PDP TO SANCTION GOVS FOR NOT RECOGNISING JANG AS NGF CHAIR

ln a move targeted at northern govs...

·         2015: Party’s govs opposed to automatic ticket for Jonathan may shun APC

Fresh facts have emerged that the presidency and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) are marshalling out plans to “deal” with some governors elected on the party’s platform from the north for failing to recognise the Plateau State Governor Jonah Jang who is leading a faction of the Nigeria Governors' Forum (NGF).

Specifically, it was gathered that the first target among the northern PDP governors to be dealt with might be the Niger State Governor, Dr. Mu’azu Babangida Aliyu.
Others include the governors of Jigawa, Kano, Sokoto and Kebbi States.
According to a source, “There are efforts to remove Aliyu as the chairman of the Northern States Governors' Forum if he fails to recognise Governor Jang as the chairman of the forum.”

He said three governors from the north who remain loyal to the president are the arrowheads of the plot, adding that a meeting of the northern governors has been scheduled to hold on Thursday, June 6, where they may move against Aliyu.
It was also gathered that “Abuja hawks” have commenced intense lobbying of members of the Niger State House of Assembly to impeach the governor.

A source said the legislators are being lobbied to move against the governor and to effect his ouster in a campaign bankrolled by people based in Abuja.
Each member, according to the source, is being promised huge sums of money to sign on to the plot.

The source also said a plan to precipitate a crisis of epic proportions, with the aim of destabilising the state and seizing control of the party’s structures from Aliyu is being engineered.
He said top members of the PDP from Niger State are the linchpins behind the plot.
The PDP members are alleged to be working in collusion with top politicians from the Nupe tribe, who constitute the majority in the state.

In order to incentivize them, politicians of Nupe origin have been promised that the governorship of the state would return to their zone.
Niger State has a zoning arrangement which took the governorship slot to Zone C (Kontagora Zone) in 1999, after which Aliyu, who is from Zone B (Minna Zone), took over and will serve out his two terms by 2015.
The calculation is that Zone A (Nupe Zone) should produce the next governor of the state.

THISDAY gathered that the plot to sanction the party’s governors who fail to recognise Jang will be carried out in phases.
In a related development, the suggestion by the Chairman of the PDP Board of Trustees (BoT), Chief Tony Anenih, that President Goodluck Jonathan and returning governors should be given automatic tickets to re-contest the 2015 elections has placed the governors elected on the party’s platform, but will be finishing their second terms, in a dilemma.

This has to do with the fact that some of the governors who will be finishing their tenures in 2015, nurse political ambitions to contest for either the presidency or the senate.

A governor from the north, who spoke to THISDAY yesterday, said the PDP governors perceived to be opposed to the president’s re-election believe that the suggestion by Anenih already had the backing of the presidency before he voiced it.

According to the governor from the North-west zone, “Immediately Chief Anenih made that comment, we commenced consultations, but the more we speak among ourselves, the more we are thrown into confusion over what to do.”
He said further: “Most PDP governors who are not on the side of the president still hold the strong view that the All Progressives Congress (APC) is not an option.”

APC is the proposed coalition of major opposition parties in the country comprising the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP), Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) and a faction of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA).

He added: “By the time we leave PDP to join APC, the party structures would have been formed; already the sharing formula would have been agreed on, and any party you join and you don't have your people in the party structure, then you are not a senior member.”
The governor said his colleagues who might want to leave the party were sceptical of the national leader of the ACN, Senator Bola Asiwaju, his antics and domineering style, especially what he described as “Tinubu’s use and dump” tactics.

Citing the example of the former vice-president, Atiku Abubakar, and Nuhu Ribadu, whom the former Lagos State governor dumped at the last minute in 2011 to support Jonathan, he said these actions were consistent and were of major concern for the PDP governors.
The governor said that the PDP governors in question are also worried of the autocratic nature of the leader of the CPC, Major-General Muhammadu Buhari, his military background and hardline posture.

It was for this reason that the governor said: “The option in this regard for the aggrieved PDP governors, senators and members of the House of the Representatives is to move to another party or form a new one.

