QUOTE Dariye, Tallen’s return bid tears Plateau PDP apart
The crisis within the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Plateau State deepened yesterday with the embattled chairman, Dr. Haruna Dabin alleging plans by the state secretary of the party, Prince Pam Saleh, to undercut him by calling members to a meeting he is not aware of.
Daily Trust gathered that the meeting will be discussing the intention of certain prominent former members to return to the party and the purported unwillingness of many within the party to have them back.
A source who gave this hint said, “Former governor, Joshua Dariye and former deputy governor, Pauline Tallen who both went to Labour Party, want to come back but there is a strong opposition to their return bid.”
Dabin said in a statement yesterday that the PDP secretary had circulated invitations of a meeting of State Executive Committee (SEC) to be held today, Monday 16 June 2014, adding, “Chairman and members of the State Working Committee (SWC) are not aware of the purported meeting as convened by the state secretary.”
Dabin called on those invited to the said meeting to disregard the call by the secretary, emphasising that the secretary lacks constitutional rights to call for such gathering without directives from the party chairman.
A member of the party who spoke with our correspondent on the matter said the secretary has no right to convene the meeting.
“The secretary can only call the meeting on the instruction of the chairman or deputy chairman if the chairman is not available,” the party member who chose to speak anonymously, told Daily Trust.
But another member of the party who also spoke on the crisis, argued that the secretary has the power to call the meeting.
He said Dabin erred from the beginning when he publicly declared his intention of running for governor without first taking the executive committee of the party into confidence.
The source said, “This emergency meeting is principally to discuss Dabin’s governorship ambition and the way he is going about it and take a definite stand. He has to relinquish his post before pursuing his ambition because that’s what the constitution says.”