The Many Sins Of Tukur,Why Goodluck Couldn't Save Him

President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan  had on Tuesday night failed to convince the  governors elected on the platform of the PDP  to allow Tukur remain in office till March when the party’s  mid-term convention would hold.

His suggestion, which was tabled at the national caucus meeting of the party, was aimed at giving the embattled chairman   a soft landing.

However, the governors protested, saying that they would rather want him to leave office on Thursday (today) not March.

Tukur was said to have compounded his problems with the governors during  the caucus meeting, which was also attended by Vice-President Namadi Sambo and the principal officers of the National Assembly.

The President, who presided, was said to have asked Tukur  to explain   the cause(s) of the crises in the PDP.

A highly placed source  at the meeting said that rather than  address issues, Tukur accused the governors of encouraging many  of the    National Working Committee members to   work against him.

The source said, “The chairman started by accusing the governors of being the problems in the party.

“He said they (governors) were encouraging indiscipline with their tactical support for some of the NWC members to undermine him.

“He also said the governors were never happy with his decision to instill  discipline in the party and  to also make sure that the PDP  constitution  was  used as a yardstick in every decision taken by him.”

The source  added that  Tukur  indirectly inferred that those who wanted  him out were actually targeting the President.

It was however gathered that at the meeting, which another source described as unusual, that   Jonathan and not Tukur  presided.

This  action, it was learnt,   was  to ensure that  the national chairman  did not  dictate the pace of the meeting and determine  who was to be recognised to speak.

The  actions  allowed the Deputy National Chairman of the party,   Uche Secondus,  to respond to the allegations   by Tukur against the NWC members.

The constitution of the party only names the deputy chairman, the national secretary, the national legal adviser, the  national treasurer, the national woman leader and the national youth leader as other members of the caucus.

 Secondus was said to have punctured all the allegations  by Tukur,  by  citing several  cases where  Tukur took decisions  without carrying them along.

He  mentioned the dissolution of some state executives of the party by Tukur and the suspension of some members  as examples.

Not only that, the chairman was accused of  always asking the NWC members to come to his house for meetings, an action some of them believed was not in the interest of the party.

The chairman was also alleged to have  employed  many aides, who were  not recognised by the party.

It was also learnt that Secondus, who sat beside  Tukur at the meeting, said it would be difficult for the NWC members to work with the embattled chairman again.

The  PDP governors had   advised  the NWC members   to suspend Tukur  during their  meeting on Wednesday.

It was gathered that when this  information leaked to the President, he warned  them that doing so could heat up the polity and portray Tukur in bad light.