Tukur blasts northern govs over visits to IBB, OBJ

 The recent visits by some northern governors of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to former President Olusegun Obasanjo and former military leaders, Generals Ibrahim Babangida and Abdulsalam Abubakar, have earned them the umbrage of the National Chairman, Alhaji Bamanga Tukur.

Governors Sule Lamido, Rabiu Kwankwaso, Babangida Aliyu, Murtala Nyako and Aliyu Wamakko of Jigawa, Kano, Niger, Adamawa and Sokoto states respectively, also last weekend met with President Goodluck Jonathan, where according to a report, they demanded Tukur’s removal.

But Tukur in a statement signed by his Special Assistant on Media, Mr. Oliver Okpala, the PDP chairman described the North-West governors’ rapproachment moves as mere grandstand. He accused them of overheating the polity.

Tukur chided the governors for not exploring the avenues enshrined in the party’s constitution for reconciliation.

“One would have expected the governors to express their grievances privately to the party leadership or the reconciliation committee instead of going public with their grievances before seeking audience with other Nigerian leaders.

“There is no doubt that the governors’ peripatetic vision has contributed in no small measure in overheating the polity. As leaders whom the general public look upon as a role model, they are expected to show respect to constituted authority and the elders which include Alhaji Bamanga Tukur, who has contributed immensely to the peace progress, development and advancement of this country. More importantly, the PDP has a reconciliation committee entrusted with the task of conflict resolution in the party.

“The National Chairman of the PDP, Alhaji Bamanga Tukur, has tried all in his power to bring peace, tranquility and love in the PDP. His three cardinal policies of Reconciliation, Reformation and Rebuilding are aimed at giving all members of the party a sense of belonging. The national chairman also has an open door policy and accommodation for all shades of opinion within the party.

“It is unfortunate that these governors are demanding Tukur’s removal when Tukur has made immense sacrifices for the peace and progress of the PDP and had extended his peculiar kind of brotherly love to all party men and women.

“The governors are hereby advised to embrace peace and desist from dramatizing the few problems within our democracy as this can send a wrong signal to Nigerians and the international community.

“The governors as party faithful and responsible citizens of this country holding exalted positions should desist from any action that tends to overheat the polity and truncate our nascent democratic structure,” Okpala said.

Culled from The Sun