COMMENTS ON BAMANGA TUKUR, OTHERS

The National Working Committee (NWC) of the Peoples' Democratic Party (PDP), has cautioned former military president and presidential aspirant on the party platform, General Ibrahim Babangida, against incessant attacks on happenings within the party.

Reacting to a statement credited to the Media Assistant to the former military president, Prince Kassim Afegbua, which was published in the Sunday edition of a newspaper (not Daily Sun) where he expressed reservations over the processes that culminated in the recent national convention of the PDP, National Publicity Secretary of the party, Chief Olisa Metuh described the comments as unfortunate:

'It was unfortunate that for a second time in a week, such a frontal attack on the person of the president, the national chairman of the party, the publicity secretary and the entire essence of the current leadership of the party was coming from a respected statesman and former president.'

The statement made available to journalists yesterday in Abuja, titled, 'Before Afegbua destroys IBB,'' noted that the statement credited to the former president is surprising because, known tradition the world over is for former presidents to tow the path of maturity and decorum in criticisms of perceived lapses of the incumbents. We know of George Bush Jnr. and President Obama and we also know of Tony Blair and Prime Minister Cameron.'It is therefore an embarrassment on the person of the former president of Nigeria for his media spokesperson to recourse to a recipe of media relations that subsists on public acrimony and less noble language.

'We must state for the avoidance of doubt that, there is nothing wrong in the electoral consensus option through which our national Chairman, Dr. Bamanga Turkur, emerged that constitutes an inhibition in the discharge of his functions as the national chairman of our Party. That other aspirants, having noted the likely trend of voting, decided on their own to withdraw from the race and support an aspirant does not translate to incapacity on the part of the consensus candidate.'

The statement added that Babangida, prelude to the 2011 presidential primaries of the PDP, wholeheartedly subjected himself to the then Northern presidential consensus arrangement, in which Alhaji Atiku Abubakar emerged, showing that it is no such danger to democracy as his aide has been jamming the airwave with.'