Asuu strike :PDP declares 7days fasting and prayer

The National Chairman of the new
Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Alhaji
Abubakar Kawu Baraje, has requested all
members of PDP worldwide to embark
on seven days fasting and prayers
commencing from Monday, 16th of
September, 2013.
The call for fasting prayer was contained
in copy of news release to The African
Opinion signed by the new PDP
spokesperson, Chief Eze Chukwuemeka.
According the release, “this spiritual
intervention is as a result of the concern
of the Baraje-led PDP for the plight of
parents and our children due to the
continued closure of public universities
following the strike by the Academic
Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) to
protest the Federal Government’s failure
to keep the agreement it signed with the
Union in 2009″.
The complete text of the statement reads:
“Muslims all over the nation and abroad
who are PDP members should close their
fast by this Friday, 20th of September,
2013, at their places of worship while the
Christians should end theirs on Sunday,
22nd September, 2013 at their places of
worship.
“It has become imperative to seek the
face of God over this matter considering
that all efforts to resolve this
unwarranted strike have failed woefully
and considering the socio-economic
damage this strike has caused both
parents and our children. We are
confident that our resolve to go to God
will succeed as the importance of fasting
and prayers cannot be over emphasized
To say the least, we are shocked that the
government inflicting this monumental
hardship on Nigerians is a PDP
Government popularly elected by
majority of Nigerians and run by a
President who was once a University
Lecturer. In this regard, we wish to plead
with Nigerians for forgiveness on behalf
of the PDP Government at the centre,
which could have avoided this costly
strike. We wish to assure all Nigerians
that as a party we will surely find a way
to end this shameful situation.
“Meanwhile, Alhaji Baraje has set up a
four-man Committee with His Excellency,
Gov. Babangida Aliyu of Niger State as
Chairman to advise the party on the best
way to get the Federal Government’s
Negotiating Committee and the
leadership of ASUU to reach an
agreement on the issues at stake and
thus end this three-month-old strike.
Other members of the Committee are His
Excellency, Gov. Murtala Nyako of
Adamawa State, Hon. Chinwo Ike,
President of UNIPORT Alumni, and Mr.
Timi Frank, the PDP National Youth
Leader.
“We sincerely solicit the patience of
Nigerians while appealing to both the
Federal Government and the leadership
of ASUU to end this imbroglio so that our
children may go back to school instead of
engaging in acts inimical to their future.
The need for this has become urgent as
reports reaching us indicate that many of
these students have out of frustration
and boredom turned to prostitution,
armed robbery and other vices due to the
prolonged industrial action.
The Police no Longer Has Any Reason to
Seal Our Secretariats
“To the glory of God, contrary to the
prayers of Alhaji Bamanga Tukur’s
faction of PDP, a Federal High Court in
Abuja on13th September, 2013, once
again ruled that the Baraje faction of PDP
should be allowed to operate without any
further harassment or inhibition as it is
not breaking any known law. Justice E.S.
Chukwu in his ruling held that there was
no evidence before the court to show any
tardiness on the part of Baraje’s faction
as claimed by the Tukur-led faction,
which requested it to stop the Baraje-led
PDP from operating.
“In view of this ruling, the Police no
longer has any valid reason (it never did,
anyway) to continue to seal our
Secretariats. We, therefore, wish to
appeal to President Goodluck Jonathan to
save the Police from the plot to ridicule it
by using it to perpetrate illegalities such
as sealing the lawfully-acquired National
Secretariat of PDP and our Secretariats in
states like Rivers, Bayelsa, Kaduna and
Kwara. The powers that be should as a
matter of urgency stop projecting and
portraying the Police as a tool of injustice
and attack on the perceived political
opponents of Mr. President.
“On our own, we will continue to use the
Judiciary to prove to Tukur’s faction that
the days of running the affairs of our
great party with impunity and high-
handedness are gone for good. The time
has come for him to correctly read the
handwriting on the wall and honourably
throw in the towel along with his
National Working Committee.