The Chairman, House of Representatives Committee on Petroleum (Downstream), Hon Dakuku Peterside, has described the new faction of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) as a necessary detour in the continuing battle to build an inclusive and all-embracing national party where opinion of all members will count.
Peterside, who represents Andoni/Opobo-Nkoro Federal Constituency in the National Assembly, made the statement yesterday following a walkout by seven PDP governors and other delegates at the PDP special convention which held in Abuja, the nation’s capital last Saturday.
The lawmaker, who is particularly pained by developments in the ruling party, however, urged Nigerians to be steadfast and lend their support to the new leadership because it represents hope and liberty which the Bamanga Tukur-led PDP seeks to destroy.
“Politics is about inclusion and participation. A political party is believed to have failed in its duties as an organisation when it deliberately stifles voices and discriminates against its members for no good reason. The most cherished element of democracy is freedom. I had prayed fervently for a truce but the events of today aptly show that many people are diametrically opposed to peace, freedom, and they are prepared to do everything possible to frustrate any peaceful resolution,” he said.
Peterside, who accused the old leadership of violating PDP constitution, coupled with the fact that it encouraged unnecessary witch-hunt, called on the new leadership to be fair and ensure that everybody was accommodated irrespective of age, sex or geo-political zone.
“The truth about our country today is that we can no longer pretend or take the electorate for granted. The political elite have provided a lot of lessons, whether consciously or unconsciously, and like some politicians, I know that the pattern of voting come 2015 will be greatly influenced by this knowledge base which will determine winners or losers,” he said.
Also speaking, the Deputy Speaker of the Rivers State House of Assembly, Hon Leyii Kwanee commended the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) led by the former acting national chairman, Abubakar Kawu Baraje for stamping their feet against the injustice in the party, and insisting on PDP where all members have equal rights, and are equal stakeholders in the democratic process.
Reacting to the split in the party at the national level in a chat with newsmen in Port Harcourt, yesterday, the deputy speaker said that he was excited that Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, seven governors and many other top chieftains walked out of the convention to announce the emergence of a more inclusive PDP at a world press conference at the Shehu Musa Yar’Adua Centre, in Abuja, with a pledge to respect the rule of law, and be guided by the constitution of the party.
Kwanee, who is also the chairman, Parliamentary Exchange and Mentorship Programme of the Pan African Parliament, said that this has confirmed what he has been reiterating that the PDP executive at the national level, the kangaroo executive in Rivers State and some other states had failed to follow the constitution of the party in their actions.
He accused the Felix Obuah-led PDP in the state of treating the party constitution as mere paper stuff, and described the so-called Bamanga Tukur-led PDP national executive as a rubber stamp at the whims and caprices of the Presidency.
The deputy speaker urged the new PDP executive to show that they are the authentic PDP leaders by sticking to the party’s constitution, and ensuring justice and fair play in the affairs of the party, adding that the Tukur-led PDP had lost its relevance.
He urged the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to recognise the Baraje-led executive as the true leaders of the party as Tukur had severally flouted INEC directives; leading to the resignation of most members of the National Working Committee (NWC), pointing out that the guidelines of the party and constitution which INEC hammered on had been repeatedly violated with impunity.
The deputy speaker believed that there were many in Tukur-led faction of the PDP, who would return to the true PDP fold in no distant time, and assured them of a level-playing field in the new PDP.
Kwanee assured that the true PDP in Rivers State would garner the support and loyalty of Rivers people, and win any election in the state, and congratulated the new leadership of the party for the bold step aimed at preventing the collapse of the party in the country.
Leader of opposition parties and former chairman, defunct Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), Rivers State chapter, Hon Esuku E. Esuku, also lauded the bold decision of former Vice President Atiku Abubakar and the seven PDP governors and other delegates for walking out of the PDP mini-convention last Saturday.
Esuku hailed the former acting national chairman of PDP, Alhaji Abubakar Kuwa Baraje and Dr Sam Sam Jaja for emerging new leaders of the authentic PDP, saying that with the calibre of leaders in the new party, a new dawn was emerging for Nigerians.
Esuku, who is currently a stakeholder in Rivers All Progressives Congress (APC), noted that the action would reposition the party to provide good governance and bequeath quality democratic institutions for Nigerians.
Another stakeholder in the state’s political firmament, Chief David Ibiamu Ikanya, said the decision of the new PDP to break away from the totaliterian reign of Bamanga Tukur shows that Nigerians were beginning to realise that this nation belongs to all of us, and must stand up to challenge undemocratic forces anywhere in the country.
According to him, the legacy left behind by past leaders of the party had almost been rubbished by the poor leadership provided by Tukur, saying that the action would check the culture of impunity and abuse of power which had pervaded the party over the last couple of years.
He charged the true PDP leaders to carry every aggrieved member of the PDP along so as to provide a fertile ground for electoral victories in 2015 and beyond.
Meanwhile, basking in the euphoria of a successful emergence as a formidable force in the nation’s political landscape, the new faction of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) led by Alhaji Abubakar Kawu Baraje may today open its secretariat in a choice area of Abuja, Nigeria’s Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
The Tide learnt last night that the new leadership of the true PDP is about now finalising strategies to open its secretariat within the precinct of one of the ever busy highbrow areas not too far from the present secretariat of the Bamanga Tukur-led faction.
Inside sources informed The Tide that since the emergence of the faction, more members of the party, hitherto loyal to the Tukur-led camp, have indicated their readiness to join the Baraje-led PDP to restore the party’s lost glory and reputation.
However, the Chairman of the true Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), formed last Saturday, Alhaji Abubakar Kawu Baraje, has linked the reign of impunity and violation of party constitution as the core reasons behind the decision of the group to split from the Bamanga Tukur-led faction.
Baraje spoke extensively in a press conference at the Shehu Musa Yar’Adua Centre in Abuja at the weekend, during which he assured Nigerians of a new dawn in the nation’s democratic journey.
He pledged to work towards bringing every aggrieved member together to guarantee electoral victory for the party in the 2015 general elections.
It would be recalled that former Vice President Atiku Abubakar had led seven governors elected under the platform of the PDP and some other top chieftains of the party on a walk out of the mini-convention organised by the Alhaji Bamanga Tukur-led national executive at the Eagle Square, Abuja last Saturday.
The aggrieved seven governors include Sule Lamido of Jigawa, Rabiu Kwankwaso of Kano, Abdulafatah Ahmed of Kwara, Babangida Aliyu of Niger, Aliyu Wammako of Sokoto, Murtala Nyako of Adamawa, and
Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi of Rivers State.
The faction had staged a walk out from the special national convention of the party to elect its own parallel national executive committee members headed by Alhaji Abubakar Kawu Baraje, who was a former acting national chairman of the PDP.
It also elected Dr Sam Sam-Jaja, a former deputy national chairman as Baraje’s deputy, and former Osun State governor, Olagunsoye Oyinlola, who was the former national secretary of the Tukur-led PDP as national secretary, among others.
In a swift reaction to the formation of the parallel PDP, Bamanga Tukur told journalists at the Eagles Square in Abuja that “those who staged the walk out and organised a kangaroo meeting are all self-seeking and treacherous individuals pursuing neither regional nor religious agenda except their own agenda and personal interests.”
He dismissed their action with a wave of the hand, saying that they were merely creating problem where non existed, even as he declared that his faction, backed by President Goodluck Jonathan, ”is studying the situation as it unfolds and will deal with it decisively as the situation warrants.”
Source: The TideNewspaper