Tukur, Wamakko In War of Words

The crises in the Peoples
Democratic Party are getting
messier as its leadership and the
suspended Sokoto State Governor,
Aliyu Wamakko, have gone for
each other's jugulars.
Wamakko first threw the salvo at PDP
National Chairman, Bamanga Tukur,
on Wednesday night by accusing him
(Tukur) of incompetence and
running the party as his personal
business.
"He (Tukur) has been running the
PDP as a personal business from his
private home," he told his
supporters on his arrival from a
foreign trip in Sokoto. The governor,
who had earlier called on President
Goodluck Jonathan to relieve Tukur
of his job, also wants the same
treatment meted out to the
President's Special Adviser on
Political Matters, Ahmed Gulak.
Wamakko said, "As far as I am
concerned, Tukur and Gulak should
be sacked because they are not
competent to hold their positions."
But Tukur, who did not take the
governor's vituperation lightly, fired
back on Thursday, saying he
(Wamakko) lacked the "moral fibre to
remain in office."
His Special Assistant on Media, Oliver
Okpala, who spoke for him, said
"When he insults an elderly man like
Tukur because he is a governor, then
we don't think he has the moral fibre
to remain in office because as a
governor he should live by
example."
Okpala claimed that the PDP
leadership was aware of the alleged
romance between Wamakko and
leaders of the yet-to-registered All
Progressives Congress.
He said, "If he has any agenda to
leave the PDP, it is within his
constitutional right and he is free,
but as long as he remains within the
PDP, he must align himself with
discipline.
"He should not stay in the party and
be encouraging insubordination and
indiscipline. The leadership of the
party under Tukur has regards for
party discipline and will never waver."
On the claim that Wamakko
described the PDP chairman as a
political prostitute, Okpala said it was
wrong for him to have done so.
The chairman's Special Assistant
called on Wamakko to learn from
another suspended governor, Mr.
Rotimi Amaechi of Rivers State, who
he said had not abused anyone.
Okpala said, "For him to say Tukur is
a political prostitute does not portray
him as a true son. He should express
a true sense of respect and discipline
because of his position as a
governor.
"The example he is showing now
does not portray him as someone
who has respect for seniority and
properly constituted authority like
the position of chairman of the PDP
and the NWC."
On the call for Tukur's removal,
Okpala said that as a father to every
member of the PDP , Tukur had
taken the call with calm.
He said no one should see Tukur's
and PDP leadership's determination
to bring discipline to the party as a
personal vendetta.
"When there is no discipline, there
will be anarchy and when anarchy
sets in, there will be retrogression,"
he added.
Okpala also took on the Speaker of
the House of Representatives,
Mallam Aminu Tambuwal, who
described Wamakko's suspension as
illegal.
Arguing that Tambuwal was free to
support his state governor, Okpala
said, "The speaker, as a party man,
should toe the line of political
discipline and comportment.
"Tukur, as a father, will always look
after his children who are party
members and be able to caution
them and bring them to order
whenever they engage in acts that
are subversive to the corporate
existence and image of the PDP as a
political entity and the largest political
movement in Africa."
In his own reaction, Gulak said the
call by Wamakko for his removal
showed that he (governor) was
ignorant of the party's workings.
Gulak told one of our
correspondents, that if Wammako
had belonged to the PDP from
inception, he would have known that
its members were bound by rules
and regulations.
He said if the governor called for his
removal because he was suspended
from the PDP, he ought to know that
as a presidential aide, his
responsibilities did not include the
running of the party.
Gulak said, "If Wammako made that
statement because he was
suspended from the party, he
should know that the PDP has
hierarchy as well as rules and
regulations that all members, no
matter their positions, are expected
to obey failing which they will be
sanctioned.
"Rather than saying that the PDP
chairman is not competent, the
governor should search himself and
identify his shortcomings and accept
them.
"For me, I have nothing to do with
his suspension. I am not a member
of the party's NWC. I am a
presidential aide, he does not seem
to understand that the Presidency
has nothing to do with the running
of the party.
"Wammako's utterances are
misplaced and based on ignorance.
May be because he did not belong to
the PDP from inception because he
came from the ANPP and so he does
not understand the workings of the
party."
Speaking with one of our
correspondents earlier, the National
Publicity Secretary of the PDP, Chief
Olisa Metuh, said the party was not
against the rally held by Wamakko's
supporters to welcome him.