New PDP Chairman, Abubakar Kawu Baraje
The National Chairman of the New People’s Democratic
Party (nPDP), Alhaji Abubakar Kawu Baraje, has requested all members of
PDP worldwide to embark on seven days fasting and prayers commencing
from Monday, 16th of September, 2013.
In a statement signed by the National Publicity Secretary of the
breakaway faction, Eze Chukwuemeka Eze (JP), the party said “this
spiritual intervention is as a result of the concern of the Baraje-led
PDP for the plight of parents and our children due to the continued
closure of public universities following the strike by the Academic
Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) to protest the Federal Government’s
failure to keep the agreement it signed with the Union in 2009″.
The statement then called on Muslims all over the nation and abroad
who are PDP members to close their fast by this Friday, 20th of
September, 2013, at their places of worship while the Christians should
end theirs on Sunday, 22nd September, 2013 at their places of worship.
According to the statement, “It has become imperative to seek the
face of God over this matter considering that all efforts to resolve
this unwarranted strike have failed woefully and considering the
socio-economic damage this strike has caused both parents and our
children. We are confident that our resolve to go to God will succeed as
the importance of fasting and prayers cannot be over emphasized”.
The statement went on to add that, “To say the least, we are shocked
that the government inflicting this monumental hardship on Nigerians is a
PDP Government popularly elected by majority of Nigerians and run by a
President who was once a University Lecturer. In this regard, we wish to
plead with Nigerians for forgiveness on behalf of the PDP Government at
the centre, which could have avoided this costly strike. We wish to
assure all Nigerians that as a party we will surely find a way to end
this shameful situation”.
Meanwhile, Alhaji Baraje has set up a four-man Committee with Gov.
Babangida Aliyu of Niger State as Chairman to advise the party on the
best way to get the Federal Government’s Negotiating Committee and the
leadership of ASUU to reach an agreement on the issues at stake and thus
end this three-month-old strike.
Other members of the Committee are Gov. Murtala Nyako of Adamawa
State, Hon. Chinwo Ike, President of UNIPORT Alumni, and Mr. Timi Frank,
the PDP National Youth Leader.
The statement then pleaded thus: “We sincerely solicit the patience
of Nigerians while appealing to both the Federal Government and the
leadership of ASUU to end this imbroglio so that our children may go
back to school instead of engaging in acts inimical to their future. The
need for this has become urgent as reports reaching us indicate that
many of these students have out of frustration and boredom turned to
prostitution, armed robbery and other vices due to the prolonged
industrial action”.
Unseal Our Secretariats
Meanwhile, the PDP faction has also called on the Police to unseal
its secretariat, claiming that with recent developments and legal
pronouncements, the Police no longer had any justification to continue
to put the secretariat under lock and key.
Eze continued saying “To the glory of God, contrary to the prayers of
Alhaji Bamanga Tukur’s faction of PDP, a Federal High Court in Abuja
on13th September, 2013, once again ruled that the Baraje faction of PDP
should be allowed to operate without any further harassment or
inhibition as it is not breaking any known law.
Justice E.S. Chukwu in his ruling held that there was no evidence
before the court to show any tardiness on the part of Baraje’s faction
as claimed by the Tukur-led faction, which requested it to stop the
Baraje-led PDP from operating”.
The statement further noted that, “In view of this ruling, the Police
no longer have any valid reason (it never did, anyway) to continue to
seal our Secretariats. We, therefore, wish to appeal to President
Goodluck Jonathan to save the Police from the plot to ridicule it by
using it to perpetrate illegalities such as sealing the
lawfully-acquired National Secretariat of PDP and our Secretariats in
states like Rivers, Bayelsa, Kaduna and Kwara. The powers that be should
as a matter of urgency stop projecting and portraying the Police as a
tool of injustice and attack on the perceived political opponents of Mr.
President.
“On our own, we will continue to use the Judiciary to prove to
Tukur’s faction that the days of running the affairs of our great party
with impunity and high-handedness are gone for good. The time has come
for him to correctly read the handwriting on the wall and honourably
throw in the towel along with his National Working Committee”, the
statement concluded.
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