Newton Paul's Blog

President Goodluck Jonathan now has first-hand knowledge of the depth to which the goodwill of the embattled National Chairman of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), Alhaji Bamanga Tukur, has sunk within the party. President Jonathan,at a session of the party’s National Working Committee (NWC) on Thursday night watched in disbelief as 11 members of the organ openly revolted against Tukur. The angry NWC members told Jonathan that the PDP cannot win 2015 elections with Tukur in charge. Bewildered by the development, the President rose on his feet and told members of the NWC: “Anyway, we have meetings next week.” A few minutes later, he was on his way out of the meeting. The PDP Board of Trustees and the National Executive Committee are due to meet on Wednesday, January 15 and Thursday January 16 to “chart a course for the party following mass defection of members to the All Progressives Congress (APC).” The Nation gathered that the President met with Tukur and NWC m...

  We agree that there is some crisis in the party. We agree that amongst other things (like resolving the issues that led to the crisis), they should take it to the Lord in prayer. What we don’t quite understand is the fact that their prayer points seem to insinuate that they have appointed/accepted/presented President Goodluck Jonathan as their presidential candidate for the 2015 election?  PDP National Secretary, Prof. Wale Oladipo, at the inauguration of the Kwara state executive caretaker committee of the party had prayed thus: “We pray to you God, to help our President win the election and come out tops in 2015 in Jesus name. Father, we pray that the crisis in the party would stop and that the President would lead us well in the name of God,” so he prayed. Present at the event, and potentially the loudest with the amen chorus were National Chairman of the PDP, Bamangar Tukur; National Organising Secretary, Alhaji Abubakar Mustapha; Natio...

The majority of the members of the Sokoto State House of Assembly have defected to the All Progressives Congress, APC, from the People’s Democratic Party, PDP. Twenty seven out of the thirty members of the Assembly took the decision to move the APC on Wednesday, law makers said. The Chairman of the House Committee on Information, Malami Basakkwace, informed reporters over the telephone that the members decided to move to the APC to follow the state governor, Aliyu Wamakko, who was one of the five governors that defected to the APC. “We are moving in line the decision of his Excellency Governor Aliyu Wamakko to also move over to the APC,” he said. The defectors include the speaker of the assembly and other principal officials. Mr. Basakkwace also said since the defection of the governors, people from the 27 constituencies have mounted pressure on the legislators to follow the governor. He added that the crisis in the PDP, which led to the factionalisation o...