PDP Leaders Live to Fight Another Day

Written by This Day Wednesday, 28 April 2010

Warring factions in the ruling Peoples Dem-ocratic Party (PDP) reached what can be termed a temporary ceasefire yesterday as the National Executive Committee (NEC) finally held its meeting after an Abuja High Court vacated its restraining order which had barred the meeting from taking place.

Justice Abubakar Talba suspended the order he granted the Reform Group members on Monday after an application brought by PDP’s Counsel, Amaechi Nwaiwu (SAN), Paul Erokoro (SAN) and Chief Olusola Oke on behalf of the party, to suspend the interim injunction order, pending the hearing and determination of the original summon by the suspended members.

But the meeting was preceded by drama, as the Police under the FCT Commissioner of Police, Haruna John, took over the party secretariat as early as 8am, sealing off all the roads leading to and out of the office apparently to enforce the court order of Monday.

Activities at the FCT High Court located in Zone 5 was brought to a standstill, while staff of the Federal Inland Revenue and other offices located within the PDP office could not go to work.

The ceasefire came about after a meeting between the governors and Acting President Goodluck Jonathan on Monday where it was agreed that the court order should be vacated before the meeting could hold.

However, the move to remove the National Chairman, Prince Vincent Ogbulafor, who is facing corruption charges in court, has been shelved pending his appearance in court next week, THISDAY was told. He may be told to step aside while the case is on.
His planned removal is one of the causes of the current crisis in the party, with the members of the Reform Group declaring a lack of confidence in his leadership while Ogbulafor, in tandem with members of the National Working Committee (NWC), has suspended members of the dissenting group.

THISDAY learnt that the PDP governors had, after their meeting on Monday night, agreed to set up a four-man committee headed by the Kwara State Governor Bukola Saraki, with Governor Dan-juma Goje of Gombe, Governor Isa Yuguda of Bauchi and Governor Chibuike Amaechi of Rivers as members, to meet Jonathan in the early hours of yesterday.

This followed their resolution threatening that governors would not attend any NEC meeting again if it did not hold yesterday.
The governors insisted that the NEC meeting must hold, while asking that entreaties should be sent to the Chief Justice of the Federal Capital Territory to ensure that the restraining order was vacated.

The governors, THISDAY learnt, also threatened to defect en masse, along with their senators and representatives, to another party if Jonathan allowed the Reform Group members to have their way.
They challenged the Acting President to name any governor supporting him and they too would reveal what that governor had been saying behind him. This, the newspaper was informed, was a way of telling Jonathan that he did not have the support of any governor.

Governor Danjuma Goje of Gombe reportedly asked to know why the Acting President would be supporting members of the Reform Forum despite the fact that they do not have any “electoral value”.
With the court order reversed, the PDP NEC meeting eventually began around 2pm yesterday and it was chaired by Jonathan.

One of the key decisions reached is the amendment of the party’s constitution because of the inequality in the number of delegates needed in the election of governorship and National Assembly candidates.

For instance, while it takes only 900 delegates to elect a gubernatorial candidate, a senatorial candidate would need 1,500 and an aspiring member of the House of Representatives would require 1,200.
The NEC yesterday passed the proposal for the amendments of section 12.14, 12.46 and section 12.48 of the party’s constitution.
Also the meeting passed a vote of confidence on Jonathan, Ogbulafor and members of the NWC over their role in stabilising the polity and the party respectively.

The NWC was commended and asked to continue with the way it is managing the affairs of the party.
According to a statement by the National Publicity Secretary of the party, Prof. Ahmed Alkali, "NEC received and approved proposals for the amendment section 12.14, 12.46 and 12.48 of the PDP constitution which deals with number of delegates to elect flag bearer of the party at various level.

"NEC observed that the current provision which makes the number of delegates in a senatorial congress more than those electing a governorship candidate is an anomaly.

“It was observed that for instance in a state with 20 local governments, that only 900 delegates would elect a governorship candidate of the party, whereas between 1,200 and 1,500 delegates are expected to elect a member of the National Assembly.

“This, the NEC considered unfair. It therefore mandated the National Working Committee to set up a committee of nine to harmonise the delegates list of the party. The members of the committee would comprise one member from each zone, while three members of the committee would come from the NWC.”

Jonathan, at the meeting, traced the crisis within the PDP to the ambition of members whom he said wanted to contest the 2011 general election, but warned that they should not use their ambition to over heat the system. He said the rule of law and party guidelines must be followed always.

Ogbulafor, on his part, said that his ordeal was politically motivated, but assured members that he would come out unhurt. He used the occasion to speak for the first time on his ordeal over allegations of corruption.
According to him, "As for my alleged involvement in a certain N104 million contract cases with the ICPC, let me with all sense of responsibility, state that I am innocent of the allegations.

"I was a Minister of Economic Matters in the Presidency while the National Economic Intelligence Committee (NEIC) was an agency of government in the Presidency. It had a Chairman and Committee members. I was not a member of the Committee. I never attended their meetings. Moreso, decisions were solely made by them.

"My role was limited to accompanying them to the Presidency to present the Reports of the Committee. I know that these allegations are politically motivated, and I am absolutely sure that justice will be done, and I will be vindicated."

However, he warned that people should not use his civility as an opportunity to malign him, saying, and "let me use this medium to remind us that civility is not a sign of weakness. Notwithstanding their antics, NWC will not shrink from its responsibilities."

The meeting was attended by 26 PDP governors, former national chairmen of the party like Ahamdu Ali and Barnbas Gemade, and former Chairman of the Board of Trustees, Chief Anthony Anenih. Former President Olusegun Obasanjo was absent.
Former Senate Presidents, Ken Nnamani and Adolphus Wabara, and former Speaker of the House of Representatives, Bello Masari, who took the party to court, were absent, despite the court ruling that they could attend.