The splinter group of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP); New PDP under the leadership of Alhaji Abubakar Kawu Baraje has insisted that Alhaji Bamanga Tukur must resign from the position of national chairman of the party.
This the faction said is on the basis that Tukur is not a registered card-carrying member of the party.
It will be recalled that the New PDP had stated Tukur’s resignation as part of its reconciliation terms during the peace meeetings held with President Goodluck Jonathan.
According to a statement issued by the faction’s National Publicity Secretary, Chukwuemeka Eze, Tukur has no business being the chairman hence, Baraje should replace him.
It was emphasised that Alhaji Tukur was expelled from the PDP in 2006 with nine others following disciplinary action taken against them for anti-party activities.
“Since then, he has not officially returned to the party. All the records at our disposal show that Alhaji Tukur has not followed due process for his readmission into the party.
“He neither applied for nor obtained the requisite waiver by the National Executive Committee of the party before offering himself for election into the office of national chairman in 2012.
“This makes his membership incurably defective and his emergence as PDP’s national chairman null and void and of no effect whatsoever since he is the product of a flawed process.
Hence, Baraje advised that Tukur’s resignation will pave the way to restore PDP’s past glory based on the visions of the founding fathers of the party.
“Consequently, all the actions he has taken as the chairman of PDP since his purported election in March 2012, including the illegal, contentious convention of August, 2013, are null and void and of no effect”, Baraje noted.
Baraje further said that his faction learnt that Tukur had been making desperate moves to wriggle out of the situation by falsifying records, with the view to revalidating his membership through the back door.
He also claimed that Tukur’s reign as chair of the party is criminal and “hope he understands the consequences of his actions”.
“In this regard, Alhaji Tukur’s continued occupation of the office of PDP.national chairman is clearly fraudulent, illegal and unconstitutional” he said.
“We hereby urge Alhaji Tukur to toe the path of honour and throw in the towel. This is the best option open to him,” the faction added.
“This is a good opportunity for the Presidency to demonstrate if it is serious about restoring peace and unity to the party.
“We hereby formally suggest the immediate recall of Alhaji Abubakar Baraje, who erroneously handed over to Alhaji Bamanga Tukur as the national chairman of PDP, thinking he was a member of the party” , the statement appealed to PDP leadership.