Nnamdi Felix/Abuja
Amid the confusion of members battling to outdo one another in the quest to grab the ruling Peoples Democratic Party ticket to actualise their respective aspirations, Bamanga Tukur, the erstwhile chairman of the party, plots to return to the office from which he recently resigned
Alhaji Bamanga Tukur, chairman of the Nigerian Railway Corporation and Ambassador extempore, was pressured to resign from office as the national chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, last January follwing massive fracturing that wrecked the party and led to the defection of five governors elected on the party’s platform, to the opposition All Progressives Congress, APC.
However, following the decision of a federal court in Abuja last October, nullifying the resignation of former deputy governor of Adamawa State, Mr. Bala James Ngilari, the former national chairman of the party has kick-started moves to return to office as the party’s national chairman.
The court had held that Ngilari, who was deputy to the impeached governor of Adamawa, Admiral Murtala Nyako, did not validly resign from office, and thus, ought to have taken over the reins of leadership in the state immediately his boss was ousted from office. It thereafter ordered for his swearing-in as the state’s substantive governor.
Savouring that decision of the court and what promises it holds for him, Tukur caused multiple actions to be instituted challenging his resignation and the appointment of his successor, Alhaji Adamu Mu’azu.
One of such cases instituted early November with suit number FHC/ABJ/CS/729/2014 was filed before a federal court in Abuja by one Mr. Emmanuel Onu, who prayed the court to declare that the purported resignation letter of Bamanga Tukur presented by President Goodluck Jonathan to the party’s National Executive Committee, was in clear violation of Sections 47(5) and (6) of the 2012 Constitution of the PDP.
Mr. Onu urged the court to declare the appointment of Mu’azu as the chairman of PDP invalid as it is in non-compliance with laid down procedure of Section 45(1) and (2) of the 2012 constitution of the PDP and the provisions of Section 85(1) and (3) of the 2010 Electoral Act as well as Section 223(1) of the 1999 Constitution.
Furthermore, he urged the court to order for the immediate re-instatement of Bamanga Tukur as the national chairman of the PDP or in the alternative order the deputy national chairman to pilot the affairs of PDP until the due process of electing a valid national chairman is complied with. The court was also asked to stop Mu’azu from parading himself as the national chairman of the PDP and to also order INEC to stop further correspondence with Mu’azu in that capacity.
On the political turf also, moves were made by stakeholders and supporters of the former national chairman from the North-West zone, who called on President Jonathan to, as a matter of urgency, remove Alhaji Adamu Muazu from office as the party’s national chairman over what they called incompetent leadership that has led to the present conflict ravaging the party following the November 1st ad hoc delegates election across the states. Spokesperson of the stakeholders, Alhaji Ibrahim Suleiman Zango, made their request known to the President last Wednesday in a statement he issued Kaduna, adding that the current conflict between PDP senators and the Presidency was a result of Muazu’s inability to resolve the issue as the chairman of the party amicably.
He explained that the current political instability in PDP could spell doom for the ruling party in the forthcoming 2015 general elections if not properly managed and handled by a competent leader like Tuku, and also noted that Mu’azu was unconstitutionally imposed as leader of the party to replace Tukur without proper consultation with stakeholders of the party.
The group also blamed Mu’azu for the massive defection of PDP members in the National Assembly to the opposition APC which, according to them, was as a result of the incompetent leadership of Muazu and his failure to reconcile aggrieved members of the PDP and urged the President to immediately return Bamanga Tukur to his position as the party’s national chairman as failing to do so could cause Jonathan to lose the Presidential election in 2015.
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