Politics

Gulak suspected of working for return of Jonathan in 2019

Published

10 years ago

January 2, 2016

Feyijimi Emmanuel

· Steers horn of fresh crisis in PDP

By SUNDAY ODIBASHI

THE Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) may be heading towards a major post-election crisis that may scuttle the party’s efforts to rebuild and re-position itself in the new dispensation.

The relative threat of internal crisis in the post-election era was managed with the cooperation of majority party members to ensure peaceful vacation of office by certain principal officers, particularly, PDP National Chairman, Alhaji Adamu Mu’azu; and the Board of Trustees Chairman, Chief Tony Anenih. Thereafter, other members of the National Working Committee (NWC) were allowed to continue running the affairs of the party until the party holds its National Convention. However, the then, National Vice Chairman, South, Uche Secondus, was nominated to succeed Mu’azu as acting Chairman pending the election of substantive national chairman when the party holds its national convention.

The leadership of Secondus was challenged at a High Court in Abuja. Subsequently, on December 16, 2015, the court gave a declarative judgment; ordered Prince Secondus to vacate office as the Acting Chairman of PDP, not later than December 29, 2015, and hand over to Gulak or any other person from the North East. Unfortunately, Secondus went on appeal, delaying vacation of office and handing over as ordered by the court.

This, perhaps, provoked, Alhaji Ahmed Gulak, a former Special Adviser to former President Goodluck Jonathan on Political Matters, who losing patience, declared himself PDP National Chairman and was gathered to also cancelled “all arrangements so far made for the forthcoming convention by the Secondus led PDP.”

The looming crisis is coming at a time when PDP has no arrowhead leader to either influence party members or coordinate reconciliation and conflicts resolution.

Though, the appeal where the PDP leadership requested for stay of execution is still pending, Gulak may be bulldozing his way to scuttle PDP’s arrangements towards 2019.

Some PDP chieftains are suspecting that Gulak may be working for the return of former President Jonathan. These PDP chieftains, who sought anonymity while speaking to National Daily, were of the view that Gulak is on the mission to subvert the party’s power arrangements in which the President had been zoned to North while the National Chairman of the party of expected to come from the South-South. They emphasized that Gulak may be on the mission to revert the party’s national chairman position to the North to create the vacuum for argument of a southern Presidential candidate if his principal, the former President, aspires for the party’s presidential ticket again.

The unfolding political drama, except nipped on the board, may be compounding PDP’s woes, particularly, at this period the party is charting new path of leadership and rebuilding its political machine.