I Was Forced To Resign- Former PDP National Chairman, Bamanga Tukur Reveals

Alhaji Bamanga Tukur, the former national chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), has told a court that he was forced to resign his position as the national chairman of the party.
Leadership reports that the former national chairman made the revelation on Tuesday in a counter-affidavit he filed to a suit instituted by an aspirant to the House of Representatives in Adamawa State, Aliyu Abuba Gurin.
Gurin, who is also seeking to oust the current PDP national chairman, Adamu Mu’azu, as well as stop the party’s scheduled delegates convention, described Mu’azu’s appointment as a nullity.
However, Tukur further hinted that he was forced to resign in order for the seven governors who defected from the party to the All Progressive Congress (APC) in 2013 to return, adding that a lot of pressures were mounted on President Goodluck Jonathan to remove him to facilitate their (governors) return.
Meanwhile, Gurin in his motion asked the court to stop the planned national convention of the PDP slated for December 10 and 11, 2014. In the motion, he also argued that Tukur’s resignation did not comply with the provision of Section 47(5) of the constitution of the party which stipulates that a 30-day notice be given to the party’s National Executive Committee (NEC) by Tukur.
The defendants in the suit are the PDP, Tukur, Mu’azu and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
Tukur in his counter-affidavit to the plaintiff’s suit expressed surprise that 10 months after he was removed from the position, the governors were yet to return, adding that even the party’s constitution states that, if he could not finish his four-year tenure as chairman, he was to hand over to the deputy national chairman as acting chairman, pending the holding of a national convention to elect his successor.
The ex- national chairman pointed out that the party’s NEC had no power to appoint the national chairman, and posited that the votes and proceedings of the NEC as conducted on January 15 and 20, at the Wadata House, which deliberated on his resignation as national chairman and appointment of Mu’azu as chairman, were null and void.
He explained that even if he had on January 15, submitted a letter of resignation to the party, the letter did not comply with Section 47(5) of the party’s constitution which requires that a 30-day prior notice should be given.
Tukur further revealed that the presentation of Mu’azu to NEC as the new chairman for appointment did not comply also comply with Section 47(6) of the party constitution, Section 85(3) of the Electoral Act, 2010 and Section 223(1) of the 1999 Constitution (as amended).
According to him, as at the time of Mu’azu’s appointment, there was no vacancy in the office of the party’s national chairman and insisted that Mu’azu lacks the constitutional power to preside over the planned convention because such will nullify its proceedings.
Tukur concluded by noting that, it would be in the interest of all members if the status quo ante bellum is maintained, until the election of a new chairman through a national convention.
It would be recalled that on February 14, 2014, Hajiya Asiya Mohammed Bello, the wife of the former PDP chairman, Alhaji Bamanga Tukur, registered with the Kaduna State chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) barely a month after President Goodluck Jonathan reportedly accepted and confirmed the resignation of Tukur as the party’s national chairman.

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