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Nigerian president announces resignation of ruling party's leader amid crisis

16 January 2014 18:23 (UTC +04:00)

Baku-APA. Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan on Thursday announced the resignation of leader of the West African country's national ruling Peoples Democratic (PDP) Party Bamanga Tukur, partly resolving a 12-month controversy plaguing the political group, APA reports quoting Xinhua.

Since last year, Tukur had been at the center of a leadership crisis that engulfed the PDP, Nigeria's ruling party which gained and remained in power at the center since transition to civilian rule in 1999.

Founding fathers and other party leaders of the Nigerian ruling party had been calling for the sack of Tukur, who made fruitless efforts to resolve the crisis.

However, Jonathan announced the party leader's resignation and handed over the resignation letter to PDP's National Secretary, Wale Oladipo, at an ongoing National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting in Abuja, Nigeria's capital city.

Announcing the resignation, the Nigerian president said Tukur was not guilty of any offence. "And I am going to give him an assignment that is tougher than PDP chairman," he added.

According to the Nigerian leader, his political party was making necessary arrangement to organize another NEC meeting next week Monday, to announce a new national chairman.

Earlier in the week, the storm had gathered against Tukur to quit his position as chairman of the ruling party.

Local media reports had also announced his purported resignation till late Wednesday. But Tukur dismissed all the reports and described them as false claims by desperate hawks within and outside the party.

"I will never subject my resignation at any point to media speculation," he had said while dismissing his purported resignation.

In self-defense, the embattled former party leader had said he did everything practicable to put the party on track and keep the agenda of President Jonathan for transforming Nigeria away from distraction.

This, he maintained, was the reason why the storm gathered against him.