BATTLE FOR PDP’S SOUL SHIFTS TO NASS: G-7 GOVS, TAMBUWAL, OTHERS IN SECRET MEETING Featured Tuesday, 17 September 2013 09:37 Barring the unforeseen, today’s resumption of both chambers of the National Assembly may witness a feel of the crisis bedeviling the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) as the battle for the soul of the party shifts to the legislature. Indications to this effect emerged as the speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon. Aminu Waziri Tambuwal, the aggrieved governors, otherwise known as the G7 governors, and a sizeable number of federal lawmakers met at the Kano Governor’s Lodge in Asokoro last night. The meeting, according to an impeccable source, was to “fine-tune strategies aimed at getting having a majority of PDP lawmakers on the side of the new PDP”. The National Assembly resumes today from a two-month break. During the break, the crisis in the PDP reached a messy height with seven governors elected on the platform of the party forming what they called the new PDP after staging a walkout at the national convention of the party. Curiously, as the meeting at the Kano Governor’s Lodge was ongoing, another was also in progress as the chairman of the PDP Board of Trustees (BoT), Tony Anenih, also played host to pro-Jonathan federal lawmakers and some members of the party’s BoT. Both meetings were taking place a few metres away from each other in Asokoro. Journalists were not allowed access to both venues. At the meeting which took place at the Kano State Governor’s Lodge were Senators Bukola Saraki, Abdullahi Adamu, Shabba Lafiaji, Danjuma Goje, Ali Ndume, Mohammed Maccido and Umaru Dahiru. Also in attendance were no fewer than 95 members of the House of Representatives, but the source confided in LEADERSHIP that Tambuwal had to excuse himself for another meeting after the opening remarks. Among those at the meeting were Farouk Lawan, Bashir Adamu Kazaure, Bello Kumu, Mustapha Habib, Mamuda Sani Madaki, Abdulmuminu Jibril, Dakuku Peterside, Zakari Mohammed, Aliyu Wadada as well as a former speaker of the Sokoto State House of Assembly who is now a member of the lower chamber of the federal parliament. A source close to the meeting said the meeting became necessary in view of the past experience of the governors in the hands of Jonathan, adding that certain steps taken by the president and Bamanga Tukur between Sunday night and Monday morning showed that the president was not prepared for proper reconciliation. The source cited Monday’s inauguration of a caretaker committee for Kano State PDP without the knowledge of the governor as a major setback to the peace process. The source further disclosed that if necessary, there would be leadership changes at the National Assembly within the week as they relates to the PDP. But that last night’s meeting of the new PDP was to take stock of members of the National Assembly who are sympathetic to its cause. Director of press and public relations to Kano State governor, Halilu Dantiye, confirmed that a meeting was on at the governor’s lodge but declined to give details. “I think a meeting is going on at the lodge, but I don’t know the details of the meeting. Right now, I am outside the lodge,” Dantiye said. National chairman of the new PDP, Alhaji Abubakar Kawu Baraje and the party’s national secretary, Olagunsoye Oyinlola were also at the meeting. Another source said that at the resumption of the lawmakers today, the main focus would be to monitor activities of members with a view to identifying like minds. “There are two plans in the meantime, plan A and plan B. Plan A is to monitor the House as it resumes, but B is to push for the needed change of some principal officers of the parliament. “Already, there are about 28 impeachable offences against the president but those ones are not going to be explored for now; the only thing that is likely to happen is that the House might move a vote of no confidence on the president. He revealed that at the time of the meeting, the APC caucus of the House was also meeting at an undisclosed location in Abuja. At the venue of the meeting where Anenih was the host, a heavy presence of security operatives was noticed. A source, an aide to one of the governors, merely said: “It is usual for meetings to hold these days; others are meeting to plot, we are also meeting to counter them.” [Leadership]
Posted on: Tue, 17 Sep 2013 14:24:57 +0000
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