2015: 10 govs threaten to dump PDP

ABUJA — A major setback to the re-election bid of President Goodluck Jonathan is looming, as no fewer than 10 governors elected on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP have served notice of their intention to leave the party ahead of the 2015 election.

The governors, according to competent sources, have already communicated their decision to jump ship, to President Goodluck Jonathan, who is the leader of the PDP.

It remained unclear, however, at press time if the aggrieved governors were moving over to the newly-registered All Progressives Congress, APC, or working to float their own party with a view to presenting one of their colleagues as a presidential candidate in the next election.

But Vanguard gathered authoritatively that the five governors of Sokoto, Niger, Adamawa, Kano and Jigawa, were among those ready to dump the party. An impeccable source told Vanguard that the five governors communicated their threat to quit the party to President Jonathan when he summoned them for a peace parley last week.

It was learnt that the Rivers State Governor, who was also at the Villa penultimate Friday for talks with the President, confirmed to the President that he was aware of the threat by his colleagues to jettison PDP as a result of the way he, Amaechi was being treated by the Presidency and the party.

The source explained that the meeting between Amaechi and the President was facilitated by the National Security Adviser, Col. Sambo Dasuki (Rtd)who reasoned that the escalating political crisis in Rivers State and the raging security challenges in the North, if not checked could trigger a national upheaval.

“It is true that the NSA’s office facilitated the meeting, which enabled Amaechi to meet with the President last Friday but there was a snag because the governor refused to open up to Jonathan on his grievances with the party and the Presidency,” a governor familiar with the meeting, said.

“What he told the President was that he was not fighting for himself and that there were other governors who were angry over the way he (Amaechi) was being humiliated and harassed by forces close to the Presidency for no just cause.

What Amaechi told Jonathan

“Governor Amaechi told the President that there were indeed 10 governors who were so upset that they were ready to quit the PDP because of the persistent attacks on him and his administration,” the governor said.

Amaechi was said to have assured the President that he was ready to support him and work for him if the other governors, who were aggrieved over his treatment in the hands of government agencies, decide to work with Jonathan. President Jonathan was said to have been taken aback by the decision of the 10 governors to dump PDP, when five northern governors, who met him a day after Amaechi’s meeting with him, repeated what the governor had told him.

One of the governors, who pleaded anonymity, confirmed that they were ready to meet the President again before taking a final decision on whether to leave the party for the opposition or float their own party.

Asked to comment on what the grievances of the group were, the governor said they were angry over attempts by the Presidency to weaken the Nigeria Governors’ Forum, NGF, since Amaechi courageously contested and won the last election by defeating Governor David Jang of Plateau State by 19 votes to 16 votes.

The governor said they were also opposed to the move by the Presidency to cause unnecessary chaos in Rivers State so as to drive away the elected governor because of his unsubstantiated political ambition.

Despite being taken aback by the action of the governors, the Presidency last week described the aggrieved governors as agents of the opposition in the ruling PDP and warned them to desist from continuing to engage in acts capable of heating up the polity and distracting Mr. President from delivering on his promises to Nigerians.

The Political Adviser to the President, Alhaji Ahmed Gulak, who made the allegation, said the governors were arrogating to themselves roles not assigned to them by either the President as the leader of the party or the party leadership.

“I can tell you that the five governors do not mean well for the party and the country. They are acting the script of some elements bent on distracting Mr. President and causing confusion where none should exist in the country.

“A discernible pattern from what the five governors are doing is that their grandstanding is not about a genuine concern to put things right in the country as they claim but how to bring down President Jonathan so that one of them can step in.

“But what I can assure them is that they are bound to fail woefully because Nigerians know that they don’t have any genuine concern for the country,” the political aide had said.