Jonathan ‘ll win northern votes in 2015, Tukur declares

The Speaker, House of Representatives, Alhaji
Aminu Tambuwal, is set to clash with the
leadership of his party, Peoples Democratic
Party, PDP, following the party’s request,
yesterday, that he declare the seats of all 37
House members that defected from the party
to the All Progressives Congress, APC, vacant.
Meanwhile, the national chairman of the party,
Alhaji Bamanga Tukur, who is fighting moves
by the party’s governors and some
stakeholders to shove him aside fought back
yesterday, saying his antagonists were
inspired by their determination to stop the re-
election of President Goodluck Jonathan, a
plan he said, was bound to fail.
His assertion nonetheless, Governor Sule
Lamido of Jigawa State in a terse statement,
yesterday, called on President Jonathan to
intervene in PDP affairs before the party is
destroyed by what he described as an inept
leadership under Tukur.
*Tambuwal
PDP’s statement
PDP, in a statement, said the claim of the
defectors that they had obtained a court
injunction stopping the Speaker and Senate
President from declaring their seats vacant
was false.
The statement by the party’s National
Publicity Secretary, Chief Olisa Metuh, said:
“We have, after a careful review, discovered
that this claim is false. For the avoidance of
doubt, the order of the court clearly says that
status quo be maintained, which means the
affected members shall remain members of the
PDP.
“The Constitution of the Federal Republic of
Nigeria in Section 68 (i) (g) clearly spells out
the consequences of cross carpeting when
there is no division in any party.
“We wish to re-emphasise here that the courts
have pronounced, and INEC has concurred
that there are no factions in PDP.
“Since the affected members have renounced
their membership of PDP, we call on the
Presiding Officer in the House of
Representatives to declare the 37 seats vacant
without any further delay.
“This action shall be in adherence to our
grand norm, which is the Constitution of the
Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 (as
amended).”
Speaker’s situation
There were, however, indications yesterday
that Speaker would ignore the call, putting
him on a collision course with the party
leadership.
A source close to the Speaker told Vanguard
yesterday: “There is no way that the Speaker
can act on the call or are you not aware of the
court injunction obtained by the 57 members
stopping the Speaker from declaring their
seats vacant?”
Told of the PDP’s argument that the court
injunction required all parties to maintain the
status quo, the source said “Yes. Maintain
status quo depends on the interpretation of
who it favours.”
Besides, the movement of 10 of the 11
members of the House from Sokoto State, it
was learnt, may have also tied the hands of
the Speaker given his close relationship with
the 10 members who are from his home state.
With the defection, Tambuwal is the only
member of the Sokoto State delegation to the
House still on the PDP ticket.
Jigawa gov’s appeal
Meanwhile, Governor Sule Lamido of of Jigawa
State called on President Jonathan to save
the party.
In a statement entitled Is it Too Late to
Intervene, issued by the Jigawa State Director
of Press, Alhaji Umar Kyari said: “I am short of
words to express my pain. It is agonising to
see the party built in every home, in every
village, town and city all over Nigeria with lots
of sweat and sacrifice being destroyed.
“Is it too late for the leader of the party to
intervene and save our party? Nigerian
democracy must not be truncated.”
Tukur
Meanwhile, Tukur has said the PDP crises
were due to blind ambitions to stop Jonathan
from re-election in 2015.
He said: “The crises we are witnessing in PDP
are about 2015. The promoters are members
who wanted to be President at all costs; they
are those who wanted to be Vice President at
all costs and those who wanted to seek re-
election as governors.”
He spoke, yesterday, when a delegation of PDP
youths from 19 northern states led by Mr.
Galadima Yahya, paid him a solidarity visit at
his Wuse 2 residence in Abuja.
Tukur said: “The electorate in the North will
elect Jonathan. If you go to them, they will
tell you ‘when those who are forming various
parties were in power, what did they do for
us?’”