by ‘Jola Sotubo

Ever since the crisis within the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) began, the aggrieved members have stood firm on one demand and that is the sack of current PDP Chairman Bamanga Tukur.

The members of the new faction of the PDP have maintained this stance and have once again called for the resignation of Tukur as the party’s national chairman.

A myriad of grievances have been cited against Tukur including the allegations that he acts like a dictator and so is not fit to lead a democratic party and also that he is not a valid member of the PDP.

The Nation reports:

According to the faction, Tukur is not a registered card-carrying member of the party and such, has no business being its national chairman.

A statement by the faction’s National Publicity Secretary, Chukwuemeka Eze, said Baraje should replace Tukur as national chairman.

The statement said: “ Alhaji Tukur was expelled from the PDP in 2006 with nine others following disciplinary action taken against them for anti-party activities.

“Since then, he has not officially returned to the party. All the records at our disposal show that Alhaji Tukur has not followed due process for his readmission into the party.

“He neither applied for nor obtained the requisite waiver by the National Executive Committee of the party before offering himself for election into the office of national chairman in 2012.

“This makes his membership incurably defective and his emergence as PDP’s national chairman null and void and of no effect whatsoever since he is the product of a flawed process.

“Consequently, all the actions he has taken as the chairman of PDP since his purported election in March 2012, including the illegal, contentious convention of August, 2013, are null and void and of no effect”

Baraje added that his faction learnt that Tukur had been making desperate moves to wriggle out of the situation by falsifying records, with the view to revalidating his membership through the back door.

“We wish to put him on notice that this is criminal and we hope he understands the consequences of his actions.

“In this regard, Alhaji Tukur’s continued occupation of the office of PDP national chairman is clearly fraudulent, illegal and unconstitutional.

“We hereby urge Alhaji Tukur to toe the path of honour and throw in the towel. This is the best option open to him,” the faction added.

Baraje said should Tukur fail to resign, the faction would appeal to the Presidency and the leadership of the PDP to ease him out of the party, stressing that the party cannot be held hostage by one man.

The faction advised the Presidency to compensate Tukur with a ministerial appointment, considering his age, zeal and commitment to serving the party.

It continued: “This is a good opportunity for the Presidency to demonstrate if it is serious about restoring peace and unity to the party.

“We hereby formally suggest the immediate recall of Alhaji Abubakar Baraje, who erroneously handed over to Alhaji Bamanga Tukur as the national chairman of PDP, thinking he was a member of the party.

“This will enable Alhaji Baraje to organise a proper, unified convention that will usher in a duly elected National Working Committee of the party as early as possible to enable us face the business of positioning PDP as the ruling party come 2015.

“It will also pave the way to restore PDP’s past glory based on the visions of the founding fathers of the party. A word is enough for the wise.”