According to him, “If our fears are not addressed both in the PDP and the merging APC, we are going to leave to a new party where we will present a credible candidate that both PDP and APC would lack.
“By this action, there won't be a party with a majority in the National Assembly and the governors will be shared among three major parties.

“This is the game plan for some of us considered to be against President Jonathan’s re-election bid. Our plan is to ensure that three major parties contest the 2015 presidential election.”

He said even if a presidential primary were to hold for the 2015 election, it is certain that most of the delegates from the North-central, North-west and North-east zones will vote for Jonathan.
“In view of this,” the governor said, “It is sure that the PDP ticket is not up for grabs, so it will be better for governors who are not on the president’s side to look elsewhere as a platform.”

Meanwhile, PDP Democrats, a group which has been championing the right of first refusal for the president during the 2015 PDP presidential primary, has commended Anenih for supporting its position that there should be no presidential primary, rather an affirmation of the presidential primary convention.

In a statement signed by Elvis Agukwe Max Gbanite, Coordinator of the PDP Democrats, the group said: “We thank our great BoT chairman, Chief Tony Anenih, for recognising, and supporting our earlier position that our great party must be united as one before the general election; that our party must be devoid of rancour, enmity, in-fighting before a general election; and that our party must galvanise its strength, and mobilise support for a rancour-free affirmative presidential primary. 

“Therefore we identify with Chief Anenih's statement that our party should evolve a new system of producing our flag bearers, that will preserve the unity. Therefore, the president and governors seeking second term should be given automatic ticket.”
Also, the ruling PDP yesterday expressed confidence in its capacity to win the presidential election and more governorship elections in 2015.

In a statement signed by its National Publicity Secretary, Olisa Metuh, the party also dispelled fears that divergence of views and opinions among its members were capable of weakening it ahead of 2015.
Instead, it said these divergent views were a reflection of its democratic stance where all members have the opportunity to air their views and to freely canvass their opinions unlike what obtains in the opposition parties where opinions and views of members are muzzled by political godfathers.

PDP also dismissed and described as “shadow chasing and day dreaming”, boasts by the leaders of the yet-to-be-registered opposition APC, that it would take over government in 2015.
The party said power lies only with the people and not in the hands of a few desperate individuals.
It said the opposition alliance would soon be in disarray, adding that most of those in the ranks would be betrayed and victimised by the godfathers who see the coalition as their personal estate.

Metuh said the PDP welcomes the opposition to the electoral contest in 2015 but noted that they were already doomed to fail as Nigerians have since realised that they are merely “strange bed fellows” who have nothing to offer but are united by bitterness, frustration, religious and tribal sentiments.
“We welcome the opposition to the contest. However, they are already doomed for failure because Nigerians have since realised their undemocratic tendencies and desperation for power for selfish reasons.
“Nigerians know that they are merely strange bed fellows who are united by bitterness, frustration and religious and tribal sentiments and not for the national interest.

“They have continued to betray their lust and inner disposition by their utterances in seeking to ‘seize power’ which has remained their only agenda.
“They fail to understand that in a democracy, power is not to be seized. It is conferred by the people and this is the reason the people have continued to identify with the PDP.

“The PDP believes in the people. No individual, group or tribe owns the PDP. It belongs to all Nigerians. The PDP is a big family, united in freedom.
“In a family there are bound to be divergence of opinions and views and this occurs where people are free. What outsiders see as internal disagreements is actually a reflection of the democratic stance of the PDP.

“The PDP is the only party where people are absolutely free to express their views and freely canvass their opinions unlike in the opposition parties where the views and opinions of members are muzzled by their godfathers,” he said.
Stating that the merger of the opposition parties was a positive factor for it, the PDP said it had also shown that the parties are essentially weak and would not be able to grapple with the huge responsibility of managing a big party.

“We challenge the opposition also to be bold enough to hold primaries when the time comes. Many of those singing praises of the alliance will be betrayed and victimised by the godfathers and it will dawn on them that they have been deceived,” the statement said.

Source: Thisday