PDP crisis: Party secretary attacks Bode George, others

There appears to be no end to the crisis rocking the Peoples Democratic Party as its National Secretary, Adewale Oladipo, on Sunday accused the South-West leaders of the PDP of sowing a seed of discord in the party.

Oladipo, who was reacting to a call on Friday by the South-West leaders on the members of the PDP National Working Committee   to resign their positions, said it was unfortunate that they ( the South-West leaders) who should know better had   resorted to divisive politics.

The leaders had   in a statement after their meeting in Ado Ekiti, Ekiti hinged their call for   the resignation of the NWC members, including the National Chairman of the PDP, on the party’s poor performance in the just concluded general elections.

A former Deputy National Chairman of the PDP, Bode George, who read the statement, argued that the resignation of the committee members would pave the way for a smooth restructuring of the party.

But Oladipo, in a statement, said it was unfortunate that George and others who could not deliver their wards during the elections could be seeking their ouster.

He said, “My attention has been drawn to a communiqué purportedly issued by some PDP leaders in the South-West calling on me, the National Secretary Prof. Adewale Oladipo and the National Auditor, Alhaji Adewole Adeyanju, to resign from the PDP NWC.

“However, a very careful examination of the inherent breaches in the procedures adopted in the convening of the meeting as well as the content and tone of its resolution shows an orchestration by a few individuals bent on sowing a seed of discord within the PDP fold in the zone.

“This is evident in the fact that the said communiqué in no way reflected the views of majority of those who attended the meeting, neither did it tally with the opinion of the generality of our party members in the region.”

The PDP secretary said the meeting was a clear breach of protocol as those who attended it did not have the authority to discuss issues concerning the party’s presidential campaign because the highest-ranking national officers of the party from the South-West were excluded.

He said this was how the NWC was marginalised during the presidential campaign which also contributed to the party’s defeat.

Oladipo said since members of the NWC were elected, they   would remain in office until March 2016.

He said, “While some of those asking us to resign performed very poorly even in their polling units, it is on record that the national auditor and my humble self performed creditably and delivered our areas in the general elections.

“It is, therefore, disheartening that rather than joining other well-meaning members of our great party in supporting the National Working Committee in the ongoing re-engineering process to rebuild the PDP, some elders from our zone, particularly, a former Deputy National Chairman, Chief Olabode George, who should know better, have instead resorted to divisive politics by attempting to instigate our members against one another.

“What our party needs now in the South-West and indeed across the country is for all hands to be on the deck as we work harmoniously in our determination to reposition the PDP to regain power in 2019.”

The PUNCH however learnt on Sunday that President Goodluck Jonathan may have also demanded the resignation of Mu’azu and the   other members of the NWC of the PDP.

A very highly placed source in Abuja said in Abuja that Bayelsa State Governor Seriake Dickson   delivered the President’s message to Mu’azu and his team in Abuja on Wednesday.

He said, “The President sent a message through a South-South governor to Alhaji Muazu and others in the NWC to resign. They cannot continue to run the party. In the past years, the PDP   never lost the presidential election.

“Our defeat by the APC (All Progressives Congress) this time round is embarrassing not only to the President but to us as leaders of the party. I support President Jonathan’s call on them to step aside so that we can reposition of great party ahead of 2019.”

Dickson was seen within the premises of the PDP national headquarters at Wuse, Zone 5, Abuja shortly during the NWC members meeting on Wednesday.

He was among the PDP governors who met last Tuesday at the Akwa Ibom Governor’s Lodge at Asokoro, Abuja to analyse the performance of the party at the general elections.

Apart from losing the March 28 president election, the PDP was beaten by the APC in zones where it (PDP) was hitherto strong.

However, some members of the party close to Jonathan attributed his defeat by Muhammadu Buhari of the APC to Mu’azu and the other NWC members. They alleged that the NWC members did not support the President with their whole hearts.

A member of the NWC, who spoke with our correspondent on the condition of anonymity in Abuja on Sunday, confirmed that   Dickson delivered Jonathan’s message to them.

