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| Adamawa State Governor, Murtala Nyako |
Adamawa State Governor, Murtala Nyako, has accused President Goodluck Jonathan of ingratitude and unfairness.
He also accused the President of
concentrating more on developing the South-South, while ignoring
developmental problems in the rest of the country.
Specifically, the governor, expressed
displeasure over the way he was being treated by the party in spite of
the sacrifices he made to ensure the President’s victory during the PDP
primaries and the 2011 presidential election.
However, Special Adviser to the
President on Political Matters, Ahmed Gulak, said it was Nyako, who was
being ungrateful and unfair to the President.
Speaking through his Director of Press
and Public Affairs, Mallam Ahmad Sajo, the governor said he ensured the
President’s success in 2011.
He said, “President Jonathan has been ungrateful to Governor Murtala Nyako.
“In the first instance, you should understand that during the nominations, Jonathan contested with a son of Adamawa State.
“If he (Jonathan) won Adamawa State, the
governor swam against the tides. Immediately after that, they started
sending him (the governor) text messages, calling him a kafir (infidel), dan wuta (hell bound son) and all that.
“They said he backed a Christian against Muslims; he went through all that humiliation.
“At the federal elections, Nuhu Ribadu
is a son of Adamawa. Nyako worked for Jonathan to defeat Ribadu, another
son of Adamawa in the general elections.
“How would they have expected to win
Adamawa in a landslide? When after the defeat of Atiku, he was
aggrieved, they did not pacify him.
“He came back here and moved all his
acolytes into Labour Party, including the person they are using today as
the so-called chairman of the PDP, who was the governorship candidate
of the Labour Party.
“We also had Nuhu Ribadu, who is from
this state. If for nothing, at least, he had brothers, sisters and other
relatives to support him and yet, Jonathan won.
“It doesn’t matter whether he won convincingly or not, he won at the expense of sons and daughters of Adamawa.”
On his dispute with the National
Headquarters of the Peoples Democratic Party, Nyako said that the PDP
was on a path of self-destruction.
He said, “What we are saying is that a political party is a free association of people of like minds.
“And there are always ground rules for
running a political party. When you refuse to abide by the ground rules,
you tend to destroy the association.
“What we are saying is that the rate the party is moving, it will surely kill itself.
“Don’t forget that in the past four
months (March, April, June and July), they have set up different
reconciliation committees but they have been unable to reconcile because
of the bottom line. The party is not interested in protecting the
rights of everybody.
“We are of the opinion that it is the
impunity in the party that will kill it. When there was a bye-election
in Adamawa State, the national secretariat sold just one form, is that
democratic?
“When the national secretariat of the
party decided to meddle in the affairs of the party in Adamawa State by
their own mandate, the leadership of the so-called caretaker committee
that they set up was supposed to just effect corrections at the state
level.”
The governor expressed disappointment
that the committee had destroyed the party from the ward to the state
level, adding that the party leadership was responsible for the crisis
in almost every state where such existed.
He also cited amendments to the PDP
constitution, which conferred too much powers on the national chairman,
as another sore point.
According to him, under the
constitution, which was amended in 2012, members who are under
suspension automatically lose their rights, including the right to
contest elections.
He said, “They did that amendment in the
2012 constitution. The constitution says that 2/3 members of the
National Executive Council can request for a NEC meeting and that the
national chairman may call the NEC, which means it is at his discretion.
“This means members can call but he has the discretion to decide. Is that democratic for God’s sake?
“We are saying all these constitutional breeches, all the impunity, all this brigandage will eventually destroy the party.
“We are not wishing the party ill, all
we are saying is if all the high handedness continues, it will
eventually destroy the party. No free association or supposedly free
people will succeed if the situation remains like that.”
Four northern governors, including
Nyako, recently paid visits to three former Nigerian leaders – Generals
Olusegun Obasanjo, Abdulsalami Abubakar and Ibrahim Babangida.
Others are: Mua’zu Babangida Aliyu (Niger), Rabiu Kwankwaso (Kano) and Sule Lamido (Jigawa).
One of them, who spoke to our
correspondent on condition of anonymity, also gave an insight into why
they visited the former military rulers.
He said, “We have said it several times
that everything is tilted towards the South-South. It is not a question
of Kano, Niger, Sokoto or Adamawa or just the North.
“Everything is tilted towards the South-South, appointments, contracts are given to militants; the issue is beyond just Kano.
“The South-West, North-West, North-East,
North-Central have all been marginalised. Only last week, they approved
a contract of N4bn for the expansion of the Onne Port in Rivers State
with just about N1bn to the power plant in Jebba.
“If you consider all the major ongoing projects in Nigeria today, they are based in the South-South.
“We are talking about the marginalisation of a greater portion of Nigeria; we are talking of injustice and unfairness.
“It is about saving democracy. In any
case, what is the business of Rivers with any of these issues? What we
are concerned about is the consequences of what is happening in Rivers
on democracy.”
In response, Gulak said it was the Adamawa State governor, who was an ingrate.
He said, “It is Nyako, who is ungrateful
to Mr. President. He did not know how the PDP came about. He was in the
opposition All Peoples Party when he was brought in and handed the
ticket to become governor of Adamawa State.
“The party mobilised the people to vote
for him. You can check the records, Nyako did not mobilise votes for the
President, it was the other way round; so, what is he talking about?”
Also, the National Chairman of the PDP, Alhaji Bamanga Tukur, dismissed the allegations against him.
He said some of the governors had, by their actions and utterances, long left the party.
Through his Special Assistant (Media),
Prince Oliver Okpala, the chairman said, “By their utterances and their
behaviour, they have shown that they have actually joined the opposition
in principle.
“They shouldn’t be talking about the
affairs of the PDP because they have shown that they are not interested
in PDP, all they have been wishing the PDP is death. This is a party
that brought them to political limelight. The PDP, just like democracy,
will outlive all of us.”
Culled from Punch
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