Posted by By ISMAIL OMIPIDAN on
A chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Benue State and assistant National Auditor of the party, Chief Godwin Daboh Adzuana, has declared that the North would not fold its arms and watch former President Olusegun Obasanjo remain the chairman of the party's Board of Trustees (BOT), saying that allowing such would be a complete negation of the power sharing arrangement in the party.
A chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Benue State and assistant National Auditor of the party, Chief Godwin Daboh Adzuana, has declared that the North would not fold its arms and watch former President Olusegun Obasanjo remain the chairman of the party's Board of Trustees (BOT), saying that allowing such would be a complete negation of the power sharing arrangement in the party.
Similarly, he is calling on the leadership of the party to, as matter of urgency, take a deliberate step to sanction the former BOT chairman, Chief Tony Anenih, for embarking on what he described as a "destructive, retrogressive and totally unacceptable" action by openly campaigning against the candidature of David Mark as the party's choice for the position of the Senate President.
In a letter, personally signed by him and addressed to President Umaru Musa Yar'Adua, which was copied to the office of Senate President, David Mark and that of the National Chairman of the party, Ahmadu Ali, Daboh Adzuana argued that it was impossible for both the BOT chairman and the party's national chairman to come from the South.
To this end, he revealed that a stakeholders meeting of the anti-Obasanjo group in the North would be held Friday next week where a formal position of the group would be taken and communicated to the party for further action.
"There is a subsisting and binding agreement within the party that the position of the chairman of BOT must rotate between the South and the North. The South having occupied the position for eight years has no right to attempt to hold on that position again until the North has taken its eight years. On behalf of all members of the PDP in the North, we hereby insist that you (Yar'Adua) don't allow anything that would create confusion in the party happen.
"I wish to point out that in the eight years of Obasanjo's administration, the following positions were held by southerners: President, Senate President, SGF and BOT chairman. It is now the turn of the North to occupy the afore-mentioned positions. This sharing formula has been entrenched and religiously adhered to from 1999 to date. We hereby insist that the South / North sharing arrangement will also be religiously implemented from 2007 to 2015 when the North will retain its Presidential slot.
"With former President Obasanjo being eliminated from contesting or holding the position of BOT chairman, and after taking into consideration the fact that most of the chairmen of the party jumped ship, the only two members of the party qualified to contest for the position of BOT chairman are : Chief Barnabas Gemade and Senator Ahmadu Ali. may God give you (Yar'Adua) grace to see and avoid the pits former President Obasanjo had dug for your administration and to empower you to ensure justice for all Nigerians."
On Tony Anenih, the Benue PDP chieftain who noted that Anenih's action contravened the spirit of the PDP's constitution, said "at the May 2007 meeting of BOT and NEC, the party decided that the position of the president of the Senate is zoned to the North-Central and that Senator David Mark be nominated as its sole candidate for that position. And that all party members and structures are instructed and they were so directed by the National Secretariat to work towards the realization of this consensus party decision.
"To the shock and utter bewilderment of all members of the PDP in the country and the North-Central zone in particular, Chief Anenih, who is a foundation member of our party and who was the BOT chairman then, called a meeting of former governors, his friends and political associates at his Asokoro residence. At the meeting, he told those he had invited to disregard the party's decision and choice and to adopt former Benue governor George Akume as the party's candidate for the position of the president of the senate. He was able to entice about 38 Senators who disobeyed the party.
"This blatant, open anti-party activity of Anenih and those who supported him, is to say the least, most despicable, immoral and reminiscent of the late Okadigbo/ Evans Enwerem/Pius Anyim contest that saw the Obasanjo Presidency deploying ‘Ghana-Must-Go' which permanently damaged the psyche of that Senate and for some time brought divisions/factions within the hallowed chamber of the Senate throughout the failed Obasanjo's tenure.
"It has become evident that the sole objective of the Anenih-led group was to bring the PDP, its leadership and entire membership to public disrepute, ridicule, hatred and contempt. It is my well considered view that if appropriate preventive disciplinary and punitive actions are not taken against Anenih, this type of anti-party activity will continue to occur at other critical stages in our party's march to democratic stability and supremacy as the largest party in Africa .
"Consequently, I hereby, with a high sense of responsibility and as a loyal and committed party member and an officer of the party, request that you take appropriate actions as stipulated in Article 21.7 (a-g) of the constitution of the PDP 2001, as amended. Your action on this sensitive matter, which almost destroyed the cohesion, stability and unity which our party has enjoyed since its inception in 1998 will be highly appreciated by referring this complaint to the appropriate party organ for necessary action."