He said, “The governor, who was a former policeman and a defector from the defunct Alliance for Democracy came to the party’s headquarters asking the chairman and the NWC members to resign.

“He claimed that he was speaking on behalf of the President. But we asked him whether the President couldn’t speak with us directly but he remained silent.

“Why should the NWC members resign? Over what? Just because we lost election? No, we won’t”

He said the message was the reason why the party issued a statement on Saturday, warning those close to the President to stay away from the running of the party.

Apart from Dickson, the NWC member mentioned Governor Ayodele Fayose of Ekiti State and a   former Deputy National Chairman of the PDP, Olabode George,   as among those spearheading   the calls for their sacking.

“We know that Dickson and Fayose spearheaded the call for the NWC members to resign at the PDP governors’ meeting. We are waiting for them to speak out openly and we would reply them accordingly,” he said.

It is however not clear if the NWC members, whose tenure is expected to end in March 2016, will call for the meeting of the party’s National Executive Committee before May 29.

The constitution of the PDP saddles the NWC, which is responsible only to the NEC, with the responsibility of running the party.

It was gathered that the NWC members were waiting for the expiration of the tenure of the President and majority of the PDP governors on May 29 before deciding on when to hold NEC.

It is the belief of the NWC members that the President and the governors who are also members of the NEC could influence the outcome of the meeting.

While the President will remain a member of NEC even after the end of his tenure, the governors cease from being members afterwards.

Efforts by our correspondent   to speak to the Jonathan’s Special Adviser on Political Affairs,   Rufai Alkali and the Special Assistant on Public Affairs,   Doyin Okupe, on Jonathan’s alleged call for the resignation of the NWC members   were not successful.

Calls made to Dickson’s mobile telephone as of 7.10pm on Sunday rang out.

Also, text message sent to his telephone was not responded to as of the time of going to press.

Before our correspondent in Yenagoa resorted to calling the governor,   he had made futile attempts to speak to his Chief Press Secretary,   Daniel Iworiso-Markson, on his cell telephone.

When contacted, the PDP   National Publicity Secretary,   Olisa Metuh, stated that   the decision to call a NEC meeting remained the prerogative of the national chairman of the party and the NWC members.

He said, “We are in charge of the running of the party and as far as we are concerned, we have no crisis.

“Concerning the date of NEC, the party’s constitution is very clear on this and if anyone is in doubt, let him go and check.

“It is bad that those who have benefitted from the party immensely are the ones stoking fire and causing confusion. We won’t allow them.

“Those who do not like us should wait till the national convention and decide whether to vote for us or against us, if we decide to rein again.

“You can’t continue to claim that there is a quarrel in a house when the occupiers are saying there is no acrimony.”

When asked pointedly to confirm or deny that Dickson came with a message from Jonathan asking them to resign, Metuh replied, “The President didn’t call us to resign. I’m not aware of such directive or call’’

On the alleged secret account operated by the NWC, he said, “Yes, delegates account was opened for the purpose of selling forms and we have since closed it down and collapsed the money there into the party’s account.

“We have not been sharing money as being alleged and I was not at the last NWC meeting on Wednesday and since I returned, I have not been giving any money.”

NWC raises post-election assessment committee

Meanwhile, the NWC said on Sunday that it had constituted a post-election assessment committee to review and evaluate the performance of the PDP in the general elections and make recommendations for the repositioning of the party.

The membership of the committee are: Ike Ekweremadu (Chairman), Governor Godswill Akpabio (Akwa Ibom), Governor Theodore. Orji(Abia), Governor Ibrahim Dankwambo(Gombe), Governor-elect of Rivers State, Nyeson Wike, and   Ibrahim Shekarau.

Others are   Abdulkadir Kure, Emeka Ihedioha, Abba Moro, Adamu Waziri,   Ahmed Makarfi, Makanjuola Ogundipe,   Pegba Otemolu, Funmi Ayoola and Walid Jibril (Secretary).

The committee is to be inaugurated on Tuesday.