I won’t bribe anyone to remain in office –Tuku

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.