National Chairman of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Alhaji Bamanga Tukur, has blamed the media for exaggerating reports of alleged gang-up by governors of the PDP states against his leadership.
While reacting to reports that the PDP governors were in solidarity with their counterpart in Adamawa state, Admiral Murtala Nyako over the resolve by the National Working Committee (NWC) of the party to dissolve the Adamawa State Executive, Bamanga said that the PDP state governors were main stakeholders in the party and would never take any action capable of jeopardising the larger interest of PDP under any guise.
“I have been a governor before and I know how these things work. The governors would not gang up against their party. In the first instance, many of them call me father, and I admit I am their father. I am a father to all. The pain of any governor is my pain. I cannot abandon them since I am their father.
“It is the media that have been creating the sensation. The governors come to my house any time they like. I go to them too, if there are issues to discuss. Moreover, we meet regularly at the party’s National Secretariat to discuss about progress of the party.
“The PDP governors are sound democrats; many of them have good record of performance in their respective state which we in PDP are taking note off. We depend on these governors to reach the grassroots in our efforts to consolidate in power. So how would you imagine that such governors who are purveyors of the party’s agenda would turn around and be ganging up against their own party?,” Bamanga said.
He defended the decision of the NWC to sack the Adamawa Executive, and said that it was in good order and never targeted at an individual or any group in the state.
According to him, the NWC took into consideration constitutional requirements in addressing the problem in Adamawa PDP, and added that, “The NWC was fair and just in taking that decision just to rescue the PDP in Adamawa from sinking.”
He said that the resolve by the PDP to set up a Caretaker Committee to take over the affairs of Adamawa PDP stemmed from the expiration of the tenure of the former State Executive Committee, and the need to safeguard the PDP in Adamawa from slipping into deeper crisis.
Tukur said that long before he became the chairman, both INEC and party leaders had counseled the National Headquarters of the party on the need to hold congresses in the state just to carry every member along.