Outrage at crackdown on new PDP

• Security aides of Baraje withdrawn • Jonathan raises three panels on party’s split • Crisis can destroy Nigeria, says Oyinlola A CRACKDOWN on those behind the breakaway group of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) may have begun with the withdrawal of their guards and escorts. The security aides of immediate past Governor of Kwara State Bukola Saraki and Rivers State Governor Chibuike Amaechi were withdrawn on Saturday. Those of the Chairman of the New PDP, Abubakar Kawu Baraje, have also been removed. But the police leadership has remained silent over the matter. Efforts to confirm the withdrawal of the police orderlies were abortive as Acting Force Public Relations Officer Frank Mba refused to answer all calls and text messages to his mobile phones. But sources at the Force Headquarters confirmed that a clandestine order was given to that effect. Although the police high command thought it unwise to carry out the order as it was not constitutional, it was compelled to obey it. He said: “The police leadership hands are tied in the situation, when an order comes from a higher authority. The orderlies were withdrawn but there is no official statement on it yet and there is also a warning that no official statement be issued now, until when necessary.” On the sealing off of the secretariat of the new PDP in Abuja, the All Progressives Congress (APC) said that the culprits must be immediately identified and jailed for crass lawlessness and palpable impunity. ‘’The festering crisis in the PDP is not our business, but when the crisis leads to repression, disregard for court orders and constitutional provisions, we cannot keep quiet because those issues have grave implications for our democracy,’’ APC said in a statement issued in Abuja yesterday by its Interim National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed. The Conference of Nigeria Political Parties (CNPP) urged President Goodluck Jonathan to order the reopening of the secretariat . In a statement, the CNPP’s National Publicity Secretary, Osita Okechukwu, said: “We are predicating this call on the constitutional and patriotic mandate of the president to at all times protect, and defend the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria as amended. Hence to rule according to the provisions of the said constitution, which guarantees freedom of association, security and welfare of the citizenry.” Arewa leaders and a rights activist in the North said that a situation where the party was divided and lacked direction had created a serious vacuum in governance. The coalition specifically condemned the sealing off of the premises of the new PDP, saying that it was undemocratic and retrogressive. The National Publicity Secretary of the Arewa Consultative Forum Arewa (ACF), Anthony Sani said yesterday that “ in a situation where the party is unable to provide order and direction, then there is a problem.” The ACF chief traced the crisis in the PDP to the unfortunate struggle for power and what he termed positioning for 2015 general election. The leader of the Northern Civil Society Coalition, Malam Shehu Sani, in a statement issued in Kaduna yesterday, pointed out that “the sealing off of the new PDP secretariat demonstrates the growing level of political intolerance, desperation and brigandage on the side of the Federal Government.” Sani who is also the President of Civil Rights Congress (CRC) added that it “is reminiscent of the sadism and fascism of the Abacha despotism.” Meanwhile, an Ikeja High Court, Lagos, is expected today to hear the suit against the Chairman of the party, Bamanga Tukur. The court presided over by Justice Ganiyu Safari had last week fixed this morning for the hearing of a suit filed by Baraje in which they sought to stop the Tukur-led group from further functioning as officers of the party. In the suit, Baraje, Dr. Sam Sam Jaja, Olagunsoye Oyinlola and the PDP as plaintiffs had last week asked the court to restrain the defendants from parading themselves as the members of the National Executive of the PDP. Apart from Tukur, other defendants named in the suit include the Deputy Chairman Uche Secondus, the Woman Leader, Mrs. Kema Chikwe, and the Publicity Secretary, Olisah Metuh. Apparently to resolve the crisis, Jonathan has set up three committees. The panels were set up Thursday shortly before the president left for Kenya on a three-day visit. The committees, which were termed political, legal and contact went to work last Thursday and they are expected to submit their reports tomorrow . A source told The Guardian yesterday that they were tasked to “immediately fashion ways of containing insurgency within the party and also fashion appropriate response to contain the aggrieved members especially if they continue to resist peace options.” According to sources, the president is disposed to resolving the issues of those who are genuinely aggrieved but has vowed not to compromise on those “who are clearly guilty of indiscipline.” While stating that he cannot “condone brigandage”, Jonathan believes that it is clear that “some elders appear to be stoking the fire from behind.” The constitution of the panels was said to be pro-active following advance reports that the recommendations of the peace panel of elders under the leadership of former President Olusegun Obasanjo might not favour Jonathan. And those who pushed for the constitution of the three panels are now in “I told you so” mood as the Obasanjo committee has made five key recommendations including reinstatement of Adamawa PDP executive committee, reinstatement of Rivers State executive committee, reinstatement of Amaechi in line with the PDP Constitution and resolution of the crisis within the Nigerian Governors Forum through a meeting between Jonathan and the two contenders, Amaechi and Jonah Jang. Sources in the presidency said