Indicative of the crisis rocking the Bamanga Tukur’s leadership of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), members of the party’s National Working Committee (NWC) openly boycotted an emergency meeting he called on Monday.
Only the National Secretary, Prof. Wale Oladipo, and National Auditor, Adeyanju Adewole, joined Tukur in the ill-fated emergency meeting.
After waiting in vain for other NWC members for over an hour, Tukur stormed out of the National Secretariat at about 1:30 p.m. But the other NWC members, who were said to have held another brief meeting at a different location away from the party’s National Secretariat, went into the Wadata House, National Secretariat just as Tukur was driving out.
Led by the Deputy National Chairman, Uche Secondus, the faction of the NWC that boycotted the meeting went straight to the Committee’s Meeting Hall, met briefly behind closed doors and dispersed.
Also on Monday, it was learnt that many members of the party’s National Executive Committee (NEC) had started advocating the total dissolution of the Tukur-led NWC. The total dissolution according to sources would heal the wound inflicted on the party since the beginning of the Tukur’s regime.
Those propagating this idea according to sources are already working on a plan that would lead to passing a vote of no confidence on Tukur at the NEC meeting, a measure that would pave the way for his eventual removal.
Secondus is already being considered to take over as Acting National Chairman until the conclusion of the party’s governorship and presidential primaries, which would hold around the middle of the year.
It was the belief of this group of party leaders that electing a new substantive National Chairman at this time would be injurious to the progress of the party because the new Chairman who was to be picked from the North Eastern part of the country excluding Adamawa State, would not have gotten enough experience to conduct the party’s primaries.
However, some loyalists of Tukur who were already working on a counter-measure to stop the planned vote of no confidence wanted the issue of removal of Tukur to be decided at the party’s mid-term convention holding in March, this year.
All suggestions have been slated for elaborate discussion at the national caucus meeting of the party scheduled to hold at the Presidential Villa.
The meeting of the party’s NEC, which would hold on Thursday, is expected to take the final decision on all issues attracting crisis to the party including the Tukur leadership.
There was a mild drama Monday at the party’s secretariat as Oladipo and the National Publicity Secretary, Olisa Metuh, were seen exchanging words immediately after the aborted meeting Tukur tried to convene.
Oladipo asked: “Why are you doing this? Why were you not at the meeting?”
But Metuh whose face was full of smiles simply kept mute and proceeded to join the faction of Secondus.
Those who boycotted the Tukur’s meeting included Secondus, National Woman Leader, Kema Chikwe, National Youth Leader, Abubakar Maibasira and the National Organising Secretary, Abubakar Mustapha.
To form a quorum for the NWC meeting, the constitution of the party requires that two-thirds of the NWC members be present.
The NWC has a total of 12 members and Tukur was only able to get two to attend his aborted meeting.
Within the party’s secretariat on Monday, some workers were seen in clusters discussing the likely fate of Tukur.
