Internal problems rocking the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, on Wednesday, intensified, as the Board of Trustees, BoT, held its meeting, thereby defying the decision of the National Working Committee that all meetings of the organs of the party be shifted to next week.
The Board of Trustees (BoT) removed Haliru Bello as its chairman, and directed Walid Jibril, its secretary, to act as chairman, pending the appointment of a substantive head.
On the reason for removal, the new chairman, said: “On the 25th of May, we appointed the outgoing acting chairman, Mr. Mohammed to act for three months, when the three months expired, we decided to extend his period by two weeks and that has expired.
“Very soon we are going to hold a meeting to elect a substantive chairman, probably during the next meeting of BoT, we will do it properly and elect a substantive Chairman,” he said.
Bello is a former comptroller-general of customs and one-time commissioner at the Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC).
He was minister of communication in 2001, and he also served as the minister of defence under former President Goodluck Jonathan.
In 2008, he was national vice-chairman of the PDP in the northwest zone. He was also deputy national chairman of the party.
He is among those being prosecuted by the Economic Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) for alleged complicity in the arms purchase scandal.
In December, the anti-graft agency arraigned Sambo Dasuki, former national security adviser (NSA); Bashir Yuguda, former minister of state for finance, and Attahiru Bafarawa, former Sokoto state governor, at the federal capital territory high court, Abuja, for multiple counts of alleged criminal breach of trust, misappropriation of funds and money laundering.
Bello is alleged to have received N300m meant for the purchase of arms from Dasuki.
