PDP crisis: Fear grips NWC members •Lobbyists besiege Tukur
MOTHER of all fears has again reportedly gripped members of the National Working Committee (NWC) of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) over the sudden U-turn by the party’s National Chairman, Alhaji Bamangar Tukur, to sack all his political and personal aides, in the wake of the multi-faceted crisis rocking it, without the knowledge of members.
Alhaji Tukur had, through a letter dated 25 April which he personally signed, relieved all his aides, including his son, Auwal Tukur, of their duties with immediate effect, “due to the ongoing reconciliation within the PDP and the need for fast delivery of a new national vision.”
Feelers from the Wadata Plaza national secretariat of the party in Abuja indicated that most of the members of the NWC were taken aback by the sudden decision of Alhaji Tukur to sack all his aides when they thought the tension in the party was already subsiding, more so that he did not discuss it with them.
“When we read the impending sack of the national chairman’s aides in the media last week, we thought it was just a speculation. But it is real now. Honestly, we don’t know what is happening; only the man himself can explain what is going on. Mind you, we are still battling with the report of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) on our last national convention which claimed that it was not properly conducted. There is also the position of our governors on the said report. All of a sudden, our chairman came with his own shock and sacked all his aides. Is that not a red signal to the members of the National Working Committee (NWC) too?” a member of the NWC lamented over the latest development in the party last Friday.
Sunday Tribune learnt that there had been severe pressures on President Goodluck Jonathan in recent time from the various stakeholders, including the states governors, state party chairmen and elders of the party over the needs for him to wade into the unending crises in the party and to implement the INEC report on its last national convention, in order to save it from total collapse.
According to sources close to members of the party’s NWC, since Alhaji Tukur made his decision public about the sack of all his aides, NWC members have been entertaining fear over what becomes of their fate in the scheme of things in the weeks to come since they are all in the dark about the entire development.
One of the sources quoted “a confused member” of the NWC when he heard about the sack of Alhaji Tukur’s aides as lamenting that the leadership of the party, in conjunction with the Presidency, might have decided to make the NWC members “sacrificial lambs” to pacify the aggrieved stakeholders, especially governors and the Board of Trustees (BOT) of the party.
“For a very long time now, major decisions affecting the party are being taken at the private residence of Alhaji Tukur in Wuse, Abuja and the Aso Rock Presidential Villa, as against the collective decision of the NWC, in line with the party’s constitution. Long ago, the national legal adviser had been relegated, his functions taken over by the private legal adviser to the national chairman. We can no longer differentiate between official and private matter in the running of the affairs of the party. This has further heightened the fear of the NWC members,” our source declared.
Culled from tribune
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