PDP crisis: Tukur, Baraje adamant at parley with Obasanjo, IBB, Anenih, Ahmadu Ali. The PDP elders’ peace initiative to save the ruling party from going under went on in Abuja yesterday regardless of threats and intimidation from the Presidency to stall it. The two sides in the dispute were unyielding in their demands tabled before former President Olusegun Obasanjo; ex- military ruler, General Ibrahim Babangida; Chairman of the PDP Board of Trustees (BoT), Chief Tony Anenih; and former national chairmen of the party – Dr. Ahmadu Ali and Chief Barnabas Gemade. The factional national chairmen, Alhaji Bamanga Tukur and Alhaji Kawu Baraje, insisted on having it their way at separate sessions with the party elders, hours after President Goodluck Jonathan attempted to pull the plug on the peace talks. Sources said the Tukur faction explained how its National Working Committee has been doing its best to carry all PDP members along. Tukur claimed that he took office with a reconciliation mission and has never derailed. A top source said: “The faction took exception to the factionalization of the PDP by Baraje and seven governors in spite of many interventions in the last two months by President Goodluck Jonathan. “To move forward, Bamanga asked the elders to prevail on Baraje and the rest to desist from parading themselves as the parallel PDP National Working Committee; subject themselves to the constitution of PDP; and allow the party leadership to resolve all issues raised by the governors. Another source said: “The Baraje faction insisted on its four-point demand bordering on the removal of Tukur, the need for Jonathan to forget seeking re-election in 2015, the resolution of the Nigeria Governors Forum crisis and the stoppage of harassment of governors by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC). “The Baraje group said its demands were not negotiable although the elders only took note of their complaints. “It is left to the elders to harmonize these issues tabled before them and find solutions.” Continuing, the source said: “So far, the elders have not apportioned blame, but they allowed each group to lay its cards on the table. I think there is progress somehow in view of the fact that many party leaders had assumed that the peace talks would not take place.” President Jonathan had reportedly told party elders to shun the meeting on the strength of intelligence report that Obasanjo was behind the crises which got to a head last Saturday after Baraje,former Vice President Atiku Abubakar and seven governors walked out of the party’s Special Convention in Abuja and proceeded to form a parallel national executive committee. -
Posted on: Sat, 07 Sep 2013 06:43:55 +0000
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