PDP Plots To Suspend Govs Babangida Aliyu,Nyako

Governors Murtala Nyako (Adamawa State) and Babangida Aliyu (Niger) are next in line for sanction by the PDP for alleged anti-party activities, it was gathered last night.

The plot to suspend them is already tearing the National Working Committee (NWC) of the party apart.

The PDP has suspended two of its governors- Rotimi Amaechi (Rivers) and Aliyu Wamakko (Sokoto), in the last two weeks for alleged insubordination and the National Chairman, Alhaji Bamanga Tukur has warned that the party leadership will no longer tolerate indiscipline ahead of the 2015 elections.

Nyako, Aliyu and Wamakko are believed to have voted for Amaechi during the disputed election of the chairman of the Nigeria Governors Forum (NGF).

The party leadership and the presidency wanted the PDP governors to line up behind the official candidate-Governor Jonah Jang of Plateau State.

Amaechi won the election by 19 votes to Jang’s 16 to the embarrassment of the Presidency and the PDP.

It was gathered that NWC, during the week, received the report of a committee set up to look into some petitions allegedly written against Nyako and Babangida Aliyu by party members in their states.

The committee, which has as members leading chieftains of the party, according to sources recommended the suspension of the duo.

However, some NWC members are alleging interference in the work of the committee by the presidency.

They say they cannot vouch for the impartiality of the panel and are kicking against the recommendation that the governors be suspended.

Besides, they believe that the party is courting trouble by thinking it can take on too many governors at a time.

The pro-sanction group, led by Tukur is said to be bent on implementing the recommendations of the committee. Sources said that if Tukur and his supporters have their ways, the two governors’ suspension will be announced anytime from now.

Tukur is from Adamawa State and he has been having a running battle with Nyako in the struggle for the soul of the PDP in the state.

A source familiar with the development said:”The situation now is that having realised that the current face-off between the governors and the presidency is affecting the popularity of the party adversely, some NWC members are urging the leadership of the party to exercise refrain in further suspending the governors.

“But there are those who are determined to implement the recommendation of a committee set up to investigate allegations against Nyako and Aliyu. The two have been recommended for suspension.

“The argument of those opposing further suspension is that the party’s popularity is dwindling. There is also the argument that suspending Aliyu will pitch the party and the presidency against the entire north considering his position as the chairman of Northern States Governors Forum (NSGF).

“For Nyako, his suspension will be seen as a fall-out of his face-off with Tukur and this will not be good for the party’s image as a democratic organisation. But it appears the chairman and his supporters have a mandate to deliver on the suspension move. They are determined. But those opposed to the move appear to be equally insistent. That accounts for the current stalemate on the matter,” an insider source explained.

Sources said the presidency, which is not backing down on its desperation to have its loyalist, Jang, recognised as the chairman of the Nigerian Governors Forum (NGF), is behind the plot to axe Nyako and Aliyu.

A few weeks ago, the Niger State governor publicly declared that President Jonathan signed a pact to do just one term with northern elders in 2011. His relationship with the presidency and the party has been strained ever since then.