IT emerged at the weekend that the leadership of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has postponed four crucial meetings of the party convened to address a wide range of issues and challenges facing the party.
Impeccable party sources identified four reasons the meetings, originally slated for 6 to 8 January, were shifted to 13 to 16. The postponement decision was taken Friday night, leaving party leaders scrambling to reach its chiefs across the country.
In the same vein, it emerged why the party’s leadership, in conjunction with the Presidency, refrained from instituting new executive committees in the states affected by defection of governors in November.
A letter detailing the meetings’ dates, signed by the National Secretary of the party, Professor Wale Oladipo, was sent to former president Olusegun Obasanjo who recently wrote an open letter to President Goodluck Jonathan and over 100 other top leaders in what a party source called “an unprecedented step to stem the crisis rocking the party.”
Sunday Tribune was told that the meeting was postponed first to allow for better preparation as the notice for the meeting was considered too short and at a time many party chiefs were still on yuletide holidays.
The second reason, according to insiders, was a letter written to the party leadership by the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Aminu Tambuwal, where he was reported to have solicited a shift in the date as he would be representing Nigeria at a crucial event in Europe.
Another reason was the reported foreign engagement of the chairman of the party’s BoT, Chief Tony Anenih, who, soon after his birthday ceremony, was reported to have flown abroad for an undisclosed assignment.
The National Chairman of the party, Alhaji Bamanga Tukur, who was ordered home for the meeting, was also reportedly allowed to complete his ongoing consultations with Nigerian and PDP stakeholders in the United Kingdom. He is expected to return home by middle of next week.
Sunday Tribune learnt that the Presidency specifically wanted the speaker to be at the meetings. There was the fears that the speaker travelled abroad to avoid attending the meeting, but it was said that the foreign trip was already scheduled before the meetings were fixed.
It will be recalled that the speaker has been variously fingered as a closet member of the All Progressives Party (APC) and a presidential hopeful in the 2015 race. According to PDP sources, Tambuwal’s presence was critical as “we want to confront him with growing evidence of his affiliation to the opposition party.”
Concerning the G5 states, sources in the party told Sunday Tribune that the PDP had been unable to put in place a new executive committee in Kwara as a result of the court case filed sometime ago against the executive loyal to former Governor Bukola Saraki.
A source said that the leadership of the party had done its homework on the composition of the new executive committee in the state, adding that the structure of the new executive had been put on paper.
“We already have a picture of the new executive that will take over in Kwara. But the court case the loyal party men instituted against the executive loyal to Senator Saraki has stalled the inauguration. We have told them to withdraw the suit since it is now clear that Saraki and his allies have defected to the APC,” the source stated.
It was also gathered that the structure of the new executive in Sokoto State is in the making, following ongoing horse-trading between the camps of the APC and the PDP.
The deputy governor of Sokoto State, Alhaji Mukthar Shagari, has insisted on remaining in the PDP and is expected to lead the party into the 2015 election.
It was also gathered that the PDP NWC is set to leave the existing structure in Rivers State intact.
Source: Tribune
