Crisis Rocks Plateau PDP As G-34 kicks against imposition of candidates in Plateau North

Yakubu Busari

The members of G34 of the People Democratic Party (PDP) in Plateau state have decried that Plateau people should  not follow the path of dishonour again .

In a press statement jointly signed by the embattled Chairman of PDP ,Dr Haruna Dabin ,mni ,Barrier Timothy Parlong ,Mr Sam Kanuri ,Hon Simon Mwadkon ,Mr Moses Tangsan ,Yakubu Damulak, Hon. Dio Lamul and Hon Lorenzo Gotau respectively.

The statement said,about a year ago ,the people Democratic Party, PDP, was removed from power after sixteen years rule ,by a hurriedly assembled opposition which took over without a broad-based party structure .with the benefit of hindsight ,we can credit the new ruling party (which is a chip of the old block) ,with a mental capacity and strategy that cut a swatte in the emotion of the electorates ,who we believe are now experiencing the dividends of unprepared leadership.The reasons for the sudden change have severally been debated by political pundits ;but it is generally accepted that it was as a result of the self inflicted injury by the PDP leadership ,who abandoned the sanctity of free will and internal democracy ,as enshrined in the party constitution.

The stated that the national PDP National leadership by setting up and accepting the recommendations of the 2015post -election Review Committee report,it had acknowledged these shortcomings ,and has been committed to addressing the circumstances that led to where the party is today. It might interest you to know that the state working committee of the PDP in Plateau state unequivocally and unambiguously attributed the failure of the party to win the 2015 Governorship election and some other traditional seats of the PDP in the state, to undue interference with the running of the party ,(he negation of the principles of internal democracy,and outright imposition of unpopular candidates.The submission formed part of the report from Plateau state to the headquarters of the PDP .indeed.this position of the Plateau state working committee was conspicuously and aptly captured in page 15 of the post Election Review committee report. This was necessary to forstall a reoccurence ,as the party gears towards taking back power in 2019.

The Fearful turn of events;

They added that the background above is necessary in order for us to bring to the knowledge of PDP members in Plateau in Plateau state and the general public as this scenario is once again replaying itself in the forthcoming congresses of the party. As loyal party members ,the G34 symbolically,revisited the good vision of the founding fathers of the PDP ,and decided to come together ,after observing that there was an uneasy calm in the party ;and at that time there was no visible effort from the leadership to resuscitate the seeming comatose posture of the party in the state. We opined that the only way to revive the vigor and rebuild the confidence of members of the PDP was to pursue an agenda of reconciliation that would deliberately seek to return power to the power.In this regard ,we agreed that the monster of imposition that crippled our party is the cancer that we must first and foremost fight..Thus ,we have maintained that at every critical stage of leadership in our party ,laid down procedures MuST be adhered to .This is not only to ensure inclusive and avoid rancor ,but to ensure that winners and losers come together in harmony in pursuit of the greater good.

We are aware that prior to the released of the time-table for the forthcoming congresses ,the proposals of the NWC were first discussed by the national caucus of the party.The above system ,the caucus meeting was held ,followed by the state Executive committee (SEC) which approved the sharing of oppositions of the state Executive committee as distributed to the respectivel senatorial districts.

According to the statement, we are taking time to bring out these details because we believe that every member of the PDP has the right to know and to constest for any position of their choice as approved by the SEC .We are by no means negating the zoning principle of the party ,rather we are emphasizing that this arrangement is consistent with the provisions of the 2016 party congresses and convention guidelines section 4.5 (I) that “The election of State party officers and delegates shall recognized the principle of zoning and spread of party and public offices “.This should be the guide for the preparations and the conduct of the congresses.We thus believe that after the meeting of the SEC ,it was expected that the various senatorial districts will adhere to the procedure and convene meetings in a transparent manner to ensure a hitch free exercise.

OUR OBSERVATION:

They commend the party leadership of the central and southern senatorial districts of the state for respecting this procedure and ensuring fair play and the sanctity of inclusiveness.The story in the Northern Senatorial District however,was a complete replica and digital replay of the past circumstances that reduced the PDP to its present unfortunate position . Our attention has been drawn to the following:

No meeting of the senatorial district caucus was called,nor was a meeting of the executive committee convened . Rather some party stalwarts without reference to the constitution of the party were called to a meeting in the name of the district.

It added that the greater flaw was that the so-called zoning proposal of the positions was drafted by two people,who were not party officials.At the purported meeting of a non organ of the party,the senatorial district Chairman was handed a piece of paper to make an announcement of what positions had been zoned for ratification. Indeed, most members of the senatorial district working committee of the zone were not even invited to the meeting.

They lamented that the situation was so vexatious that a member of the National Assembly from the zone who was attendance strongly condemned the composition of the meeting, especially the supposed design for allocating positions to LGA within the district. Sadly his views and others like him felt on deaf ears as the plot to carry out someone script was playing out. And a subtle and palpable blackmail led to the adoption of the so-called zoning by the selected LG stakeholders ;and unconfirmed allegations of monetary gratifications and promises of state working committee positions to some LG party Chairmen who were later called to accept the pre-arranged zoning.

These and other procedural abuses characterized the outcome of the zoning arrangement in the Northern Senatorial district during the meeting.

They stresed that the more worrisome of the stories in the political mill. Is that the PDP National Chairman has struck a deal with one of the Senators in the state to be the “arrowhead” for the congresses from Plateau state ,and for a start ,the senator nominee has been appointed by the PDP National Chairman as a Special adviser .What this means is that the allegations making its rounds that a political camp in the state has been generating lists of EXCO members and Delegates from all-over the state ,for submissions to the National secretariat of the Party does have a semblance of truth.

OUR STAND ON THE OVER ARCHING ISSUES:

The G-34 is calling on all right thinking members of our party to search their conscience and work truthfully towards genuine reconciliation .It is about time we eschewed blackmail and give everyone equal opportunity for the reclaim of our lost glory.

Furthermore .the use of inflammatory language should be avoided such as was credited to an ELder statesman ,who allegedly claimed that the Northern senatorial District has the numerical strength and capacity to produce both the Governor and the Deputy governor of the state. Such a misguided statement coming from such a personality is not only capable of causing disaffection ,but may. Lead our diverse communities towards a collision course through mutual suspicion .We believe that a statemen we should not only be seen to be just and fair ,but should appropriately guide the emotions of the younger people who may be derailing from the path of truth ,justice and fair play. We have heard that certain positions have already been promised some people if they appointments come from God and no mortal man knows the future.

We call on party officials,as a matter of urgency and importance ,to ensure that the guidelines for the congresses are strictly adhered to by ensuring that ; Aspirant must be allowed to constest for any position that is consistent with the decision of SEC unless there is genuine consensus by them such one may prefer the other,and may wish to step down for him /her.

Secondly, all Kangaroo arrangements where EXCO or delegates are pre-selected undemocratically ,as was the case previously,MUST be avoided ,Where such is noticed ,such a congress would be null and void.

The party in the state should not make a mockery of the loyalty of members by abusing laid down procedure.

We call on all PDP members to come out en-mass and disgrace imposition and ensure fair play .