• Former speaker, Jatau may clinch post, as Nnamani dumps party
Onyebuchi Ezigbo in Abuja
Ahead of the National Executive Council meeting of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) indications are that the party may likely settle for a former Speaker of the then Gongola State House of Assembly, Mr. Wilberforce Jatau as the substantive national chairman.
Another likely contender for the vacant PDP chairmanship position is the party’s Vice Chairman for (North-east), Senator Giri Lawan. Lawan is said to be enjoying the backing of most members of the National Working Committee (NWC) for the job.
THISDAY gathered on Saturday that Jatau’s candidacy is receiving strong backing of the governor of Taraba state, Mr. Darius Ishaku who along with his counterpart from Gombe has been left with a mandate to screen and select a candidate for ratification by NEC.
A close government source who spoke from Jalingo, Taraba state capital confirmed that the governor is leading a strong lobby to get Jatau into office.
“Former Speaker, Jatau is our governor’s candidate for PDP chairmanship position. Both Governors of Gombe and Taraba are on the same page as far as the choice of the national chairman is concerned,” he said.
But Lawan’s candidacy is being thrust forward by the Secondus-NWC to act as a plan B measure so that in the event that the north east fail to select a candidate, he would be made to step in.
Following the court action instituted by a former presidential aide, Ali Gulak, an Abuja High Court had ruled that the Acting National Chairman, Chief Uche Secondus should vacate office and that any other member of the PDP from the North-east should be chosen to pilot the affairs of the party in an acting capacity.
However, it was not until Gulak led a group of loyalists to storm the party’s national secretariat to declare himself new national chairman, the party reluctantly set process in motion to pick a replacement to the former National Chairman, Adamu Muazu.
A party source who spoke to THISDAY on the contentious issue, said the NWC members were irked by what they saw as rebellious action of Gulak and thus decided to ask two of its governors from the north-east to help search for a loyal party man to fill the vacant seat, temporarily before the next national convention of the party.
The source said a meeting of the party’s stakeholders that was to hold in Gombe last week Monday failed to attract key stakeholders in the zone, thus raising suspicion over the possibility of a disagreement.
It was learnt that the hiccup in the initial effort by the governors to reach agreement on consensus candidate to be presented to the party led to the postponement of the emergency meetings of the critical organs of the party earlier scheduled for Wednesday and Thursday last week in Abuja.
PDP had since rescheduled the meetings of the National Caucus of the party, Board of Trustees (BoT) and NEC to hold on Tuesday and Wednesday respectively.
According to the schedule approved by the NWC last Friday, the meeting of the National Caucus of the party has been slated for Tuesday, February 9, to be followed by the meeting of the BoT on Wednesday, February 10 morning and the National Executive Committee (NEC) will meet at 2pm on the same day.
In a statement issued on Friday by the National Publicity Secretary of PDP, Chief Olisa Metuh, the party said these organs are meeting in response to recent developments within its fold.
Meanwhile, former Senate President and a key stakeholder of the PDP yesterday dumped the party, saying he was also going to stay out of partisan politics in the interim.
Nnamani gave notice of resignation from the PDP in a letter to the party’s leadership obtained by THISDAY.
While giving reasons for dumping the party, Nnamani expressed regret that his advice and appeal to the party leadership to rebuild the party after it lost the 2015 elections and end impunity fell on deaf ears.
“We need to become a party of technocrats and professionals and not a party of mercenaries and rent seekers. We need to become the party of young men and women with new ideas and not a party of political dinosaurs. It is clear now that these pleas have fallen on deaf ears,” he had advised.
Nnamani had along with 33 leaders and elders of the party who attended the National Working Committee (NWC) last year agreed to partner the BoT and the NEC to rebuild the party.
In his letter titled, ‘PDP, the Burden and My Conscience,’ which he personally signed, Nnamani, said: “without any iota of bitterness in my heart, I have decided to disengage from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and consequently step aside from partisan politics in the interim. I wish to express my profound gratitude to the party that gave me the platform with which I attained the height I did in the politics of our country.”
The letter further read: “How I wish the efforts I mounted with some of my colleagues (many of whom have left the party) to keep the PDP on the path of its noble vision and values had been supported by those who were privileged to be at the helm of affairs of the party, it would have been a different day for the PDP. It would have been a day of victory and pride not of defeat and shame.”
“I do not believe I should continue to be a member of the PDP as it is defined today. This is certainly not the party I joined years ago to help change my country. I do not also believe that the PDP as it is managed today will provide an opportunity for me to continue to play the politics of principles and values which I set for myself as a young man on leaving graduate school and working for a large multinational in the United States in the 70s and 80s.
“Therefore, today I resign my membership of the PDP. In stepping out of partisan politics for the meantime, I will continue to be politically engaged. I will also continue to support the government and all the elected officers in Nigeria to reposition the nation. I will also constructively criticise them when by commission or omission they take actions that could damage the prospects of transforming Nigeria into a productive, merit-based and honestly governed country.
“As I leave PDP, I wish the leaders a new awakening and ethical revival. I cherish all the friends I made while in PDP and hope the friendship will continue to flourish”, Nnamani added.
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