DISMISSING an allegation that he is under pressure to resign, the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) National Chairman, Bamanga Tukur, on Monday urged President Goodluck Jonathan to be more committed to the issue of restoring peace to the party.
In a statement to journalists in Abuja on Monday, Tukur described the reports of his planned resignation as the handiwork of his political enemies within and outside the party, adding that the time had come for members of the party, including Jonathan, to forget political differences and put the party on the path of unity and strength.
Tukur said: “Let me reiterate that I am not resigning and I have no intention of doing so as an elected National Chairman of PDP. I accepted to become chairman based on my conviction that I can use my wealth of experience to help my party and my country. I am not looking for anything at my age other than putting it on record that God has helped me, and then, I am using the opportunities He gave me to serve the rest of Nigeria to the best of my abilities.”
“I will not relent in using the good office given to me by God to bring peace into the party. It is on this note that I appeal to all our members to come together to face the challenges confronting us as a party. If we must remain the strongest party that we are in Africa, it is high time we buried the hatchets and then begin to close ranks.
“It is in our party’s interest and indeed, in the interest of President Goodluck Jonathan to have us get back on the track while regaining the grooves that have been making us tick, unbeatable and widely accepted. To do otherwise is to yield the grounds to the propagandists who have been masquerading as our opponents even with the nebulous interest of getting power in 2015,” he added.
He said he was aware of the antics by “some black legs in and out of the PDP” who have been funding negative media reports on activities of the party both at the state and national levels, stating that such antics would amount to naught because no sponsor of such reports would go far.
Tukur, however, said as a Nigerian who had served in high capacities at the global level, who had assisted in bringing business opportunities to Nigeria as the President of the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD) Group and who is currently heading Africa’s largest political party, he would never subject his resignation from PDP to media hype and needless conjectures.
He wondered why a section of the media would persist in reporting falsehood which, according to him, has been exposing their inadequacies or rather lack of depth and professionalism.
He said: “I had hardly settled down in office when some newspapers predicted that I would not last three months. Later, some newspapers wrote that I would resign in December. Another one said two days ago that I had been asked to resign. Well, I have spent more than one year in office and they still continue to write the same and the same thing all over. I really do not understand whether Bamanga Tukur is really the media problem, or the problem of faceless individuals who were manufacturing the miserable reports.”
Also yesterday, leaders of the PDP in the North Central Zone rose from a meeting in Abuja re-affirming the three positions zoned to it in the party’s National Working Committee (NWC).
The meeting presided over by PDP North Central Zonal Vice Chairman, Mohammed Ayitogo, asked party members to vote for persons already endorsed by the three states which got the slots.
The party had forced some of its NWC members to resign last June to pave the way for a fresh election in line with a report from the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
Accordingly, the North Central zonal executive committee of the party reviewed the three positions zoned to it and asked delegates to vote at the August 31, 2013 special convention for the persons that had got the endorsement of their states.
The three positions are those of the National Legal Adviser which is zoned to Plateau State, National Youth Leader zoned to Niger and Deputy National Woman Leader zoned to Benue State.
Benue State Governor Gabriel Suswam was the only governor from the zone at the meeting where three ministers, including Information Minister, Labaran Maku, Interior Minister, Abba Moro and Minister of State for Trade and Investment, Samuel Ortom, were present.
THE GUARDIAN NIGERIA
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