By Lawal Sabo & Ahmed Abubakar
- PDP suspends former chairman
- ‘I didn’t take Mua’zu to court’
The Presidency is said to be making frantic moves to stop the former national chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Alhaji Bamanga Tukur from defecting to another party.
As at the time of going to press, President Goodluck Jonathan was still being expected to hold a meeting with Bamanga to convince him to remain in the PDP. This is as an earlier attempt by the First Lady to intervene in the matter hit brick walls as she was said to have been shunned by Bamanga.
Peoples Daily checks revealed that this is a fallout of the court case instituted against the current national chairman of the PDP, Alhaji Ahmed Adamu Mu’azu.
A source close to Bamanga, told our reporter under anonymity that the former national chairman was deliberately being humiliated and had began contemplating defecting from the PDP.
According to him: “After his unceremonious ouster as national chairman mid last year, Bamanga was continually being hounded, to the extent that someone was sponsored to institute a court case against Ahmed Muazu.”
This was even as the PDP has yesterday suspended Bamanga for the said court action against the present PDP chairman, Alhaji Adamu Mu’azu.
The reasons the party gave for the suspension stemmed from the meeting of its National Working Committee (NWC) at the party secretariat yesterday.
According to a press statement signed by the party’s National Publicity Secretary, Olisa Metuh, “the reason for Tukur’s suspension is for instituting a claim and counter claim in suit FHC/ABJ / 821/2014; Gurin vs PDP & 3 others.”
He was also accused of not exploring and exhausting the party’s internal mechanism of redress and for attempting to stop the forthcoming national convention to nominate the party’s presidential candidate as well as regularize the position of the national chairman and other members of the National Working Committee.
It stated that: “The NWC hereby suspends Dr. Bamanga Tukur and Aliyu Buba Gurin for one month and refers them to the National Disciplinary Committee for infringing on section 58(1)(a)( b)( h)( l) of the PDP Constitution 2012( as amended).
“The NWC which made the decision at its 395th meeting held yesterday, December 3, 2014 said it has also reviewed recent national developments as they affect the party. Amongst others, the NWC deliberated on the court case instituted against the National Chairman of the Party, Ahmed Adamu Mu’azu by the former National Chairman, Dr. Bamanga Tukur.”
It would be recalled that recently a court case challenging the legitimacy of the present PDP Chairman, Alhaji Adamu Mu’azu was instituted before a Federal High court that also struck out the case.
Meanwhile,Tukur refuted claims that he was the one who instituted the legal action against Adamu Mu’azu, describing it as false and mischievous.
Tukur, who spoke through his Special Assistant on Media Prince Oliver Opkala, said the outcry was totally misrepresented.
According to Okpala, “there is complete misrepresentation of facts bordering on the case instituted against the National Chairman of PDP and 3 others by a member of the Party Alhaji Aliyu Buba Gurin.
“It must be put forward in its proper legal and historical perspective that Alhaji Dr. Bamanga Tukur never initiated nor filed any case against Alhaji Adamu Mu’azu contrary to reports making headlines in National Dailies and waves in social media.
“The wrongful report and misrepresentation of facts to the effect that Alhaji Bamanga Tukur filed a case urging the court to oust Alhaji Adamu Mu’azu out of office as National Chairman of the PDP is not only untrue but gross distortion of facts relating to the case instituted and filed by Alhaji Aliyu Gurin,” he said.
He added that Bamanga was joined in the suit as a co-defendant in the suit and as is required in law, he filed his own counter affidavit stating his own side of the case in relation to the suit filed by the plaintiff, Alhaji Aliyu Buba Gurin.
“A co-defendant in a case cannot by any imagination in law be deemed as a plaintiff who initiated and filed a suit before a law court.
“Let it be also noted that at no time did Alhaji Bamanga Tukur react to the Court judgment and did not inform any reporter or journalist as being erroneously reported that he “has vowed to challenge the judgment at the Court of Appeal.
“The important legal argument hereinafter is how can a co-defendant who was also sued in a case by the plaintiff vow to challenge the judgement of a case he did not institute on appeal.
“For avoidance of doubt, this case was instituted by Alhaji Aliyu Buba Gurin a PDP member against PDP, Alhaji Bamanga Tukur, Alhaji Adamu Muazu and INEC as 1-4 defendants,” the statement concluded.
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