PDP gets Tukur’s successor on Monday – Jonathan
A new national chairman of the ruling People’s Democratic Party (PDP) will be named on Monday, President Goodluck Jonathan said yesterday, following the resignation of Alhaji Bamanga Tukur.
Tukur stepped down after months of sustained pressure from party leaders, especial- ly state governors.
His 22-month stint has been the most restive yet in the party whose chairmanship position has become a revolving door.
The long-running crisis led to the unprecedented defection of five state governors as well as 37 federal lawmakers late last year.
Intense lobbying for the position of national chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) commenced in earnest yesterday with the acceptance of the resignation of Alhaji Bamanga Tukur as national chairman of the party.
President Goodluck Jonathan who announced Tukur’s resignation at the National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting of the party which held at the Wadata Plaza national secretariat yesterday confirmed that a new chairman for the party would be named as the NEC reconvenes Monday.
It is however not clear how the new chairman would emerge as the constitution of the party stipulates that the chairman should emerge through an election. Sources in the PDP indicated that PDP state governors will to a large extent, determine who succeeds Tukur as they have resolved that it would be to their advantage to ensure that the next chairman owes his ascension to them.
Those interested in the position have com- menced lobbying state governors as well as the presidency and other party leaders for the position. Those who have indicated interest so far include former governor of Bauchi State, Alhaji Adamu Mu’azu, the current Minister of Transport Abdullahi Idris Umar and former acting deputy secretary of the PDP, Musa Babayo, Others are the former minister of police affairs, Adamu Maina Waziri from Yobe State and Gambo Lawal from Borno State. Party leaders as at yesterday argued that the next chairman should come from a non PDP state in order to sway the votes in such states to PDP’s favour and avoid conflict between the chairman and the governor. Party stakeholders immediately after the meeting yesterday withdrew to meet at various levels with a view to deciding who should be the new chairman. The NEC was attended by President Goodluck Jonathan, Vice President Namadi Sambo, principal officers of the National Assembly, PDP governors and the entire members of the National Working Committee of the party and other party elders. President Jonathan announced the resignation of the national chairman in a mild drama that indicated that Tukur was not ready to relinquish the position.
Tukur was allowed to make comments when the meeting commenced but to the shock of many at the meeting, delved into a long speech about his plans to reform the party. President Jonathan had to interrupt him to announce that he had earlier submitted his resignation letter for the NEC to consider. The president said there was no worry over the defection of the five governors to the opposition All Progressives Congress (APC) as negotiations were ongoing to get some of them back into the party, saying defections are normal.
He said: “Members of this party are still loyal to the party. We have a few defections which is normal. I don’t think there is something we should worry ourselves too much about. As long as we continue to work together, as long as we do things the way we should do, PDP will continue and I believe and I am convinced that PDP will continue to be the number one party in this country. Even some of those who appear to want to leave us or have left, from all indications, from all discussions, some of them will come back to the party. All we need to do is to make sure that the party is more united.”
Cross Rivers State Governor, Senator Liyel Imoke, moved the motion for the acceptance of Tukur’s resignation while commending him for sacrificing for the unity and growth of the party and was seconded by Senator Abdul Ningi. Tukur had in his speech advocated for the democratization of the party’s internal organs and warned against the continuous preoccupation with the pursuit of power.
He said the party was facing threats from both the opposition parties as well as from within the party with the aim of stopping President Jonathan. “The opposition believes it sees a window of opportunity to have a go at power and wrestle power from us. We cannot be discouraged by their threat for it is necessary to grasp the full extent of the threats we are faced with and to take adequate measures to combat, contain and obliterate them,” he said.
The PDP BOT chairman on the other hand, is said to prefer Senator Abubakar Mahdi from Borno State.