Don’t destroy PDP, zonal leaders warn Baraje, Oyinlola, others

AbujaAs the Presidency and the Bamanga Tukur-led Peoples Democratic Party’s (PDP) National Working Committee (NWC) foreclosed discussions with the aggrieved governors and certain leaders of the party, zonal youth leaders, female faithful of the Board of Trustees (BoT) have warned the factional leaders, Alhaji Kawu Baraje and Prince Olagunsoye Oyinlola and others not to destroy the party. In a communique issued at the end of a seminar for  women and youth leaders yesterday at the national secretariat in Abuja,  the party stalwarts admonished the aggrieved members to explore the party’s mechanism for conflict resolution to ventilate their grievances.
“We hereby strongly resolve on the imperative of unity and cohesion of our great party to enable it sustain the stability of the nation and her democracy, hence, the need for all members to ventilate all grievances through our internal mechanism for conflict resolution.
“We strongly condemn the attempt by some members of our party to subvert the unity and cohesion of the PDP.  We wish to re-emphasize the position of the National Working Committee that the PDP has no faction and that there is clearly neither reason nor room for such”, they said.
The party women leaders further passed a vote of confidence on Alhaji Tukur’s NWC and the Federal Government..
“The women and youth of PDP only recognize one indivisible Peoples  Democratic Party ably led by our  indefatigable National Chairman, Dr.  Bamaga Tukur. We consider it very necessary to commend the Federal Government under
President Goodluck Jonathan. The ability of the President to deliver on his electoral promises is directly reflecting on the huge  success which his transformation programme has recorded.. We therefore pass a vote of confidence on him and urge all Nigerians to continue to support him”.
But in another development, the PDP Stakeholders’ Forum has dismissed Tukur’s threat  to press for the recall of any serving federal lawmaker who associates with the Baraje’s faction.
National convener  of the group, Ikenga  Ugochinyere, in a statement, noted that section 68(1) g of the 1999 Constitution made provision for serving lawmakers to dump their parties in the event of intractable crisis.
“The implication of the above is that even if any member of the PDP decamps,INEC cannot declare his seat vacant as a result of the ongoing division in the party.
“Tukur’s statement has shown that he  is not in tune with the provisions of the law which is the reason he  failed to perform as PDP Chairman because his legal illiteracy and proper understanding of the PDP and the Nigerian laws are of unimaginable proportion.
“Worthy of note is that the present ongoing efforts to rescue the PDP by the “New PDP” is still an intra-party politicking which is still within the confines of the PDP structure, it is a popular change of leadership movement which cannot be termed even anti party not to talk of something that can lead to decampment. Even if the problem leads to mass exodus from the PDP,  the law fully protects any decampee from his losing his seat as stated in section 68(1)g.
“We are on a mission to rescue the PDP and not to destroy it, Tukur’s outburst going by the provisions of the law is baseless,empty and childish”, he said.