Key stakeholders in the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) are are caught in a dilemma over the next line of action on the party’s National Chairman, Alhaji Adamu Mu’azu, and his team in the National Working Committee (NWC).
Two separate meetings of the party’s national leaders and elders, called by President Goodluck Jonathan during the week, failed to take a definite position on the fate of the elected party officials.
While some of the stakeholders are calling for the sack of Mu’azu and his subordinates, others have argued that they be allowed to complete their tenure, which expires in March, 2016.
The disagreement is coming just as a prominent chieftain of the party has fingered the President-Elect, Gen. Muhammadu Buhari and the national leader of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, as the ruling party’s “nemesis”.
Our correspondent’s investigation revealed at the weekend that all the party’s outgoing governors have insisted on outright dissolution of the NWC, to pave way for a new set of executives.
The governors, investigation further revealed, are being backed by a leader of the party in the Southwest zone, Chief Olabode George and a few others. A source privy to the meetings said President Jonathan has chosen to remain neutral.
Our source also said the President had directed the stakeholders and contending parties to embark on further consultations, with a view to finding amicable solution to the raging crisis.
The anti Mu’azu forces, particularly Governor Ayo Fayose of Ekiti State, had argued that retaining the present crop of the party’s executive members would be counter-productive.
According to them, rather than mobilising support for the President in the last election, the Chairman and his team members were preoccupied with pecuniary pursuits to the detriment of the party.
Allusions were made to instances where the party officials shared money among themselves when they were supposed to disburse same for campaign purposes.
The party’s National Publicity Secretary, Chief Olisa Metuh, had at a recent media briefing, stated that members of the NWC collected N30 million each.
Metuh however, explained that the money was for the backlog of allowances and medical expenses of the NWC members.
Apparently, the money was part of the proceeds of sales of nomination forms for the various elective positions in the last general elections.
He had insisted that funds were not made available to the party officials for the presidential campaign, saying the funds were directly placed under the control of the Presidential Campaign Council.
Buttressing Metuh’s position, a high ranking member of the party’s top decision making organ said the NWC should not be blamed for the crushing defeat the PDP suffered at the poll.
The official, who craved anonymity, said the PDP faced the most formidable opposition in Buhari and Tinubu who he described as the party’s nemesis.
Said he: “I think it’s high time we stopped this fruitless blame game. Buhari and Tinubu were our nemesis and not the NWC members.
“If you are a member of a club, you must be bold enough to say the truth when things go wrong. Tell me, how many of us can match Buhari’s popularity in the entire north? How many of our members can stand against Tinubu in the Southwest, even in the states that are not under the control of the APC?
“Let me tell you something, during the campaign, some of us from the north were compelled to chant ‘Sai Buhari’ by the same people we tried to sell our presidential candidate to.
“So, whatt can anybody do in a situation where your audience insisted that you must hail your opponent. So many of our people in the North see Buhari as a kind of god. We were helpless.”
Meanwhile, the Post Election Assessment Committee set up by the party to review PDP’s poor performance at the poll has called for memoranda from members across board.
At a media briefing in Abuja on Friday, the Committee Secretary, Senator Walid Jibril said there was need to seek input from diverse opinions within the party.
According to him, restricting contributions to leaders and chieftains of the party would not yield the desired result, stressing that contributions from followers, who constitute the bulk of the voting segment are very crucial.
He vowed that any party chieftain found to have acted in ways and manners suggesting anti party activities would not be spared.
Jibril, who is also the secretary of the party’s Board of Trustees, added that the PDP would succeed in putting its house in order sooner that most people expect.
“I can assure you that we are working very hard to get our rhythm back. We have put the last election behind us and we are focusing on the future of the party ahead of 2019”, he stated.
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