PDP dares govs, says no NEC meeting

PDP NAtional Chairman, Alhaji Bamanga Tukur

Governors on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party, who are calling for the party’s National Executive Committee meeting, may have to wait for a longer time.

 Reason: the National Working Committee of the party says it is not in a hurry to convene such a meeting.

The committee, saddled with organising the meeting, said no such assembly would hold until the party had elected its Board of Trustees chairman.

The National Publicity Secretary of the party, Chief Olisa Metuh, who stated this in Abuja on Wednesday, noted that the Board was being reorganised, as the tenure of some of its members had expired.

The governors, after their meeting about three weeks ago, had demanded the immediate convocation of the NEC assembly.

They also demanded that the assembly holds every quarter as stipulated in the party’s constitution.

But Metuh said though the party’s leadership was not afraid of calling for the meeting, it would wait until the end of the BoT restructuring and the election of its chairman.

He said, “The National Executive Committee will soon hold. It is not true that the National Working Committee has been forestalling it.

“I think it is the party’s Board of Trustees. Once we have a Board of Trustees chairman, we shall have our National Executive Committee meeting.’’

Already, the 12-member committee of the NWC is in two factions – one loyal to President Goodluck Jonathan and the party’s National Chairman, Bamanga Tukur and the other steadfast to the governors and the sacked National Secretary of the party, Olagunsoye Oyinlola.

Following the polarisation of the party, our correspondent gathered that Jonathan and Tukur believed that the governors want to use the NEC meeting to either embarrass them or canvass the removal of the party’s chairman.

Metuh however said the leadership of the party was working in harmony with Tukur.

He said the leadership of the party was in support of the transformation agenda of the President, adding that there was no rancour between the party and the governors.

Metuh, in a statement added, “There is no division in the leadership of our party. We are solidly behind our National Chairman, Bamanga Tukur and we are focusing on good governance in the country.

“Some people are not just happy that we are working together, so they come out with all sorts of speculation to see that they cause disaffection in our party but I want to assure that we will not be distracted in our focus to ensure that we continue to deliver the dividends of democracy to our people.

“The leadership of the party is behind Jonathan in his transformation agenda. We have one focus and that is to ensure massive development of the country in line with the manifesto of our party.”

PUNCH