PDP CRISIS...JONATHAN, GOVS IN LAST-DITCH TALKS
Former President Ibrahim Babangida
President Goodluck Jonathan, eight state governors and other party leaders went into a crisis meeting late yesterday, in a last-ditch effort to resolve the dispute that caused the break of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP).
The discussions, which may spill into the early morning hours, were being held to consider the outcome of mediation efforts of an elders committee, led by former President Olusegun Obasanjo, sources involved in the matter told Daily Trust last night.
The meeting, held at the conference room of the First Lady’s Office at the State House inin Abuja, was attended by four of the seven aggrieved PDP governors, namely Mu’azu Babangida Aliyu (Niger), Sule Lamido (Jigawa), Aliyu Wamakko (Sokoto) and Murtala Nyako (Adamawa).
Also in attendance were Liyel Imoke (Cross River), Ibrahim Dankwambo (Gombe), Emmanuel Uduaghan (Delta) and Gabriel Suswam (Benue), who are in the Bamanga Tukur-led faction of the ruling party. Three of the Abubakar Baraje faction’s governors who did not attend last night’s talks were Rabiu Kwankwaso (Kano), who was abroad yesterday, Rotimi Amaechi (Rivers) and Abdulfatah Ahmed (Kwara).
Security officers barred journalists from getting near the venue of the discussions, saying the event was not meant for media coverage. The meeting was still on by 11.30pm.
Earlier in the day, Jonathan held a separate meeting with two members of the elders’ team—former President Ibrahim Babangida and former PDP national chairman Ahmadu Ali.
The one-hour meeting began at 1pm, and Daily Trust learnt that it was meant for the elders’ representatives to brief the president on the outcome of their reconciliation efforts.
Obasanjo was away in Belgium yesterday, and it was not known if he would have attended the meeting had he been around.
Jonathan’s meeting with the governors last night was a follow up to the first one held last week Sunday, which ended at about 2am the following morning. At the end of it, board of trustees chairman Tony Anenih announced that discussions were “smooth” and would continue yesterday. Anenih was not at last night’s talks, an aide told Daily Trust.
But since the first meeting, the two sides in the PDP dispute have taken measures and made pronouncements that indicated they had dug in their heels.
Last Tuesday, PDP national chairman Bamanga Tukur threatened governors and lawmakers in the ‘New PDP’ with loss of their seats and prosecution.
For their part, the defectors filed two court cases seeking Tukur’s ouster, set up a new national secretariat in Abuja on Friday, and named a national working committee on Monday.
Meantime, the elders committee held hours-long discussions with leaders of both factions on Friday, but no headway was announced at the end.
On Saturday, the police sealed off the factional national secretariat, relying on a court order that asked the two PDP sides to maintain the status quo.
Reports since then said the Obasanjo elders committee was divided on the position to take regarding the contentious issues, particularly the alleged demand by the Abubakar Baraje faction that President Jonathan renounced his second term aspiration.
Other conditions set out by the ‘New PDP’ for return to the mainstream include the sack of Tukur, as well as recognition of Amaechi as chairman of the Nigeria Governors Forum and lifting of his suspension from the party.
Meanwhile, in Adamawa State, the PDP crisis continued to fester as factional chairman Chief Joel Madaki, who is loyal to Tukur, said yesterday the defectors had misconstrued Jonathan’s democratic disposition as weakness.
Madaki said at a news conference in Yola that the party would take appropriate action against the Baraje faction members who are from Adamawa for disrespecting the party and the president.
“Since assumption of office, President Goodluck Jonathan has shown that he is a real democrat. Some people have misconstrued him as weakling not knowing that his spirit of tolerance is a rare sign of democrat,” he said.
“Those that walked out on the president and gave him conditions would not have attempted it if it were another president other than President Jonathan.”
He described the conditions given by the ‘New PDP’ as outrageous, saying the demands were meant to frustrate all reconciliation efforts as the aggrieved governors had already decided to defect from the PDP.
“The game plan at hand now is a deliberate act to weaken the PDP before Governor Nyako and his co-travellers make a final bow out of PDP. That is the reason why they are giving unattainable and outrageous conditions,” he said. Madaki warned all elected officials in Adamawa who belong to the break-away faction to renounce and pledge loyalty to Tukur-led PDP or lose their seats.
