of the time of filing this report, the talks about the alleged plot and counter-plot had gone viral within the PDP and in the political circles in Abuja. On Saturday, both pro and anti-Tukur camps were said to have held several meetings to plan strategies for the next meeting with the president scheduled to hold this evening. Last Thursday meeting, which was reported in the media on Saturday, had reportedly ended nearly in a shouting match over alleged bribery and unexpected uprising against the party chairman. But while a PDP chieftain favourably disposed to Tukur told Sunday Tribune that the chairman would survive today’s meeting, others said the meeting would finally determine how to peacefully ease Tukur out of office, especially with expected attendance by governors of the party. A group loyal to Tukur had accused a South-South governor of bribing members of the party’s National Working Committee (NWC) to rise against the chairman at the Thursday night meeting with President Jonathan. The office of the PDP national chairman had also issued a statement alleging that a leader of PDP Stakeholders Forum demanded a bribe of N20 million to stave off the removal bid against Tukur at the forthcoming NEC meeting. “Mr Imo Ugochinyere Ikenga recently approached the national chairman of PDP, Alhaji (Dr) Bamanga Tukur, and demanded a huge some of N20 million to enable him (to) gather support for the national chairman, following the action of PDP governors who defected to the APC, an amount he claimed would also be utilised for massive propaganda and blackmail against the defected governors,” the statement from Tukur’s office alleged. But the coordinator of the PDP stakeholders, Ikenga, had also fired back by accusing the national chairman of plotting to bribe members of the NEC with US$20,000 each to stop the ongoing plans to remove him from office. “Barely two days after the general public and NEC members were alerted to the plot by Tukur to bribe each of the NEC members with the sum of $20,000 to get confidence votes at next week’s NEC meeting, Tukur was devastated when this secret broke and boiled for a fight back,” Ikenga alleged. According to the PDP activist, he was the one who uncovered the $20,000 bribe saga to some NEC members, denying that he demanded N20 million from the PDP national chairman for some alleged support purpose. As the controversies spread, the party itself had issued a statement denying that it was sponsored and paid to rise against its chairman, even as it conceded that a meeting, indeed, took place on Thursday with President Jonathan where issues were discussed with frankness. The party’s spokesman, Chief Olisah Metuh, said: “We wish to state unequivocally that the NWC is not divided and members were not in any way influenced by any person whatsoever in presenting their positions at the meeting with the president. “Our attention has been drawn to a malicious report wherein the governor of Akwa-Ibom State, His Excellency, Chief Godswill Akpabio, was falsely reported to have sponsored some members of the National Working Committee to destabilise the leadership of our great party for alleged political reasons. “This report is not only fictitious, but also part of the viscous plot by the enemies of the PDP to destroy the hard-earned reputation of our officials, divide our ranks and ultimately destroy our unity by compromising certain section of the media to plant fabricated stories and tissues of lies; a project which has already failed. “We wish to state unequivocally that the NWC is not divided and members were not, in any way, influenced by any person whatsoever in presenting their positions at the meeting with the president, contrary to the malevolent report planted in The Punch newspapers. “For the avoidance of doubt, all members of the NWC took turns to make their presentations to the president in the meeting which dwelt on the domestic affairs of our party. No member was, in anyway, represented and none aired his or her view in represented capacity. “It is instructive to note that neither The Punch reporter nor any other journalist for that matter was present at the meeting and, as such, they could not have been privy to what exactly transpired. “While we call on all our members and supporters to disregard the speculations in the report, we charge the media to always cross-check their information and get clarifications from appropriate quarters before going to the press.” What transpired at Thursday meeting Meanwhile, more facts have emerged over the meeting held Thursday night between the president and members of the party’s NWC. A member at the meeting told Sunday Tribune that it was a family meeting gone sour, noting that “we were told to speak honestly about the state of the party. Members spoke one by one and it was obvious members had so many things against the chairman. “Some of the complaints include that the chairman is not carrying along the national deputy chairman and other members of the working committee; that he has literally relocated the national secretariat to his house at Wuse; that his aides are performing the job of NWC members; that meetings are not held regularly and more. “The issue of alleged bribe also came up. It was getting messy. At a point, the chairman requested that he wanted a private chat with the president. So, for some minutes, they went inside. Afterwards, the president asked that the meeting be reconvened.” Sunday Tribune was told that party’s Board of Trustees (BoT) chairman, Chief Tony Anenih, was at the meeting, hinting that a decision on Tukur would have been taken on Thursday, but for what was called the need to allow governors of the party to voice out their views on the issue. Findings further revealed that the meeting was initially planned to hold on Friday night, but it was later rescheduled to hold today (Sunday), with all governors of the party expected to be in attendance. A top party chief hinted on Saturday that tonight’s meeting is key to determining the fate of Tukur, adding that the “chairman has fought a good battle, but the situation is getting out of hand. “The NWC is badly split now, with key members against the chairman. The governors are also opposed to him. I don’t know how the president will handle it.” Last modified on Sunday, 12 January 2014 01:40
Posted on: Sun, 12 Jan 2014 03:36:36 +0000