by Chi Ibe

Special Adviser to the President on Political Matters, Ahmed Gulak has dismissed reports that five northern governors asked President Goodluck Jonathan to sack the Peoples Democratic Party National Chairman, Bamanga Tukur saying that everybody know President Jonathan alone cannot remove Tukur since was  a product of an election.

The reports had claimed that Governors — Muritala Nyako (Adamawa),  Rabiu Kwankanso (Kano), Babangida Aliyu (Niger),  Sule Lamido (Jigawa), and Aliyu Wamakko (Sokoto) had met with President Jonathan  on Saturday  to discuss issues that  included  the political impasse in Rivers State and the crisis in the PDP and the governors had reportedly suggested that only Tukur’s exit would guarantee peace in the party.

Gulak said if they actually tried to persuade President Jonathan to get rid of Tukur then the governors’ reported position was not the right line of negotiation.

“It is political immaturity for the governors to ask the President to sack Alhaji Tukur. That is not supposed to be the line of negotiation. When you go for a negotiation, all cards must be on the table,” Gulak said.

“You can’t go and ambush the President and ask him to sack somebody that was elected at a national convention of the party.

“As senior members of the party, the governors know that Tukur is a product of election. The President can’t sack him alone. That will  not  be proper.

“There are processes stipulated in the PDP constitution for officers to be removed from office and they (governors) are aware of the procedure.”

[READ: Jonathan, Northern governors meet Obasanjo]

A source close to the meeting told the Punch news that Nyako said he was left with no choice but to speak out after several attempts to get the party to see reason over the issue (his isolation) failed.

Nyako “also accused Tukur of high- handedness and undue interference in the affairs of the state chapter of the party,” the source reportedly said.

On another note, the governors were said to have also asked President Jonathan to support their position that all the offices in the   NWC should be declared vacant; to allow for fresh elections.