JULY 18, 2013 BY OLUSOLA FABIYI, ABUJA
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President Goodluck Jonathan has overruled the National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party, Dr. Bamanga Tukur, on the suspension of the mini convention of the party.
Tukur and other members of the National Working Committee of the PDP had on Monday asked the members of the Convention Committee, headed by Prof. Jerry Gana, to suspend all actions on the convention, which was earlier fixed for August 31.
The Gana committee had also fixed August 24 for the South-West zonal congress before Tukur asked it to stop such plan “until all contending issues have been regularised.”
However, the suspension order did not go down well with the convention committee as its members, including the Deputy Senate President, Sen. Ike Ekweremadu, were said to have reported the matter to the President.
Their complaint made the President to invite Tukur for a meeting on Tuesday, where issues bordering on the convention were discussed.
The President’s intervention was said to have led to peace in the battle of wits between the Tukur-led NWC and the convention committee.
Already, the President was said to have directed that the convention date as announced by the Gana’s committee should remain sacrosanct.
A presidential source, who was at the meeting, said part of the deal the President had with both Tukur and Gana was that “the special national convention will still hold on August 31 and the South-West congress will also take place on August 24.”
In order to smoothen the relationship between the Gana group and the members of the NWC, the President will also have a breakfast meeting with all members of the NWC, including Tukur on Thursday where more issues are expected to be discussed.
Apart from these men, some other stakeholders from the party are expected to be in attendance at the meeting, which will hold at the State House, Abuja.
But in order to appease the angry NWC members, the President directed that the Gana Committee should allow members of the NWC to chair some of the sub-committees in the convention committee.
The NWC members might therefore be asked to chair some strategic sub-committees like Publicity, Protocol and four other unnamed ones, which the source said were demanded by Tukur.
The source said, “Ordinarily, the chairmen of these sub-committees and welfare and even election, are supposed to be reserved for the members of the NWC.
“The argument is that these offices have to do with the day-to-day running of the party and that those who have been in the party’s top hierarchy should be allowed to man them.”
He said the NWC members were not happy that headship of such sub-committees like “Publicity, which is supposed to have been reserved for the National Publicity Secretary, was given to another person by the Gana committee.
“Also, the National Organising Secretary was not even mentioned as a chairman of any committee, while the Woman Leader, who is the traditional person in charge of Welfare was merely made a member of the Welfare committee. In a publication, Senator Ita Giwa was made the chairman of the welfare Committee,” he said.
But the Gana committee was said to have agreed to correct what the source described as “anomalies” that were noticed in the chairing of the offices.
At the Tuesday meeting, Tukur was however said to have been faulted for not allowing Gana and Ekweremadu into his residence last week.
The two men were at the residence of the national chairman of the party with a view to briefing him on the running of the committee.
With these corrections put in place, the Gana committee was directed to commence preparations for the August 31 national convention.
Efforts made to get the reaction of Acting Publicity Secretary of the PDP, Mr. Tony Okeke were not successful as he did not respond to the calls made to his telephone.
SOURCE: The Punch - Nigeria's Most Widely Read Newspaper 18 July 2013.
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