Yuguda’s battles against Baraje’s men in Bauchi on november 01, 2013 at 12:51 am in politics By Suzan Edeh The crisis in the PDP came into the open at the last national convention in Abuja when seven of the governors of the party and former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar staged a walkout to form a parallel national executive of the party. While the uprising has spread across to many states of the federation and remained unresolved at the national level, in Bauchi State it has remained a simmering issue unable to burst out or permanently evaporate. The opposition to the new PDP as led by the Alhaji Kawu Baraje was recently underlined by Governor Yuguda when he said: “I wonder what they are actually talking about because PDP is a united family and people who leave the party to form factions are not the real card-carrying members of the party”. It was thus not surprising that a recent stakeholders’ meeting called by elements of the nPDP in Bauchi was aborted by the police who blocked off entry into the Awalah Hotel venue of the meeting. The Protem Chairman of the new PDP in Bauchi, Alhaji Mohammed Isa said that the Police prevented them from going into the venue of the meeting despite the prior notice given to the police for the meeting. “Our executives were invited by the state police commissioner and after our discussions with him, he granted our request to hold our consultative meeting and pledged to deploy policemen to protect us and warned us not to do anything that will lead to the breach of peace,” Lawal said. It was as such surprising for Lawal that the police would turn round to frustrate the meeting based on instructions reportedly from above. “When party members, stakeholders and other elders of the party, started coming to the venue of the meeting, a team of armed mobile policemen led by the commissioner of police, came and cordoned the Awalah Hotel venue of our meeting. When the Police Commissioner saw me, he told me that he was acting on orders from above that the meeting should not hold”. “We are disappointed because we followed all rules and regulations to hold this meeting. We are Nigerians and have the right under democratic dispensation to meet with our supporters to discuss matters that affect us, but to our dismay they have now infringed on our fundamental rights to meet and to discuss”, he claimed. He advised their supporters to be law abiding, to be patient and to wait for further directives in order to hold the meeting with a view to give direction to the party in the state. Reacting to the incidence, Bauchi State Police Command Public Relations Officer, DSP Haruna Mohammed said: “I am not aware that New PDP had applied to hold a meeting in Bauchi, and I am not aware that police stopped them, but I will enquire about it and get back to you with the necessary information.” Analysts in the state are not surprised and say the development underlines the determination of the state PDP machine to show its unalloyed loyalty to the Tukur regime. “We have only one PDP and there is no way you can divide it into two unless you want to tamper with the constitution of the party. Creating a faction in the PDP is unconstitutional because when you become card-carrying member of the party, you swear an oath to be loyal and abide by the constitution of the party,” PDP State Assistant Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Bashir Bukar Rimin told newsmen recently. “So it is a gross violation of party rules to create a faction within the party. The PDP in Bauchi is totally against the faction at the national level of the party, hence we do not recognize any other PDP apart from the Bamanga Tukur led leadership of the party”. Bukar said the state PDP is still united under the leadership of Governor Yuguda who he said is working hard to get more support for the party in the state and the entire Northeast zone by ensuring that party members are united. While noting that the state PDP has invested so much in developing the state, he urged party members to eschew sentiments and grievances among themselves to ensure that the PDP wins the 2015 general elections in Bauchi State and the country at large. It is an order that many believe is doable, perhaps in Bauchi State, but only if the party is able to keep the factionalisation that has divided the PDP at the national level from reaching the state
Posted on: Fri, 01 Nov 2013 06:24:27 +0000
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