Gulak: Govs Seeking Tukur’s Removal Are Anti-Jonathan‏

www.twitter.com/platform9ja

The Special Adviser on Political Matters to the
President, Alhaji Ahmed Gulak, has absolved the
presidency of being behind the plot to remove
Alhaji Bamanga Tukur as the National Chairman
of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), stating
that those clamouring for Tukur's ouster are anti-
Jonathan and want to hold the president
hostage.
The governors of the party have pushed for
Tukur's removal for months, accusing him of
highhandedness and running the party like his
personal estate.
The chairman's sack was also one of the key
demands of the seven aggrieved governors of
the PDP, but President Goodluck Jonathan's
refusal to accede to their request, among other
demands, led to defection of five of the
governors to the rival All Progressives Congress
(APC).
In fact, THISDAY learnt that some of the
governors of the PDP have made it clear that
Tukur's continued stay in office may compel
them to exercise other options including leaving
the party for APC.
In addition to the governors, THISDAY learnt,
more pressure has been mounted by the Senate
Caucus of the PDP which warned the president
against his continued support of the party
chairman at the expense of losing more
members and a possible loss of control of the
majority by the party in the Senate.
But one of the aides of the national chairman,
Alhaji Mohammed Shittu, has urged members of
the National Working Committee (NWC) of the
PDP to defend the party, stating that all decisions
of the NWC are collective and never unilateral.
Speaking on the presidency's position on the
ouster plot, Gulak, in a text message to THISDAY
yesterday said that removing Tukur as the
national chairman was not part of the agenda of
the January 8 National Executive Committee
(NEC) meeting of the party.
He added that the plot to remove Tukur is aimed
at holding the president hostage.
"Removing Tukur is not on the agenda and has
not been. Those clamouring for Tukur's removal
have their hidden agenda to control the party in
order to hold Mr. President hostage.
“To them, Tukur has sinned since he will not act
their script. Any supporter of Mr. President
should support Tukur's leadership of the party,”
Gulak said.
Also speaking in defence of his principal, Shittu,
a former chairman of the Inter Party Advisory
Council (IPAC), urged NWC members to rise to
the occasion and defend PDP as a political party,
stating that the party has never been run as a
one-man show.
Shittu, who was responding to a question, said:
“What is happening is a challenge to all members
of the PDP NWC. They should rise to the
challenge of the occasion and defend PDP in
these trying times.”
He explained that the plot to destroy PDP was
targeted at the president, Vice-President Namadi
Sambo and Tukur.
“Why are the NWC members not talking? There
has been no single decision of the Tukur-led NWC
that was not collective.
“The NWC under Tukur speaks as a family. It has
never been run as a one-man show. All decisions
of the PDP NWC are collective and never
unilateral. The PDP, like the NWC, is a family. All
these attacks to get the national chairman are
sponsored with a hidden intention.
“If they succeed in removing Tukur, then the
next target is the president and the vice-
president. We know the game plan,” he said.
However, stakeholders of the party pushing for
the sack of Tukur are not unrelenting as they
have continued to weigh options for his removal.
A top party chief told THISDAY that there were
two options before the national caucus, Board of
Trustees (BoT) and the NEC meetings expected
to hold between January 6 and 8.
According to the stakeholder, who is a member
of the national caucus and NEC, “The options
before the party are to remove Tukur as the
national chairman now and let the mid-term
national convention confirm his removal.
“The mid-term convention is expected to hold in
March. In this regard, the deputy national
chairman will take over the affairs of the party
until the mid-term convention or a substantive
national chairman is appointed at the March
convention.
“These are the two options before us, but all
these are subject to the approval of the president
who is the leader of the party.”
Also, the Senate Caucus of the party has joined
the clamour for Tukur's sack, as members
pointedly told the president at a meeting that he
was taking an undue risk by his continued
retention of the party chair.
THISDAY learnt yesterday that Senate President
David Mark led some members of the Senate
Caucus to the president to review the situation in
the party with a view to resolving some of the
controversial issues and how to address them.
Sources at the meeting said the senators told
the president that he could be risking
impeachment by allowing more members of the
National Assembly defect to the opposition APC.
They were said to have told the president that it
would amount to sticking to a bad strategy to
continue to keep one man (Tukur) at the
expense of hundreds of others, adding that the
longer he keeps the party chairman, the more
difficult it would become to dissuade the
aggrieved lawmakers from defecting.
A source quoted the senators as telling the
president that the threat to impeach him is not a
fluke and an attempt might be made if more
members of the National Assembly defect to the
APC under the guise of being unable to work with
Tukur.
Already, 37 members of the House of
Representatives, elected on the platform of the
PDP, have defected to APC and several senators
are also on their way to the opposition party.
The source added that at the meeting, one of the
staunch supporters of the president stood up
and threatened to defect too if Jonathan refused
to heed their advice.
Convinced by their logic, the president, it was
learnt, agreed to have a rethink on the matter
and revert to them.
But he was said to have immediately briefed
Tukur on the matter as well as sought his
understanding in the larger interest of the party.
It was against this backdrop that an
understanding was allegedly reached that Tukur
should leave at the end of this month, a decision
that would be properly managed and perfected
next week at the PDP NEC meeting, the source
said.