Speculations that Nigeria’s ruling Peoples Democratic
Party, PDP, has been hit by fresh crises after its recent
election defeat, were confirmed Saturday with the party
leadership openly accusing presidential aides for President
Goodluck Jonathan’s defeat at the polls.
The party issued a “strong warning” to the president’s
associates and aides, asking them to steer clear of the
party, and not use their closeness to Mr. Jonathan to cause
crisis in the party.
“The National Working Committee, NWC, of the Peoples
Democratic Party, PDP, has issued a very strong warning to
some ambitious aides and associates of President Goodluck
Jonathan trying to use their closeness to him to cause
crisis in the party and pave way for more defection to other
parties,” the party said in an unusually strongly-worded
statement.
The PDP said it would expose such individuals and make
them face the full weight of the party disciplinary measures
if they fail to immediately retrace their steps.
The NWC in a statement signed by the party’s National
Publicity Secretary, Olisa Metuh, said it is “aware of the
clandestine activities of such aides and associates of the
President including their unholy alliance with some
elements in other parties to undermine and weaken the PDP
by attacking its leadership.
“The NWC is aware that these same individuals who
mismanaged the presidential campaigns are now
desperately seeking to cause crisis in the PDP with a view
not only to divert attention from their misdeeds but also to
ensure that they remained politically relevant by hijacking
the party structure for their selfish purposes.”
Mr. Jonathan lost the March 28 presidential election to his
main challenger, Muhammadu Buhari of the All
Progressives Congress, APC.
Despite the president’s concession of defeat, some of his
party leaders have for weeks subtly blamed each other for
the loss.
Last week, a former political aide to the president, Ahmed
Gulak, called on the chairman of the PDP, Adamu Mu’azu,
to take responsibility for the defeat and resign.
“If the belief of the majority of the members of the PDP is
anything to go by, you could say that the party chairman
was the number one culprit for the dismal outing of the
PDP,” Mr. Gulak told Punch newspaper.
“There is no party chairman of the PDP since 1998 that has
led the party to such a disastrous outing. As a result, the
national chairman should consider himself one of those that
have to give way for the new party to come up. In fact, he
doesn’t need to be told to turn in his resignation,” he said.
Ahead of the elections, Mr. Mu’azu faced stringent
criticisms for his contribution to the campaign efforts of Mr.
Jonathan. Many party members accused him of refusing to
campaign for the president openly, especially in the
northern states.
On Thursday, the PDP denied reports that the party
chairman was ejected from a meeting of PDP governors.
Read the party’s full statement:
The National Working Committee, NWC, of the Peoples
Democratic Party, PDP, has issued a very strong warning to
some ambitious aides and associates of President Goodluck
Jonathan trying to use their closeness to him to cause
crisis in the party and pave way for more defection to other
parties.
The PDP said it would expose such individuals and make
them face the full weight of the party disciplinary measures
if they fail to immediately retrace their steps.
The NWC in a statement signed by the party’s National
Publicity Secretary, Olisa Metuh on Saturday said it is
“aware of the clandestine activities of such aides and
associates of the President including their unholy alliance
with some elements in other parties to undermine and
weaken the PDP by attacking its leadership.
“The NWC is aware that these same individuals who
mismanaged the presidential campaigns are now
desperately seeking to cause crisis in the PDP with a view
not only to divert attention from their misdeeds but also to
ensure that they remained politically relevant by hijacking
the party structure for their selfish purposes.
“We are aware that these individuals have been trying to
arm-twist the President to summon a meeting of party
leaders at the Presidential Villa in the coming days where
the NWC members would be put under pressure to resign
thereby triggering a crisis in the leadership at the national
level.
“The party is aware that the same group has been
sponsoring series of amorphous bodies and negative
publications in a section of the media to peddle false
allegations against the NWC to back their heinous and
unconstitutional demands that the President should sack
the NWC before the handover date of May 29, 2015.
“However, for the purposes of clarity, especially for those
making uninformed demands on the President, the PDP
National Working Committee is duly elected and its tenure
ends in March 2016 in line with the provisions of the party’s
constitution. The PDP is a party built on the rule of law and
democratic ethos. Its NWC is elected and not appointed and
as such cannot be sacked at will or by an executive fiat.
Besides, no section of the party constitution prescribes that
the NWC should quit if the party loses in a general election.
“Furthermore, the PDP constitution is clear on the process
of summoning a meeting of party leaders and the role of the
NWC in that regard is well-defined. Anything outside the
laid down rules and the provisions of the constitution in this
respect is completely of no effect.
“Moreover, President Goodluck Jonathan has amply
demonstrated his strict adherence to the rule of law and the
tenets of democracy even on issues of party administration
and should not in anyway be hassled by these selfish and
greedy elements to destroy his legacies.
“Consequently, the leadership of the PDP by this statement
makes it very clear and in an unambiguous terms too that it
will no longer condone such divisive actions by the same
unscrupulous individuals who in their selfishness ruined the
fortunes of our great party in the general elections.
“The NWC will no longer tolerate actions that tend to
undermine discipline and the supremacy of the party and its
constitution, as it will henceforth not hesitate to apply full
disciplinary measures for infractions
“Our advice to these ambitious aides and associates of the
President is to leave party matters and concentrate on the
Presidential transition and smooth handover of power to the
incoming administration as well as preparing for post-
handover issues that might arise regarding the
administration in which they served”, the party stated.
On the issue of the performance of the party in the general
elections and allegations of mismanagement of Presidential
campaign funds, the NWC said it has no case to answer, as
Nigerians already know the truth regarding those who
managed the campaigns including the funds.
“Nigerians are not at loss as to the fact that the PDP NWC
did not manage the campaign and its fund. Those who
managed the campaigns have already submitted their
reports to the President who in his wisdom gave them the
mandate and they have been applauded for a job well done
at that level”, the statement said.
The NWC said it appreciates the support and backing of key
stakeholders especially the PDP Governors’ Forum, the
body of national vice chairmen and state chairmen as well
as governors, legislators-elect and all well-meaning
members in the all-important effort to rebuild the party and
reposition it to regain power in 2019.
(Culled from Premium Times) CLICK HERE TO READ FULL AND TOUCHING NIGERIAN CELEBRITIES BIOGRAPHY AND SCANDALS
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