by Musa Abdullahi
National chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Alhaji Adamu Mu’azu, is facing a plot aimed at removing him from the top job, sources close to the party have said.
It was gathered in Abuja on Tuesday that some members of the National Working Committee (NWC) of the party have bought into the plot, which was said to have received the blessing of top leaders of the party.
“I can tell you that any moment from now, the national chairman could be removed from his seat,” a source said, adding that the man was being accused of failing the party in a major election.
“The leaders are already probing his campaign speeches and X-raying them to discover the extent of commitment.
“Signatures are already being compiled and some NEC members are already backing the bid. It was agreed that the North West should produce the next chairman,” sources said.
In a related development, stakeholders of the party in Akwa Ibom State have called for the removal of Mu’azu, following the defeat of the party during the election.
A political leader and the initiator of Udom is Right Campaign Group in the state, Mr Titus Udo, made the call while speaking to journalists in Uyo, regretting that the party had lost at the centre for the first time in the past 16 years.
Udo said though the party had failed, it did not mean the structure should crumble, lamenting that all outgoing governors were busy tidying up and ready to leave government houses, rather than tackling developments in the party.
According to him, President Jonathan should convene a National Executive Council meeting of the party, where issues of the party would be critically assessed.
He said as the in-coming president was from the North, naturally, the whole of the strength of the North would be for him, while calling that the national chairman of the party should go where the strength of the party still laid, which is the South-South.
“Naturally, we have lost out at the national level and by that, the party has lost. In the last 16 years, this is the first time we are losing the presidency.
“Now power flow is residual in the North, it would serve the North a better position to have a president than any other political office. Now that the president is from the North, naturally, the whole of the strength of the North is for the in-coming president.
“So it is our calculation; let the national chairman of the party come to where the strength of the party still lies, and that is the South-South,” he said.
Mua’zu widely believed by PDP members to have betrayed President Goodluck Jonathan during the campaigns is said to be eyeing the office of the Presidency ahead of the 2019 general elections.
“Adamu Mua’zu only looted the campaign funds, Jonathan gave him all the rights and privileges when he was made chairman, listened to all his advise that earned him the name, “the game changer”. the source who doesn’t want his name mentioned said.
“But what did he do? Mua’zu has been eyeing the office for a while and planned with Northern elites to oust Jonathan, he planned the stoning of the President in Bauchi and all the embarrassment the President suffered in all the Northern states”.
Former Senior Special Adviser to President Goodluck Jonathan on Political Affairs, Mr. Ahmed Gulak had also accused the National Chairman of the PDP of being a mole and should resign.
When asked if the APC had plans to destabilise the PDP by planting moles in the party, as alleged by the National Chairman, Gulak responded thus;
“He should tell us who the moles are, because there are a lot of people who believe that he is the number one mole planted in the PDP to destroy it. If the belief of the majority of the members of the PDP is anything to go by, you could say that the party chairman was the number one culprit for the dismal outing of the PDP. There is no party chairman of the PDP since 1998 that has led the party to such a disastrous outing. As a result, the national chairman should consider himself one of those that have to give way for the new party to come up. In fact, he doesn’t need to be told to turn in his resignation.”
Another source who is a Chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, “Our chairman didn’t give the Emir’s a dime, he had billions for the elections and took everything, he told his aides he is keeping the money for 2019, according to him, when Jonathan leaves, he will be able to contest the 2019 polls allowing to rule in 2015 Buhari”
“Mua’zu had a deal with the former CBN Governor, now Emir Lamido Sanusi to ensure Jonathan is sacked in Northern Nigeria, all the money he had, he handed it to SLS to give to APC, have you ever seen such a situation?”.
The party chieftain continued, “SLS gave the Emir the billions un behalf of the APC, same money our Chairman was given to give them on behalf of the PDP”.
A Staff at Wadata Plaza (PDP Headquarters) Abuja said “the only beneficiary of the 2015 campaigns is the National Chairman who failed at all he did other than making money for himself, he bought a private jet months into his assumption of office, blackmailed aspirants and made so much money”.
“People are already asking for his sack, some have said if he is out, all his plans to start running the party and contest the elections would have been scuttled”.
