PDP Crisis: Northern Govs Give Tukur Conditions For Truce

Peoples Democratic Party’s governors from four northern states, who are bent on unseating the national chairman of the party, Alhaji Bamanga Tukur, have given conditions for a truce.
The governors, Murtala Nyako (Adamawa), Sule Lamido (Jigawa), Aliyu Wamako (Sokoto) and Rabiu Kwankwaso (Kano), according to a source are willing to make peace with Tukur leadership if he meets their conditions which include returning to the recommendation of the Sule Lamido led presidential reconciliation committee on Adamawa PDP crisis.The conditions also include that the hounding of the party members, PDP governors inclusive, by the National Working Committee (NWC)must be addressed and that the leadership roles of the governors as the chief executives of the states must be clearly defined.
The governors who insist that they would not dump PDP for any other party, the source said, declared that the national headquarters must be open and positive as regards the 2015 general election as every party member must be encouraged to vie for any elective position at all levels.The governors, it was gathered, are positive that until the conditions are met, it would be difficult to give maximum support to the party leadership.A senior aide to the Adamawa State governor, Adamu Bagda, told Saturday Mirror that the disagreement between Tukur and the Northern governors started with the way the national chairman discarded the recommendation of a committee put together by the president.
“The entire problem started with the Adamawa issue, the decison to put the Lamido committee was a collective one by all stakeholders and now after they have toiled and come up with a recommendation, he spurned it, the recommendation was not even considered not to talk of being debated.
The implication is that no PDP governor is safe under the present party leadership. “Bamanga Tukur unilaterally dissolved the state exco and the president and the PDP governors agreed that what he did was wrong.A presidential committee was set up and Governor Lamido was asked to head it to see how peace can return to the state.He refused to work with the committee and he went ahead to conduct his own exco at the ward, local government and state. He refused to listen to the presidential committee. His plan was to dispose the governor in the state.What will a governor do with a party he has no say in, he is supposed to be the leader of the party in the state. But the national chairman brought members of the opposition.
Every thing was done in flagrant disrespect to the people that matter in the party.” Another source who is a commissioner to one of the governors told Saturday Mirror, “How do we support a chairman, who is a northerner but has no interest of the North at heart.He has already sold the ticket for the 2015 to the present occupant without giving opportunity for other interested aspirants to test their popularity.
“This is unfortunate. The governors will not support that illegality and until he comes out boldly to state the fact about the rotation policy of the party and where the power must reside in the 2015, then it would be difficult to guarantee the support of the northern governors.
Presently, most northerners are beginning to see reasons with the four governors. I can assure you, it is not about personal interest, it is purely an issue which bothers on equity and fair-play.” Recall that when the Norhern governors have visited Obasanjo a fortnight ago.
They were quoted as telling him that “We have come to discuss some of the political problems affecting the nation especially as it affects the North, Rivers State and our democracy as a whole.”Also, speaking after their meeting with former heads of state, Ibrahim Babangida and Abdulsalami Abubarkar in Minna, they affirmed that their meeting was fruitful, adding that they would also meet with more northern leaders in the days to come to “chart the way forward for the region.”
They also told him of their plans to visit eminent stakeholders within the PDP, leaders which include some founding fathers like Dr. Alex Ekwueme, Chief Solomon Lar, and Theophilus Danjuma amongst others in order to stop the rapid disintegration of the ailing ruling party.Speaking after their meeting with IBB and Abubarkar, they affirmed that their meeting was fruitful, adding that they would also meet with more northern leaders in the days to come to “chart the way forward for the region.”