Adamawa State Governor, Murtala Nyako, has accused President Goodluck Jonathan of ingratitude and unfairness.
He also accused the President of concentrating more on developing the South-South, while ignoring developmental problems in the rest of the country.
Specifically, the governor, expressed displeasure over the way he was
being treated by the party in spite of the sacrifices he made to ensure
the President’s victory during the PDP primaries and the 2011
presidential election.
However, Special Adviser to the President on
Political Matters, Ahmed Gulak, said it was Nyako, who was being
ungrateful and unfair to the President.
Speaking through his
Director of Press and Public Affairs, Mallam Ahmad Sajo, the governor
said he ensured the President’s success in 2011.
He said, “President Jonathan has been ungrateful to Governor Murtala Nyako.
“In the first instance, you should understand that during the nominations, Jonathan contested with a son of Adamawa State.
“If he (Jonathan) won Adamawa State, the governor swam against the
tides. Immediately after that, they started sending him (the governor)
text messages, calling him a kafir (infidel), dan wuta (hell bound son)
and all that.
“They said he backed a Christian against Muslims; he went through all that humiliation.
“At the federal elections, Nuhu Ribadu is a son of Adamawa. Nyako
worked for Jonathan to defeat Ribadu, another son of Adamawa in the
general elections.
“How would they have expected to win Adamawa in a
landslide? When after the defeat of Atiku, he was aggrieved, they did
not pacify him.
“He came back here and moved all his acolytes into
Labour Party, including the person they are using today as the so-called
chairman of the PDP, who was the governorship candidate of the Labour
Party.
“We also had Nuhu Ribadu, who is from this state. If for
nothing, at least, he had brothers, sisters and other relatives to
support him and yet, Jonathan won.
“It doesn’t matter whether he won convincingly or not, he won at the expense of sons and daughters of Adamawa.”
On his dispute with the National Headquarters of the Peoples Democratic
Party, Nyako said that the PDP was on a path of self-destruction.
He said, “What we are saying is that a political party is a free association of people of like minds.
“And there are always ground rules for running a political party. When
you refuse to abide by the ground rules, you tend to destroy the
association.
“What we are saying is that the rate the party is moving, it will surely kill itself.
“Don’t forget that in the past four months (March, April, June and
July), they have set up different reconciliation committees but they
have been unable to reconcile because of the bottom line. The party is
not interested in protecting the rights of everybody.
“We are of the
opinion that it is the impunity in the party that will kill it. When
there was a bye-election in Adamawa State, the national secretariat sold
just one form, is that democratic?
“When the national secretariat
of the party decided to meddle in the affairs of the party in Adamawa
State by their own mandate, the leadership of the so-called caretaker
committee that they set up was supposed to just effect corrections at
the state level.”
The governor expressed disappointment that the
committee had destroyed the party from the ward to the state level,
adding that the party leadership was responsible for the crisis in
almost every state where such existed.
He also cited amendments to
the PDP constitution, which conferred too much powers on the national
chairman, as another sore point.
According to him, under the
constitution, which was amended in 2012, members who are under
suspension automatically lose their rights, including the right to
contest elections.
He said, “They did that amendment in the 2012
constitution. The constitution says that 2/3 members of the National
Executive Council can request for a NEC meeting and that the national
chairman may call the NEC, which means it is at his discretion.
“This means members can call but he has the discretion to decide. Is that democratic for God’s sake?
“We are saying all these constitutional breeches, all the impunity, all this brigandage will eventually destroy the party.
“We are not wishing the party ill, all we are saying is if all the high
handedness continues, it will eventually destroy the party. No free
association or supposedly free people will succeed if the situation
remains like that.”
Four northern governors, including Nyako,
recently paid visits to three former Nigerian leaders – Generals
Olusegun Obasanjo, Abdulsalami Abubakar and Ibrahim Babangida.
Others are: Mua’zu Babangida Aliyu (Niger), Rabiu Kwankwaso (Kano) and Sule Lamido (Jigawa).
One of them, who spoke to our correspondent on condition of anonymity,
also gave an insight into why they visited the former military rulers.
He said, “We have said it several times that everything is tilted
towards the South-South. It is not a question of Kano, Niger, Sokoto or
Adamawa or just the North.
“Everything is tilted towards the South-South, appointments, contracts are given to militants; the issue is beyond just Kano.
“The South-West, North-West, North-East, North-Central have all been
marginalised. Only last week, they approved a contract of N4bn for the
expansion of the Onne Port in Rivers State with just about N1bn to the
power plant in Jebba.
“If you consider all the major ongoing projects in Nigeria today, they are based in the South-South.
“We are talking about the marginalisation of a greater portion of Nigeria; we are talking of injustice and unfairness.
“It is about saving democracy. In any case, what is the business of
Rivers with any of these issues? What we are concerned about is the
consequences of what is happening in Rivers on democracy.”
In response, Gulak said it was the Adamawa State governor, who was an ingrate.
He said, “It is Nyako, who is ungrateful to Mr. President. He did not
know how the PDP came about. He was in the opposition All Peoples Party
when he was brought in and handed the ticket to become governor of
Adamawa State.
“The party mobilised the people to vote for him. You
can check the records, Nyako did not mobilise votes for the President,
it was the other way round; so, what is he talking about?”
Also, the National Chairman of the PDP, Alhaji Bamanga Tukur, dismissed the allegations against him.
He said some of the governors had, by their actions and utterances, long left the party.
Through his Special Assistant (Media), Prince Oliver Okpala, the
chairman said, “By their utterances and their behaviour, they have shown
that they have actually joined the opposition in principle.
“They
shouldn’t be talking about the affairs of the PDP because they have
shown that they are not interested in PDP, all they have been wishing
the PDP is death. This is a party that brought them to political
limelight. The PDP, just like democracy, will outlive all of us.”
Source: Punch
