Presidency, PDP leaders at war 'Over choice of Jonathan's political adviser

MEMBERS of the PresidentialCampaign Council (PCC) of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and some members of the Jonathan/Sambo campaign organisation are currently battling the presidency, over the choice of the new special adviser (political) to President Goodluck Jonathan, whose appointment would be announced any moment from now.It was gathered that the initial moves to name a political adviser in the presidency was stalled by the rivalry between the two groups, which continue to insist that its members' contributions to the president's victory in April had not been fully acknowledged.The PCC organised the presidential campaigns leading to the April election, while the Jonathan/Sambo campaign organisation presented the president for the PDP presidential primary, which he won in January.While members of the PCC believed that the Jonathan/Sambo campaign organisation was dissolved because of perceived lapses which the presidential council was able to fix, before it delivered the president in the general election, the campaign organisation believed that the PCC only built on the foundation it had already laid.It was learnt that a memo said to have been written by the Chief of Staff to President Jonathan, Chief Mike Oghiadomhe, which indicated that he was nominating a member of the Jonathan/Sambo group, Alhaji Ahmed Gulag, for the post sparked the recent squabbles.A source told the Nigerian Tribune that when members of the PCC and the leadership of the PDP got wind of the recommendation of the former speaker of Adamawa State House of Assembly, Dr Gulag, as would-be political adviser, there was anger in their camps.'There is anger within the camps because the leadership of PCC and leaders of the party feel that such an appointment would short-change the party hierarchy,' a source said, adding that many of the party leaders believed that the president should pick an experienced hand for the job.Beside the issue of experience, some party leaders were said to be raising issues of zoning, as Gulag is from the North-East where the post of PDP national chairman has been zoned.It was learnt that members of the PCC were disposed to the appointment of Senator Aniete Okon, a member of the Jonathan/Sambo campaign, who also served as a member of the publicity sub-committee of the PCC.
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