My removal will make Jonathan vulnerable -Tukur

The National Chairman of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party, Alhaji Bamanga Tukur, has said that those calling for his removal are plotting to make President Goodluck Jonathan vulnerable.

Tukur, who spoke with journalists through his Special Adviser on Political Affairs, Senator Umar Gada, in Abuja on Sunday, said some of the governors who are demanding for his removal are not really loyal to the President.

The party chairman said people should tell him how being loyal has become a criminal offence in the nation's polity.

Tukur, whose removal some governors have made a condition needed to restore peace to the troubled party, is also fighting to keep his job.

As part of their agitation for his removal, the governors met in Abuja, on Friday night, where they resolved that Tukur should resign in order to stem the tide of defections from the party.

The party has lost five of its governors to the major opposition party, the All Progressives Congress, a situation which is seen by many as a bad omen for the ruling party which is desirous of retaining power in 2015.

He said while he was aware that majority of them could be loyal to the President and the party, he, however, said there could be some whose loyalty were be in doubt.

Gada said, 'As far as the national chairman, Tukur, is concerned, the PDP governors are loyal to the President and the national organ of the party, except for a few (of them) with hidden agenda who are hatching the plot to remove Tukur because of their personal presidential ambition.

'These few governors that are clamouring for the removal of Tukur are doing so with a hidden agenda to get back at President Jonathan.'