Tukur says he won’t bribe anyone to remain in office

The embattled National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party, Alhaji Bamanga Tukur, has said  he will not bribe anyone to remain in office.

He stated on Wednesday in Abuja  that there was no way he would bribe any member of the party’s National Executive Committee, which would meet  next week,  in order to stop the agitation for his removal.

A group, PDP Stakeholders Forum, had claimed in a text message to our correspondent that Tukur was desperate to remain in office and was already planning to bribe some NEC members.

Besides, it alleged that Tukur was also planning to force  some members of NEC and state chairmen  of the PDP to pass a  vote of confidence in  him during the  committee meeting.

The Special Assistant to Tukur on Media, Mr. Oliver Okpala, who spoke with our correspondent on the telephone, said his boss should not be linked with such “falsehood.”

Okpala said, “That allegation is a pure fallacy. It is a fabricated falsehood and engineered by enemies of progress and anti-democratic elements.

“The PDP is a family of like-minds, united under one big umbrella where issues are discussed and resolved amicably as members of one political family.

“Tukur is a decent man whose name should not be associated with such political pranks or gimmicks. He won’t bribe anyone in order to remain in office when in the real sense of it, his office is not threatened.”

He said that members of  the NEC “are above board and should not be linked or associated with such.”

The National Publicity Secretary of the party, Chief Olisa Metuh, also told our correspondent in Abuja on Wednesday, that   the PDP had yet to   take a decision onwhether or not to include the face-off between President Goodluck Jonathan and former President Olusegun Obasanjo  in the  agenda  for  its  NEC meeting.

“I cannot react to it until members of the NWC have their pre-NEC meeting,” Metuh added.

Meanwhile, a   member of the Board of Trustees of the party, Chief Shuaib Oyedokun, has said  many members of the PDP  in the South-West  are not happy with   Obasanjo.

Oyedokun told our correspondent on the telephone on Tuesday that the members believed that   the tactics being used by Obasanjo in handling  PDP  issues   were not favourable to  them.

“We  know in the South-West that a majority of our members do not agree with his (Obasanjo’s)  style to issues,” he said, citing as  an example, a  meeting of members of the PDP which was   called by   the former President   in Abeokuta, Ogun State.

The BoT member   added that a communiqué issued at the end of the meeting conveyed the impression  that the views expressed   were those of the leaders of the PDP in the  South-West.

He said most of the people invited to the meeting were not officials of the party but were handpicked by the former President.

Oyedokun  said, “Recently, he summoned our people to Abeokuta where after the meeting,  they said that the South-West leaders (of the PDP) were there whereas those in attendance were his ex-military men like Olatunji Olurin, Raji  Rasaki and Olagunsoye Oyinlola.

“There was no member of the BoT, NEC   and National Caucus at the meeting. There was no member of the National Assembly or any national officer of the party in attendance, yet they claimed that it was attended by the leaders of the party in  the South-West.

“Majority of the people in the zone do not agree  with his style , his approach to issues are condemnable. I had warned him not to play God.”

Oyedokun  also flayed Obasanjo’s letter to Jonathan, saying  he had so many ways of expressing  himself to  the President .

“There are enough platforms for him  to   use  to express himself. He has tremendous avenues to express himself and his approach should have been corrective,” Oyedokun added.

He said it would have been better for the former President to have claimed credit for the correction later than ridiculing the party before the public.

He however   said the next meeting of the BoT  might  be used to caution individual members of the PDP to watch their  utterances on issues  relating to the running  of the ruling party and the Federal  Government.

The board, according to Oyedokun, remains the conscience of the party, saying it will continue to ensure highest standards of morality in all  PDP activities.

He said, “The BoT is a legitimate body of the party and by its mandate, it ought to be the conscience of the party. We would do everything to ensure that the party is on line in its activities.

“Such issues would be discussed at the meeting and it could be an avenue to caution some individuals on their utterances on the party and the government.

“The BoT has the authority to call any member of the party to order.”

Obasanjo, who resigned as the chairman of the board last  April, has not been attending its meetings.

He has also  not  attended the meetings of the party’s National Executive Committee of which he is    a member.