Bamanga Tukur 

• Party orders production of 772 portraits of Tukur, Oyinlola

Chuks Okocha in Abuja

The composition of the mem- bers of the Federal Board of Parastatals has driven a wedge of discord between members of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the National Working Committee (NWC), as some of the aggrieved members who were not favoured are accusing the NWC members of cornering the juicy boards for themselves.

This is coming as the party has approved the production of 772 portraits of the National Chairman, Dr. Bamanga Tukur and National Secretary, Prince Olagunsoye Oyinlola.
It also approved another N13 million to host the meeting of external auditors in anticipation of the auditing of the party’s account by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

This was sequel to the memo sent to Tukur by the party’s National Auditor, Alhaji Bode Mustapha and Oyinlola by the National Director of Administration of the party, Alhaji Gurama Bawa.

THISDAY gathered that the Presidency had allotted some Board appointments to the party to be shared among members in the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory. Some of the beneficiaries of the Board appointments are members that contested for the office of the NWC in the March 24 national convention of the party.
The national chairmanship

aspirants were rewarded for stepping down for the incumbent, Tukur, with Board appointments.

In the last NWC, members cornered juicy boards like Transport, NAMA, National Identity Commission, Board of University Councils, among others.

On the receipt of the Board appointment allocation, Tukur

asked his former Principal Secretary, Habu Fari to share the appointments equitably, but the National Secretary, Oyinlola insisted that the duty of shar- ing the offices was his duty as the Chief Administrative and Accounting Officer of the party and therefore collected the sharing from Habu Fari.

But the National Chairman will not give in as he directed the National Secretary to return the file to him, thereafter what was obtained was complaint of “shorting changing of members of the party in the sharing of the federal appointments”. THISDAY gathered that other zones of the federation are not happy over the sharing of the offices as the North-east is said to have an upper hand in the allocation.
Some of the members of the party from the North-central and South-east are complain- ing of poor allocation of the Boards appointments, especially with what was described as ‘inconsequential Boards given to South-east’, a source said.

Another member from the North-central told journalists that there was no equity in the sharing and distribution of the Board appointments.

According to the source, “the NWC members have cornered the juicy Boards as chairmen and members, while we were recommended for offices like the National Theatre and other cultural affairs offices.

“We want to know the membership of such Boards like National Airspace Management Agency (NAMA), Federal Road Maintenance Agency (FERMA), where a Special Adviser of the National Chairman is part of,”the source explained. The source said that the sharp practices in the Boards were schemed in favour of a par- ticular state in the North-east to the disadvantage of others.
Meanwhile, in the request to procure 772 portraits for

Tukur and Oyinlola, Bawa, in his memo dated April 27 and directed to Oyinlola, was titled “Approval for the production of official portraits of National Chairman and the National Secretary. He may wish to note that following the election and assumption of duties by the newly elected members of the NWC of our great party, the PDP, it has become necessary, being the tradition, to produce the portraits of the New National Chairman and the New National Secretary of the party.

“It has been estimated that we need, for each of the two national officers, 386 portraits, thereby giving the total of 772 portraits.”