By Sadiq Umar, Abuja.
The Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Peoples Democratic Party, Mr. Tony Anenih, Wednesday announced his resignation, saying he did so to allow President Goodluck Jonathan take over the position.
Anenih said his resignation would pave way for Jonathan to assume the position or allow any competent person so nominated to occupy the seat.
In a one-page letter titled: “Notice of my decision to step down as Chairman, Board of Trustees of the Peoples Democratic Party” addressed to President Goodluck Jonathan, Anenih said the current state of affairs in the party dictates that he step down to enable the president to effectively assume the chairmanship of the BoT.
The letter dated May 20, 2015 reads: “Your Excellency will recall that in a conversation I had with you a few weeks ago, I had offered to step down from the office of the Chairman of our party’s Board of Trustees and proposed to hand over to you as its new Chairman in a ceremony that would have taken place on the 23rd of May, 2015. I had also repeated this position in our subsequent meetings.
Anenih’s resignation is coming on the heels of an earlier resignation of PDP’s national chairman, Mr. Adamu Mu’azu on Wednesday.
Anenih’s letter further read, “As a follow up to the above proposal and in view of the current state of affairs in our party, I have decided to formally put my offer in writing to enable you effectively assume the Chairmanship of Board of Trustees or approve a process that will enable any other member of the BoT who is considered competent, to assume the position.
“Kindly accept therefore, this letter as notice of my decision to step down from the position of Chairman of the BoT of our party with effect from today, the 20th of May, 2015.
“I am happy to inform you that, I remain a loyal foundation member of our great party and will continue to pray for the prosperity of Nigeria, our party, and for you and your family.
“Your Excellency, kindly accept the expression of my highest regards,” the letter said.
The PDP has been embroiled in internal wrangling since it lost the presidential election last March, with some of its leaders calling for resignation of its National Working Committee (NWC).
Governors of Niger, Jigawa and Ekiti had also called for the resignation of party leaders particularly its Chairman following the party’s defeat at the polls.
While the party was hit by a wave of defection of its members after its defeat by the All Progressive Congress (APC), some of its leaders engaged in blame game on who was responsible its poor performance at the general elections.
Only on Tuesday, Publicity Director of its Presidential Campaign, Mr. Femi Fani-Kayode, dismissed argument by party’s Publicity Secretary, Olisa Metuh, that the party lost because of hate speeches that characterised the campaign.
Fani-Kayode had praised the efforts of its team, stating however, that the results would have been worse but for their intervention. In a veiled reference, he also expressed doubt about the ability of Metuh to meet the challenges of APC publicity machinery which he described as “awesome.”
He also accused some party leaders of betraying PDP, alleging that two of them were on the payroll of the opposition APC.
Already, the party has ordered the investigation of Fani-Kayode, for criticising its leadership.
Anenih, was a two-term PDP BoT chairman, having been appointed first during the administration of President Olusegun Obasanjo, and later reappointed into the position when the former president resigned in April 2012.
