PDP suspends Bamanga Tukur and Aliyu Buba Gurin for anti-party activities

In what appears like a twist of fate, the former National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Alhaji Bamanga Tukur, who was noted for frequent suspension of party chieftains, himself got a dose of his drugs yesterday as the National Working Committee (NWC) of the party announced his suspension along with Aliyu Buba Gurin for anti-party activities.

The NWC hinged its action on the duo taking the incumbent National Chairman, Alhaji Adamu Muazu, to court without exhausting the party's internal mechanism of resolving crisis.

The suspension came despite the denial by Tukur that he did not sue Mua’zu but that he was only joined in a suit.

They are suspended for one month and their case referred to the party's disciplinary committee for further action.

In a statement by the National Legal Adviser of the party, Victor Kwom, it said the decision to suspend Tukur was taken at its 395th meeting held Wednesday, December 3, 2014 which reviewed recent national developments as they affect the party.

According to the statement, among others, the NWC deliberated on the court case instituted against the national chairman by Tukur.

Accordingly, the PDP National Legal Adviser said: “The NWC reasoned that for instituting a claim and counter claim in suit FHC/ABJ /821/2014; Gurin vs PDP & 3 others without first exploring and exhausting the party's internal mechanism of redress and for attempting to stop the forthcoming National Convention to nominate the party's presidential candidate as well as regularise the position of the National Chairman and other members of the National Working Committee is unacceptable.”

In view of this, the statement said: “The NWC hereby suspends Dr. Bamanga Tukur and Aliyu Abuba Gurin for one month and refers them to the National Disciplinary Committee for infringing on section 58(1)(a)( b)( h)( l) of the PDP Constitution 2012 (as amended).”

But in what appears like an afterthought, Tukur has denied instituting any legal suit to remove the incumbent national chairman, Mu’azu, from office, even though the case had been running for some time now.

Tukur also denied directing anyone to appeal the judgment of the Federal High Court that early this week dismissed the suit seeking to remove Mu’azu.

He said he was only a joiner to the suit seeking to remove Mu’azu as the national chairman.

In a statement signed by his media aide, Oliver Okpalla, he said the fact of the case was that it was instituted against the national chairman of PDP and three others by a member of the party, Gurin, and not Tukur.

According to Tukur's aide, “For proper legal and historical perspective, Alhaji Bamanga Tukur never initiated nor filed any case against Alhaji Adamu Mu’azu contrary to reports making headlines in the national dailies and waves in social media.

“The wrongful report and misrepresentation of facts to the effect that Alhaji Bamanga Tukur filed a case urging the court to oust Alhaji Adamu Mu’azu out of office as National Chairman of the PDP is not only untrue but gross distortion of facts relating to the case instituted and filed by Alhaji Aliyu Gurin.

“Alhaji Bamanga Tukur was joined in the suit as a co-defendant and as is required in law filed his own counter affidavits stating his own side of the case in relation to the suit filed by the plaintiff, Alhaji Aliyu Buba Gurin.

“A co-defendant in a case cannot by any imagination in law be deemed as a plaintiff who initiated and filed a suit before a law court.

“Let it be also noted that at no time did Alhaji Bamanga Tukur react to the court judgment and did not inform any reporter or journalist as being erroneously reported that he ‘has vowed to challenge the judgment at the Court of Appeal.

“The important legal argument hereafter is how can a co-defendant who was also sued in a case by the plaintiff vow to challenge the judgment of a case he did not institute on appeal?.

“For the avoidance of doubt, this case was instituted by Alhaji Aliyu Buba Gurin a PDP member against PDP, Alhaji Bamanga Tukur, Alhaji Adamu Mu’azu and INEC as 1-4 defendants.”

But many are worried that it took Tukur this long to clarify his status in the case that has dominated the headlines in recent times, just as some argue that the said Gurin may have instituted the suit at the behest of the former chairman.


Credit: Chuks Okocha/ThisDay