GOVERNORS on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party
(PDP), whose tenure will expire by 2015, have been linked to the unfolding crisis
rocking the party.
Investigations
by Sunday Tribune revealed that the fear of the unkown among this class of
governors is responsible for, first, the uprising against the national
chairman, Alhaji Bamanga Tukur, with calls already inundating the Presidency
for his replacement and, second, the inability to elect a successor to Chief
Olusegun Obasanjo, who resigned as chairman of the party’s Board of Trustees
(BoT).
Sources
within the PDP told Sunday Tribune that 17 PDP governors, who were completing their
tenure in 2015 were already looking into the future. Many of them, it was
disclosed, were afraid that they could go into political extinction, if certain
steps being taken by the Tukur-led leadership of the party should succeed.
Sources
confirmed that while many of the second-term governors were already mapping out
their future plans, they were not getting any signals from the Presidency as to
support for their aspirations.
It was
learnt that it is becoming apparent in the political circles that President
Goodluck Jonathan is warming up to seek re-election and that the second-term
governors need assurances on their future before it becomes too late.
A source
said that not all the second-term governors were opposed to the speculated
ambition of President Jonathan for re-election, but that they needed individual
and collective assurances that the president would not work against their
interests, if elected into office.
It was
learnt that the governors saw the decision to dissolve the executive council of
Adamawa State PDP as a prelude to a possible all-out battle to hijack the party
structures from perceived recalcitrant governors ahead of 2015.
It was
believed among the governors that the battle by Alhaji Tukur to wrestle the
Adamawa PDP structure from Governor Murtala Nyako appears like a test case
which could be used against any of them, should they have any cause to disagree
with the powers that be as time progresses towards 2015.
Although
the Presidency has moved to distance itself from the battle between Nyako and
Tukur by painting it as a party affair, most of the governors are of the view
that Tukur is pursuing a secret agenda on behalf of the president.
Sources
said that one of the things agitating the minds of many governors is what would
be the president’s position if petitions begin to flow to the Economic and
Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) against them after they might have left
office.
Besides,
most of the governors want to be in a position to produce their successors and
it could be counterproductive if the party’s structures are taken away from
them close to the next general election.
However,
sources said President Jonathan had flagged off a confidence-building process
with the governors, following the meeting he held with them last week.
A source
said that the president was concerned about cohesion in the party and that he
also wanted party members to adhere to the concept of party supremacy.
“The
president wants to be seen as a believer in due process. He has not shown undue
interference in the assignments of anti-graft agencies since he came into
office and I don’t see why anybody would think he will with-hunt him or her
after leaving office,” a source said at the weekend.
Source:
Tribune
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