Bamanga Tukur
Baraje
Amechi
Apparently reacting to the long-awaited decampment of seven renegade governors and their staunch followers in its fold, the National Disciplinary Committee set up by Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Alhaji Bamanga Tukur has recommended the expulsion of leaders of the party’s breakaway faction, Alhaji Abubakar Baraje, Prince Olagunsoye Oyinlola and Dr. Sam Sam Jaja.
The three were suspended on November 11, 2013 for alleged involvement in antiparty activities. But on Wednesday, Baraje who was the national chairman of the renegade faction; his deputy, Jaja; and national secretary, Oyinlola joined others in a mass decampment into the All Progressives Congress (APC).
This is even as Oyinlola has continued to cling to the office of National Secretary of the ruling party, after a Court of Appeal in Abuja ordered his reinstatement on the 6th of November. But rather than reinstate Oyinlola, the PDP axed him with a suspension.
Announcing the committee’s recommendation on Wednesday, Deputy Chairman of the Disciplinary Committee, Chief Ebenezer Babatope, said Baraje, Oyinlola and Jaja were guilty as charged. He however, singled out Senator Ibrahim Kazaure who was also suspended with the three, explaining that his matter had been deferred for a month.
But he confirmed that Kazaure would still need to appear before the committee on the 10th of December 2013 to clarify issues relating to his case.
Oyinlola immediately responded to news of his expulsion, defiantly insisting that he remains the national secretary of the party.
But defying Oyinlola’s position, Chukwuemeka Eze, the spokesman of the splinter faction in a statement made available to www.Africanewscircle.com, said that the decampment of the faction into the APC, was final.
He said that a statement denying the merger between the factional PDP and APC credited to him was false.
“I was quoted as saying that the MOU between the two parties is yet to be signed and because of this the merger is yet to be effected. I wish to state that no such statement was at any time issued by me or my office. Instead, I wish to reiterate that the MOU between us and APC has been duly signed by both the nPDP National Chairman, Alhaji Abubakar Kawu Baraje, and the National Chairman of APC, Chief Bisi Akande”, he stated
He said that the general public should disregard any statement from “whatever source which tries to give the impression that the merger between us and APC is in danger.”
“The truth in that the merger is waxing stronger by the day and that our resolve to save our fledgling democracy is unshakable. As we stated in our press statement of yesterday, President Goodluck Jonathan and the PDP leadership should come to terms with the fact that PDP is now an opposition political party and Jonathan should start writing his handover notes as APC is fully set to take over the Aso Rock Presidential Villa in 2015 so as to give Nigerians the dividends of democracy they have been yearning for.”
“Meanwhile, we have read reports that members of the National Assembly that follow us to APC will lose their seats. This cannot happen as it will be at variance with the relevant sections of our Constitution and Electoral Laws that guarantee members of the National Assembly safety once their parent party is in crisis as PDP is at the moment.
For the avoidance of doubt, there is no danger of their losing their seats as made clear by sections 68(1)(g) and 109(1)(g) of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (as amended) in relation to the status of members of a legislative house (state and national) who defect from the political parties from which they were elected to join another political party”, he continued.
“The wordings of the aforesaid sections are in agreement with those of sections 64(1)(g) of the 1979 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria given judicial interpretation by the Supreme Court in the case of FEDECO Vs Goni (1983) FNR 203. This case was argued by the best legal minds of that era (Chief FRA Williams SAN and GOK Ajayi SAN). The court held that such a member keeps his seat if his defection is as a result of a division or split in his party.”
“In this regard particularly now that we have the majority in the National Assembly our members in the National Assembly should express no fear as they are well protected and covered by the Constitution of the Federal Republic seeing that Alh Bamanga Tukur and his cohorts have succeeded to split the PDP into old and new PDP and are free to join any party of their choice”, he concluded.
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