the report was on-sided: “The question is what is the other faction giving back? A resolution should give and take and not one-sided. How come all the recommendations appear to indict the PDP hierarchy and the government? Does it mean that only Amaechi and others are right and the PDP is wrong all the way? The president may ignore the report if it contains all the one-sided recommendations, I can assure you of that.” On his part, National Secretary of the New PDP, Prince Olagunsoye Oyinlola, has warned that the party’s raging crisis is capable of destroying the country if not contained in view of its effects on virtually all strata of the nation’s economy. The former Governor of Osun State also alluded to the possibility of the members of the New PDP to form another party if the current moves by the elders of the party yield no positive result. Oyinlola, who spoke yesterday at his country home in Okuku, where he addressed a rally and supporters from all the 30 local councils of the state, traced his travail in the PDP to 2010 due to his alleged loyalty to former President Olusegun Obasanjo. He recalled that the current crisis that polarised the PDP started in 2010 when President Goodluck Jonathan declared his intention to contest the 2011 presidential election and perceived some serving governors as not being supportive of his ambition. “President Jonathan called me at about 1.00a.m. sometime in 2010 and requested that I should come to see him in Abuja,” he said. “I honoured him and when I got to him, he told me of his ambition to contest the president election, and sought my support. “The President later told me that he knew that my hands were tied but I told him immediately that I was not a goat so no one could tie me. His belief was that I would give maximum support to Gen. Ibrahim Babangida because of my relationship with him and interestingly, Jonathan had 99 out of 100 votes cast by the delegates from Osun State.” He accused the President of taking sides in the process that led to his alleged unjust removal as the National Secretary, pointing out that peace meetings initiated by notable leaders of the party to resolve the matter were deadlocked. Oyinlola, who was accompanied to the rally by his wife, Omolola, and party leaders, including the former state chairman of the PDP, Alhaji Ademola Razaq, insisted that he was the recognised National Secretary and remains the leader of the embattled political grouping in Osun State contrary to claim by some of its bigwigs who threatened to sanction him. He said he had not contravened any provision of the party’s constitution by teaming up with like minds to form a parallel faction, adding that the decision was taken in the best interest of the promoters since “the PDP constitution does not prevent anyone from teaming up with like minds.” Recounting his ordeal, Oyinlola said: “My problem with my former boss, Alhaji Tukur, started right from my first day in office. He introduced some strange things like creating the office of the Chief of Staff and others. I kicked against this development and he took offence to my action. “Tukur ruined the PDP when he started fighting everybody. He fought the governor of his state and other northern governors. He believed he could do everything on his own without the support of other people. Now, he has ruined the party,” He said Jonathan was aware of his face- off with Tukur but accused him of doing nothing to settle it, stressing: “Even when the President called both of us to a parley in Abuja, nothing meaningful was achieved. I also tried to advise Tukur as an elder that he is to me, but he turned deaf ears to my advice.” Oyinlola noted that the South West was marginalised in the National Executive Committee (NEC) of the PDP, pledging that the new leadership of the party under Baraje would address the perceived injustice. Meanwhile, Sani has urged Niger Delta former militants to withdraw a threat they issued against former Vice President, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, in the interest of peace, national cohesion and stability of Nigeria. Dismissing it as empty and lacking common sense, Sani said the threat barring Atiku from entering into the Niger Delta was a misguided action that is alien to democratic tenets. The ex-militants recently threatened to declare Atiku a personal non grata in the South-South region over his involvement in the PDP’s split. Also, a Niger Delta youth leader, Comrade Timi Frank, dismissed the threat as empty and falling flat of common sense. In separate statements yesterday, ACF and Frank said the ex-militants’ position depicted the ignorance of the group and only showed total lack of understanding of the crisis in the PDP. Frank said it was wrong for the group to declare Atiku or indeed any Northerner and Nigerian involved in the PDP crisis a persona non grata as the issue at stake was purely a party matter that should be devoid of tribal, ethnic, religious or regional sentiments. According to him, the Niger Delta and its youths have “benefited immensely from the vast business interests of the former Vice President.” However, a socio-political group from17 states, Southern Youths Forum (SYF), condemned the action of Atiku, seven governors and others who staged a walk- out at last Saturday’s special convention of the PDP. The groups’ convener, Mr Odeyemi Oladimeji, while addressing reporters at the conference centre of the University of Ibadan (UI), described the attitude of the Atiku’s PDP led faction as an act of political rascality. It added: “The walkout staged by these aggrieved party members when Mr. President was seated in the same venue is a total disrespect to the office of the president who happens to be the leader of the party. “Those who staged this walkout and later claimed they organised another convention are selfish and treacherous politicians pursuing their selfish political ends."