The national leadership of the party was rattled by these plots to sack the national chairman and went into an extensive interaction with the plaintiffs in these suits. Inside sources claim that a very rattled Mu’azu mobilised his foot soldiers adequately and succeeded in getting Onu and Ndubuisi to withdraw their suits.

In their notice of discontinuation and withdrawal of their suits, they stated that it was in the overriding interest of the party and the fresh evidence and letter from the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, confirming the appointment of Muazu as the acting national chairman of the party. They however denied any form of inducement being behind their discontinuance of the suits: “We have filed different notices of discontinuance of the suit at the Federal High Court in Abuja and the court has officially served all the parties in the suit, thereby bringing to an end the legal challenge over the appointment of Adamu Mu’azu. We wish to also express our surprise over the ongoing media propaganda being sponsored by people whose sole aim is to destabilise the party and sneak back to power through the back door using our suit, which has since been withdrawn, in a bid to frustrate the ongoing move by the PDP National Working Committee, led by the game changer, Mu’azu, to rebuild and strengthen our party.”

The withdrawal of these cases slowed down the pace of Tukur’s return bid, but for just a brief moment as the former national chairman soon found another willing litigant, Mr. Aliyu Ayuba Jibrin, a House of Representatives aspirant from Tukur’s home state of Adamawa, who approached another federal court in Abuja presided by Justice Evoh Stephen Chukwu, asking the court to restrain Mu’azu from acting as the chairman of the party. He also asked the court to stop the planned national convention of the party scheduled for 10th and 11th of December, where the party is expected to adopt President Goodluck Jonathan as its sole candidate for next year’s Presidential election.

Mr. Jibrin further asked the court to grant the same orders which those withdrawn cases had asked for; i.e that Tukur’s resignation is invalid for its non-compliance with the constitution of the party and the Electoral Act 2010 as well as an order setting aside the Tukur’s resignation as the party’s national chairman; and asked that the court stop INEC from recognising Mu’azu as the chairman of the party.

Mu’azu’s reaction to the latest suit was swift. The party’s national legal officer, Mr. Victor Kwon, was promptly deployed by the party to challenge the jurisdiction of the court to hear the suit, which seeks to stop the party from going ahead with its planned national convention scheduled for 10 and 12 December, and urged the court to hands-off the suit. They also contend that the plaintiff, Aliyu Ayuba Jibrin, lacked the locus standi to institute the suit.

Following the party’s notice of preliminary injunction, Tukur also switched tactics. This time, he chose to come out in the open and trade tackles with his successor. He personally applied to the court to be joined in the suit as a co -defendant and counter-claimant. This is calculated to make him benefit from the suit even if the court holds that Aliyu Ayuba Jibrin does not have locus standi to institute the action.

While briefing journalists at the premises of the Federal High Court in Abuja, Tukur’s lawyer, Mr. Adamson Adeboro, stated that Tukur had filed counter claims to the originating summons filed before the court by Aliyu Jubrin. “We’ve filed a counter claim to the originating summons so that my client, Alhaji Bamanga Tukur, can benefit from the suit. He pointed out that as at the time the former chairman’s resignation letter of Jan 15, 2014 was authored, that it did not follow due process as there ought to have been a 30 days notice for him to resign from office as the party’s national chairman which was not complied with. “ If the constitutional provisions are not followed, then the entire exeercise is a nullity. He wants the court to come in and determine whether his appointment as the chairman of the PDP for a tenure of four years has expired?”

Mr. Adeboro insisted that the former national chairman has a right and a mandate of the party’s national convention to pilot the affairs of the party from 2012 when he assimed office until the completion of his term in 2016 and also supervise the forthcoming national convention.

Indications are rife that Tukur’s return bid may be receiving support from the same organ of the party that midwifed his removal in the first place––the party’s Governors’ Forum!

Governors elected on the party’s platform have been battling the party for control of their state chapters of the party – to determine who gets what post ahead of the forthcoming 2015 general election. This quest for complete control of the party at state level has pitched the governors against their National Assembly members, with series of court cases trailing the party’s recent ad hoc delegates’ election. The governors have some axes to grind with Mu’azu. At a recent forum of Nigerian Society of Engineers in Abuja, where the former national chairman was in attendance, one of the major players in the ouster of Tukur, Niger State governor, Dr. Babangida Aliyu, confessed his role in the entire crisis that rocked the leadership of the party and accepted being one of the leaders of the political coup against Tukur: “I know I played a major role in your removal but all I want to urge you to do is to please continue the good job you are doing for the PDP and the country.”

The governor observed that even though they succeeded in plotting Tukur’s removal from office, the party has not come out of the woods and urged Tukur not to relent with the good services he was rendering to the party for its survival and continuity. The governo,r who is also the chairman of Northern Governors’ Forum, regretted that he and his colleagues had not been able as at now, to bring back Tukur as the national chairman of the PDP to continue his job.

Tukur told the gathering that as a true sportsman, he had forgotten the events and had forgiven all those who played one role or the other in the incident. He reiterated his preparedness to continue to support the party and ensure its victory in every election, especially the re-election of the incumbent president, Dr. Jonathan.