Leadership of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has now taken concrete steps aimed at pushing out Rivers State Governor, Rotimi Amaechi, from the party with the announcement on Monday of the composition of its National Disciplinary Committee.
The committee is populated by loyalists of President Goodluck Jonathan.
The seven-man panel is headed by Umaru Dikko as Chairman, while Emmanuel Agboti is to serve as Secretary.
The other members are King Amalete Jonny Turner as Deputy Chairman, Emmanuel Iwuanyanwu, Shuaibu Oyedokun, Nana Ayishat Kadiri and Hussaini Diraki.
Announcing the composition of the committee, the party said it was done “pursuant to the provisions of Articles 57 (1), (2), (3) of the constitution of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).”
The quoted section reads: “Subject to the provisions of this constitution, there shall be a Disciplinary Committee of the party at every level consisting of seven members with proven integrity, one of whom shall have a legal background.
“The Disciplinary Committee shall be appointed by the appropriate executive committee of the party.
“The Working Committee, at any level of the party, and the Executive Committee (at the ward level) may, after preliminary hearings, suspend a member from the party for a period not exceeding one month, during which period the member so suspended shall lose his right to contest any election, and shall be referred to the appropriate disciplinary committee.”
However, a PDP member who spoke to Daily Independent on condition of anonymity on Monday raised eyebrow over the membership of the committee.
He noted that the members were no more than die hard loyalists of the President and the party’s National Chairman, Bamanga Tukur.
He believes that they were specifically appointed to carry out the bidding of the Presidency in dealing with perceived political enemies.
“The composition of the committee is a clear indication that the President is positioning his loyalists on important ladders within the party as 2015 draws near.
“Only last week, Governor Seriake Dickson (Bayelsa State) who has shown open partisanship in the ongoing feud between Governor Rotimi Amaechi and the Presidency was made chairman of the National Reconciliation Committee against opposition raised by concerned party members.
“Now, the final push to getting Amaechi out of the party has begun,” the source said.
Chairman of the committee, Umaru Dikko, is an associate of Tukur who was said to be instrumental to the emergence of Tukur as Governor of the old Gongola State.
Dikko, before his recent appointment, was the National Chairman of United Democratic Party (UDP).
King Amalete Jonny Turner, Deputy Chairman of the committee, is a kinsman of Jonathan.
Turner, the ‘Obanema’ (traditional ruler) of Opume Kingdom in Ogbia Local Government area of Bayelsa State, was once a classmate of the President.
The decision to adopt Seriake Dickson as PDP governorship candidate and who eventually emerged as Bayelsa State Governor was said to have been taken in King Turner’s house in Abuja.
Emmanuel Iwuanyanwu, Shuaibu Oyedokun, Hussaini Diraki are known loyalists of the President too.
Nana Ayishat Kadiri is also a loyalist of Jonathan.
Last Thursday, she, in the company of a former Education Minister, Dauda Brima, led a team of supporters of the President to the national secretariat of the party where they urged Jonathan to contest the 2015 Presidential election.
According to Brima, Jonathan did a good job in ensuring the release of Major Hamza al-Mustapha, the former Chief Security Officer to late General Sani Abacha, who spent 15 years in prison, before he was recently freed by the court, and therefore, deserves the support of the North.
Emmanuel Agboti who is to serve as Secretary of the Disciplinary Committee is currently Deputy National Secretary of the PDP.
Meanwhile, the party on Monday failed in its bid to set aside an earlier interim order of the Abuja High Court that restrained it from going ahead with its planned mini-convention scheduled for August 31.
And the court has adjourned hearing of the original suit seeking to stop National Chairman of the PDP, Bamanga Tukur, from discharging the functions of his office to September 23.
The adjournment followed disagreement that arose from the legal representation of plaintiffs before the court.
At the resumed hearing of the matter, Jibrin Okutepa (SAN) announced his appearance for Abba Yale, Yashua Sule and Bashir Maigudu who are the plaintiffs.
But F.N. Nwosu equally told the court that he also had the instruction of the plaintiffs to appear on their behalf.
Nwosu based his claim on a letter said to have been written and signed by the plaintiffs.
Following the disagreement on counsel representation the oral application by counsel to the PDP, Onyechi Ikpeazu (SAN), for the discharge of the July 25 restraining order against the planned national convention of the party failed.
The court held that “it will be inequitable to discharge the restraining order based on numerous applications before this court.”
Okutepa had maintained that he has yet to be “debriefed” by his clients, citing relevant rules of court which, he said, required compliance before the action was contemplated.
But Nwosu also stuck to his gun, as he claimed to have been briefed over the weekend.
The crisis of appearance forced the court to “stand down” the matter for thirty minutes for counsel to sort themselves out.
Upon resumption, both lawyers addressed the court on their inability to agree on the thorny issue, a development that forced the court to rise for another thirty minutes to enable the judge deliver a considered ruling on the embarrassing outing.
In his ruling, Justice Sulaiman Belgore expressed “sadness” over the development, adding that “it is certainly a trying moment for the legal profession.”
Justice Belgore observed: “This thing that has happened would certainly reverberate outside the walls of the court.
“I’m very sad at this; the legal profession is at a crossroads and my advice to you is that we should leave politicians to play their politics.”
The judge said he was forced to adjourn to September 23 in view of the validity of Nwosu’s appearance, by the third plaintiff, who declared in open court that Nwosu was his new counsel.
A visibly embarrassed Justice Belgore wondered why the suit was assuming such a complication, with interlocutory applications such as those filed by Tukur.
Tukur, whose application for joinder, was granted on July 25, curiously filed a preliminary objection, which seeks to challenge the jurisdiction of the court to entertain the substantive suit.
His counsel, R. K Oluyede, also filed a counter motion to oppose the motion by plaintiffs to amend their originating summons.
It will be recalled that the court had made an order stopping the PDP from holding its scheduled convention.
The subsisting order was consequent upon a motion on notice filed by the plaintiffs.
In a related development, some PDP governorship aspirants in Ekiti State have declared their support for indefinite suspension of former Governor Ayo Fayose by the state chapter of the party.
They based their support for the suspension on the alleged roles he played in the violent attack on the party executive members two weeks ago, urging the national leadership of the party to start the process of affirming his (Fayose) suspension.
The aspirants, in a communiqué after a meeting, also said “consensus arrangement would produce a quality and marketable candidate” with wide acceptability, hence their support for an earlier advice by President Goodluck Jonathan that consensus process be used to select the 2014 governorship candidate of the PDP in Ekiti State.
The aspirants who issued the communiqué include Abiodun Aluko, Bode Olowoporoku, Caleb Olubolade, Ayo Arise, Aribisala Adewale, O.O. Akerele, Adesegun Ojo, Dare Bejide, Femi Bamisile, Odeyemi Tunji and Dayo Adeyeye.
Others are Bodunde Adeyanju, Obafemi Peters, Ropo Ogunbolude, Bimbo Owolabi and Kunle Afolayan.
Also at a press briefing in Ado-Ekiti, state PDP Chairman, Maknjuola Ogundipe, dismissed the purported lifting of Fayose’s suspension by the national secretariat, insisting that in suspending the former Governor he (Ogundipe) acted in accordance with the provision of the party’s constitution.
He said members of the State Working Committee have also supported the action.
Reacting, Fayose who spoke through the Director General of his Campaign Organisation, Owoseni Ajayi, said the action of governorship aspirants further confirmed his earlier position that they were weak, describing them as conspirators.
He boasted that whether they (aspirants) liked it or not, the party would adopt primary in choosing its governorship candidate for the 2014 election.
Source: Daily Independent
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