PDP Chairman Bamanga Tukur Resigns

PDP Chairman Bamanga Tukur Resigns
Embattled national Chairman of the Peoples
Democratic Party, PDP, Alhaji Bamanga Tukur,
has finally thrown in the towel as he has
officially tendered his resignation letter,
according to reports.
This came following a report that President
Goodluck Jonathan had asked Tukur to
honourably turn in his resignation letter before
the party’s National Executive Committee
(NEC) meeting slated for Thursday this week.
LEADERSHIP quoted an anonymous source
from the presidency as saying in confidence
that President Jonathan held another stormy
session with Tukur on Saturday to ascertain
most of the allegations levelled against him by
some members of the PDP National Working
Committee (NWC) at the meeting they had with
the president on Thursday at the presidential
villa.
The source said immediately after the
president’s arrival from the ECOWAS Summit
in Abidjan, Ivory Coast, Tukur was summoned
to the villa to brief the president with records of
meetings of the NWC and venues that such
meetings took place.
One of the allegations against Tukur is that he
holds NWC meetings at his Wuse 2 residence
instead of the party’s Wadata Plaza
headquarters, Leadership reports.
“It is wrong for people to always think Mr
President is shielding the national chairman of
the party from wrongdoings; it is absolutely
untrue that the president insists on Tukur’s
stay as chairman.
“Some of you might not know that each time
there are problems or calls for his removal,
the same NWC members would come to the
villa and say there is peace and that all is well.
“But in this case, as you have all seen, the
chicken has come home to roost, as the same
NWC members have opened up on the man
that he is the problem we need to deal with;
other critical stakeholders are of the same
view and even very powerful elders and
members of the BoT have secretly sent in
submissions that Tukur is not helping both
himself and the party; no governor except one
is speaking or pleading for him.
“So when he came yesterday (on Saturday) to
the villa, it was a very serious case because,
for the first time, the president has told Tukur
he won’t plead for him, and if he knows he
does not have the majority members of the
PDP NEC on his side, he should just go and
resign before the NEC on Thursday.
“I can tell you the president will not defend or
plead with any NEC member to save Tukur
because whatever the NEC says on him will be
his fate; the president cannot continue to solve
national problems and, at the same time, be
carrying the burden of the party chairman who
ordinarily should be of help to him,” the source
said.
Tukur’s resignation has saved him the
embarrassment of being suspended from the
party by members of the NWC, as there were
said to be plans by the National Working
Committee and the National Executive
Committee to suspend the embattled Chairman.
Reports have it that the First Lady, Dame
Patience Jonathan is already making moves to
have the Minister of Transport, Sen. Idris Umar
appointed as the new party Chairman.