The National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Bamanga Tukur, has dismissed media reports that he is under pressure to resign from office.
Mr. Tukur, in a statement he personally signed on Monday in Abuja, said he is in good accord with President Goodluck Jonathan and other stakeholders of the PDP.
He also said he is working in tandem with the elders and stakeholders in the party on the need to address the challenges facing the PDP.
The party chairman said he was aware of the antics of “some black legs in and out of the PDP” who have been funding negative media reports on activities of the party both at the state and national levels; adding that such antics would come to nothing because it “won’t go far”.
Mr. Tukur also eulogised the Nigerian media saying it has come of age and is observing the tenets of the profession. He, however, expressed dismay that a cross section of the media appear to ‘predict his failure;’ accusing them of reporting falsehood against his person and office.
“I had hardly settled down in office when some newspapers predicted that I would not last three months. Later, some newspapers wrote that I would resign in December. Another one said two days ago that I had been asked to resign. Well, I have spent more than one year in office and they still continue to write same and same thing all over. I really do not understand whether Bamanga Tukur is really the media’s problem, or the problem of faceless individuals who were manufacturing the miserable reports.
“It was more ludicrous that some people funded a report that I had resigned when indeed, I was on my way to Canada for an official engagement, and yet our so called media bought the untruth without shuddering. Then I ask myself, where is the sense of fairness and professionalism by our media in this regard?
“The problem is so bad that when members of our party meet and discuss behind closed doors, the media would say Bamanga Tukur is the issue. The media do not seem to know that we have better things to discuss in our party than issue of crises,” he said.