FG set to move against rebel govs, Baraje

The crisis rocking the Peoples Democratic Party may take a turn for the worse as the Presidency and the Federal Capital Territory Administration intensify actions against “rebel” members of the party.



It was gathered on Monday that while the Presidency was set to remove such rebel members holding board appointments, the FCTA was determined to ensure that more governors sympathetic to the Alhaji Abubakar Barage-led New PDP lose their landed properties in Abuja.

One of the seven governors in the New PDP, Rabiu Kwakwanso of Kano State, had a choice piece of land allocated to him in Maitama District, Abuja, revoked by the FCTA on Saturday.

It was also gathered that the FCTA was also set to remove what it termed “illegal structures on the land” measuring about 2,500 square metres.

The others known as rebel governors are: Sule Lamido (Jigawa), Murtala Nyako (Adamawa); Babangida Aliyu (Niger); Rotimi Ameachi (Rivers); Abdulfatah Ahmed (Kwara); and Aliyu Wamakko (Sokoto).

The measures being targeted at the rebel governors by Presidency include the removal of their nominees from boards of federal parastatals and the withdrawal of any form of government patronage.

Members of the New PDP, who currently enjoy government patronage in terms of contracts, are likely to become the worst hit.

A source in the Presidency said that Baraje, who is the chairman of the board of the Nigerian Railway Corporation, would soon lose the job.

The source, who pleaded anonymity because he was not authorised to speak with the media on the issue, said, “This is just the beginning. We have pleaded with them and we have even made concessions but they are adamant. It will soon be their turn to beg.”

Although the Special Adviser to President Goodluck Jonathan on Political Matter, Ahmed Gulak, and the Special Adviser to the FCT Minister, Mr. Nosike Ogbuenyi, who confirmed the revocation of Kwakwanso’s land denied that it had a political undertone, the New PDP disagreed.

Gulak,who said the Presidency was not involved in the fate of the aggrieved governors, said that Kwakwanso’s land allocation was revoked because he built on Green Area and thereby bastardised the master plan of the FCT.

He denied knowledge of plan to sack members of the New PDP serving on the boards of federal agencies, but said the honourable thing he expected the likes of Baraje to do was to resign their appointments before fighting the person that appointed them.

He said, “I am not aware of any plan to sack those of them on boards of government agencies but if I were Baraje, I would have resigned my appointment before fighting the person that appointed me. That is the honourable thing to do.”

The National Publicity Secretary of the New PDP, Chief Chukwuemeka Eze, said the “desperation” being shown by the Bamanga Tukur-led PDP was not different from what obtained during the military era.

He said Nigeria was currently experiencing a military regime under the guise of democracy because party members were being hounded for daring to hold a different opinion.

Eze said ,“This is no longer democracy; we are experiencing a military regime under the guise of democracy.

“It is very unfortunate that while we are crying about democracy to the outside world and the need to entrench democracy here, we are fighting our fellow democrats just because of their political beliefs.”

According to him, those currently at the helm of affairs must realise that no matter the ferocity of their attacks on members and sympathisers of the New PDP, the PDP must be returned to its original owners.

He said, “If revoking the landed properties of our members in Abuja and elsewhere is all they can do, they should look for better things to do.

“If this is the way they want to rule Nigeria in 2015, we will do everything legally possible to ensure that no military exposed mentality will have its way.

“Let them go ahead and use this opportunity to fully expose themselves to the Nigerian people, we must elect people who will truly serve Nigerians and not those who will serve themselves.”

But Ogbuenyi claimed that Kwakwanso’s allocation was revoked because the governor violated the Land Use Act by encroaching on a green area.

Asked if the building on the land would be demolished, he replied, “When we get to that river, we will cross it.”