PDP, workers broker peace under DSS watch

As part of moves to end the crisis between workers of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and its workers, the party’s management entered into a closed-door marathon meeting with the warring staff, which was presiden over by its National Director of Administration, Alhaji Gurama Bawa.

The meeting was held at the Abuja secretariat of the party, while operatives of the Department of State Services (DSS) kept watch to ensure there was no breakdown on law and order.

There has been a sharp disagreement between the national leadership and staff over plans to reduce the staff strength, their salaries and allowances by 50 per cent.

Men of DSS, who were dressed in black, arrived the secretariat at about 9 am apparently sensing that the aggrieved workers who have been at loggerheads with the National Working Committee (NWC) may cause chaos.

At the meeting, Bawa and other directors, reportedly pleaded with the aggrieved staff for a temporary ceasefire to enable the management hold a meeting with the NWC on how to resolve the issue to avoid further damage to the party which is now in the opposition after operating as the ruling party for 16 years.

Soon after the meeting between the management and the executive of the PDP workers, who are operating under the aegis of Staff Welfare Association, an enlarged meeting was called to brief the entire staff on the outcome.

There were strong indications that some members of the Board of Trustees (BoT) and National Executive Committee (NEC) of the party may have thrown their weights behind the aggrieved staff.

Read also: Workers reveal more dirty deals in PDP

This came as some former national chairmen of the party and BoT members met select workers and expressed support for the workers and reportedly pointed out that the NWC should have resigned when the former Chairman, Adamu Mu’azu, left.

One of the leaders of the staff said that there was the need for what he described as a temporary ceasefire following the intervention of top management, adding: “We have decided to have a temporary ceasefire because of the intervention of our directors. They held a meeting with us, they pleaded with us to allow things work out as they were going to have a meeting with members of the NWC and get back to us later.

“We had a very fruitful meeting with the management where we raised our grievances, our bitterness with the NWC, especially the area of planning to sack us, to ask us to go and get letters from our state chairmen. They only want to use that to get us out and replace us with their own persons and that we resist.”

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