“Registers are still open in all 226 wards for new members and those who are yet to revalidate their membership status, so that it does not become too late,” he said.
The discussions, which may spill into the early morning hours, were being held to consider the outcome of mediation efforts of an elders committee, led by former President Olusegun Obasanjo, sources involved in the matter told Daily Trust last night.
The meeting, held at the conference room of the First Lady’s Office at the State House inin Abuja, was attended by four of the seven aggrieved PDP governors, namely Mu’azu Babangida Aliyu (Niger), Sule Lamido (Jigawa), Aliyu Wamakko (Sokoto) and Murtala Nyako (Adamawa).
Also in attendance were Liyel Imoke (Cross River), Ibrahim Dankwambo (Gombe), Emmanuel Uduaghan (Delta) and Gabriel Suswam (Benue), who are in the Bamanga Tukur-led faction of the ruling party. Three of the Abubakar Baraje faction’s governors who did not attend last night’s talks were Rabiu Kwankwaso (Kano), who was abroad yesterday, Rotimi Amaechi (Rivers) and Abdulfatah Ahmed (Kwara).
Security officers barred journalists from getting near the venue of the discussions, saying the event was not meant for media coverage. The meeting was still on by 11.30pm.
Earlier in the day, Jonathan held a separate meeting with two members of the elders’ team—former President Ibrahim Babangida and former PDP national chairman Ahmadu Ali.
The one-hour meeting began at 1pm, and Daily Trust learnt that it was meant for the elders’ representatives to brief the president on the outcome of their reconciliation efforts.
Obasanjo was away in Belgium yesterday, and it was not known if he would have attended the meeting had he been around.
Jonathan’s meeting with the governors last night was a follow up to the first one held last week Sunday, which ended at about 2am the following morning. At the end of it, board of trustees chairman Tony Anenih announced that discussions were “smooth” and would continue yesterday. Anenih was not at last night’s talks, an aide told Daily Trust.
But since the first meeting, the two sides in the PDP dispute have taken measures and made pronouncements that indicated they had dug in their heels.
Last Tuesday, PDP national chairman Bamanga Tukur threatened governors and lawmakers in the ‘New PDP’ with loss of their seats and prosecution.
For their part, the defectors filed two court cases seeking Tukur’s ouster, set up a new national secretariat in Abuja on Friday, and named a national working committee on Monday.
Meantime, the elders committee held hours-long discussions with leaders of both factions on Friday, but no headway was announced at the end.
On Saturday, the police sealed off the factional national secretariat, relying on a court order that asked the two PDP sides to maintain the status quo.
Reports since then said the Obasanjo elders committee was divided on the position to take regarding the contentious issues, particularly the alleged demand by the Abubakar Baraje faction that President Jonathan renounced his second term aspiration.
Other conditions set out by the ‘New PDP’ for return to the mainstream include the sack of Tukur, as well as recognition of Amaechi as chairman of the Nigeria Governors Forum and lifting of his suspension from the party.
Meanwhile, in Adamawa State, the PDP crisis continued to fester as factional chairman Chief Joel Madaki, who is loyal to Tukur, said yesterday the defectors had misconstrued Jonathan’s democratic disposition as weakness.
Madaki said at a news conference in Yola that the party would take appropriate action against the Baraje faction members who are from Adamawa for disrespecting the party and the president.
“Since assumption of office, President Goodluck Jonathan has shown that he is a real democrat. Some people have misconstrued him as weakling not knowing that his spirit of tolerance is a rare sign of democrat,” he said.
“Those that walked out on the president and gave him conditions would not have attempted it if it were another president other than President Jonathan.”
He described the conditions given by the ‘New PDP’ as outrageous, saying the demands were meant to frustrate all reconciliation efforts as the aggrieved governors had already decided to defect from the PDP.
“The game plan at hand now is a deliberate act to weaken the PDP before Governor Nyako and his co-travellers make a final bow out of PDP. That is the reason why they are giving unattainable and outrageous conditions,” he said. Madaki warned all elected officials in Adamawa who belong to the break-away faction to renounce and pledge loyalty to Tukur-led PDP or lose their seats.
“Registers are still open in all 226 wards for new members and those who are yet to revalidate their membership status, so that it does not become too late,” he said.
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