Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) governors have teamed up with other stakeholders of the party to demand the sack of the party’s National Chairman, Alhaji Adamu Mu’azu, along with members of the National Working Committee (NWC).
The governors, at a meeting on Tuesday night in Abuja, said Mu’azu and the NWC members, among others, were responsible for the PDP’s trouncing in the just-concluded general elections and must go to allow for the reorganisation of the party.
New Telegraph gathered that the meeting, which was convened at the instance of the outgoing Governor of Akwa Ibom State, Chief Godswill Akpabio, who chairs the PDP Governors’ Forum, was also attended by Mu’azu, his deputy, Prince Uche Secondus and the party’s Legal Adviser, Mr. Yusuf Kwon. It was further gathered that the governors, in their resolution, asked the NWC members to tender their resignation letters or be pushed out. They subsequently adopted the outgoing Governor of Cross River State, Senator Liyel Imoke, to succeed Mu’azu. However, a source said the NWC members were not happy with the governors’ stance as they also contributed to the party’s defeat.
“This is a plan by the outgoing governors to hijack the party before new governors come in. You know, most of them failed to fulfill their senatorial ambitions; so they want to be relevant till the next election,” the source stated. He said the NWC members were set to fight back and would not resign. Instead, they want a public hearing for people to know who caused the poor performance of the party at the general elections.
The source said the governors arm twisted the NWC to ensure their candidates were fielded for various elective positions despite the opposition from other members of the party. He said: “Except the Ebonyi State governor, all the outgoing governors got the candidates they wanted. The candidates they were pushing turned out to be unpopular. That was why the party lost in most of the states. So, why blaming the NWC members?”
He, however, feared that the imminent fight between the NWC and the governors would open the way for some elected members of the party to defect to the All Progressives Congress (APC). “That is the agenda of the governors. The tenure of the NWC ends next year; so the best option is to allow a smooth transition,” he said. Meanwhile, Mu’azu’s spokesman, Mr. Tony Amadi, has denied the report in the social media that Mu’azu was “bundled” out of the PDP governors’ meeting.
Amadi told New Telegraph that nothing like that happened. “When has social media become source of information? This is a man who has his own security. Even if the security were not at the meeting with him, when they see scuffle, they will raise the alarm so that people will see what was happening,” Amadi said.
- New Telegraph
