Leadership 2015: Jonathan Raises An Army Against G-7 Govs By: Donald Ojogo, George Agba, Chibuzo Ukaibe on September 11, 2013 - 3:38am Under pressure from his loyalists to make his position on the 2015 race known on time, President Goodluck Jonathan has enlisted certain prominent individuals to checkmate the G-7 governors who have been up in arms against him. In the latest move, former speaker of the House of Representatives Alhaji Ghali Umar Na’abba and a few former governors are to be empowered by the presidency to mobilise support for Jonathan ahead of the crucial election year. LEADERSHIP further gathered that the former governors enlisted for the new task are Boni Haruna (Adamawa) and Peter Odili (Rivers). It was also gathered that a meeting of some former governors was held in the Asokoro District of Abuja in the early hours of yesterday to firm up their strategies in the support for Jonathan. According to a presidency source, Jonathan is not contemplating an immediate cabinet reorganisation. LEADERSHIP also learnt that the president has equally instructed the national chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Alhaji Bamanga Tukur, to put in place measures that would bring back all leaders of the party who were either complacent before now or might have been shoved aside by internal politics in some states. The source disclosed further that the latest move by President Jonathan was coming on the heels of an interim report of one of the three special committees. The source said: “The issues are becoming more and more complex as if we will not see their end. For now, the president is open to reconciliation but he will not rely on any assurance from any of the so-called aggrieved governors because, severally, there have been settlements but they do the opposite of what was firmed up with them. “I can tell you that Mr President is not against reconciliation but he won’t trust them again; and when we had an appraisal of the situation in most of the states, especially the seven states, it was because Mr President deferred to the governors that most leaders of the party either abandoned the party or even dumped the party. “There are several examples but if you look at Kano, for instance, the party lost Na’abba because of the governor; the situation is the same in Rivers as Odili was shoved aside by the governor. I think there is need to bring back all these persons who have been sidelined by the attitude of the governors; we can’t lose all. The leaders have to be relevant in the scheme of things in the party and national politics too.” Obasanjo, IBB in Aso Rock meeting with govs Former military president Gen Ibrahim Babangida were among elders of the PDP who attended a crucial meeting with governors of the party in a bid to end the lingering crisis in the party. The meeting was held at House 7 of the presidential villa. Although Obasanjo and the PDP governors were said to have been taken to a venue where journalists could not sight them, State House correspondents were told not to go anywhere close to House 7 where the peace meeting was holding. There was also said to be an instruction to deal with anyone who attempted to come close for coverage. The meeting, as at the time of filing this report, was expected to be followed by another one later last night where the president is expected to meet with the governors, including some leaders of the PDP. Earlier, Akwa Ibom State governor Godswill Akpabio, his Delta and Benue counterparts Emmanuel Uduaghan and Gabriel Suswam met with President Jonathan in his office. Other party leaders said to be at the meeting were PDP BoT chairman Tony Anenih, national chairman Bamanga Tukur and former PDP national chairman Ahmadu Ali. Tukur moves to take party structure from Kwankwaso Meanwhile, moves by the Alhaji Bamanga Tukur-led PDP to take the party structures away from the seven governors who are backing the new PDP appear to have commenced. Tukur was to inaugurate a caretaker committee for the Kano State chapter of the PDP but the action was halted at the last minute because of the reconciliation meeting scheduled for last night at the presidential villa. The Kano State governor, Rabiu Kwankwaso, alongside six other PDP governors broke away from the Tukur-led PDP. They have been invited to a reconciliation meeting with President Goodluck Jonathan and other critical stakeholders of the party at the villa. However, it was however gathered that the inauguration which would have held at the national headquarters of the party yesterday was shelved following a directive from the presidency that the ceremony be stopped because it could jeopardize the reconciliation discussions billed to hold at the presidential villa last night. Party leaders from the state including Ambassador Aminu Wali (Nigerian ambassador to China) and the former speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon. Ghali Na’aba, and others had arrived at the party’s headquarters to witness the inauguration ceremony. However, the party leadership went into a closed-door meeting with the stakeholders after newsmen had been excused from the venue of the event. Although it was not officially stated, it was learnt that Colonel Habibu Shuaibu was to be sworn in as the chairman of the care-taker committee of the party in Kano State. Those to be inaugurated alongside the former military tactician are said to be those in opposition to Governor Kwankwaso within the party in the state. But briefing newsmen on the outcome of the meeting with the Kano PDP stakeholders behind the closed door, the party’s national publicity secretary, Chief Olisa Metuh, said the stakeholders were at the party’s national headquarters to brief the NWC on the need to constitute a caretaker committee of the party in the state because the Alhaji Adamu Aliyu Sumaila-led state Exco had served out its term since August 14, 2013. He said “the PDP family in Kano came to inform that the state Exco had expired with effect from 14th of August. In view of this, the NWC wishes to stress that since nature abhors vacuum, it would appoint a caretaker committee soon to run the affairs of the state, pending the time an election would hold to elect new state officials”. Tukur, Baraje in war of words The new PDP has charged national chairman of the old PDP, Alhaji Bamanga Tukur, to purge himself of undemocratic postures tearing the party apart. It also warned Tukur to stop making inflammatory statements capable of derailing the efforts of the Elders’ Committee of the party under the leadership of Olusegun Obasanjo to restore normalcy and unity amongst PDP members. A statement by the national publicity secretary of the splinter party, Chief Eze Chukwuemeka Eze, also chided Tukur for threatening to suspend or expel state governors and members of the National Assembly that are indentifying with the true leadership of PDP under Alhaji Abubakar Kawu Baraje. But, responding, Tukur said he would not be provoked into making statements that would jeopardise the reconciliation efforts. The national publicity secretary of the PDP, Chief Oliseh Metuh, said, “We will not exchange words with our aggrieved brothers. Reconciliation is ongoing and we will not provoke a dislocation of the reconciliation. “Our focus is to redouble our effort to ensure that our party members rededicated themselves to the party and for our elected and appointed representatives to work harder now more than ever in satisfying the yearnings of Nigerians.” No new PDP in Bayelsa - Gov Dickson group The leadership of the PDP in Bayelsa State has denied the existence of a new PDP in the state, saying the party remained a united body marching ahead to fulfil its destiny as laid down by the founding fathers. In a statement in Yenagoa, the secretary of PDP in the state, Hon. Keku Godpower ,stated that any insinuation to the contrary was false and could only be the handiwork of mischief makers, adding that the state chapter of the PDP was not factionalized and would continue to be committed to President Goodluck Jonathan, the state governor Hon. Seriake Dickson and the national leadership of the party. PDP Crisis: Jonathan, 5 G7 Govs In Closed-door Meeting In what appeared to be a desperate move by President Goodluck Jonathan to weld together the bits and pieces of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) which had dissolved into internal crisis, the president last night entered into a closed-door meeting with four of the G7 governors of the party who stormed out of the party’s special convention penultimate Saturday. The four G7 governors who attended the meeting were Babangida Aliyu (Niger), Murtala Nyako (Adamawa), Sule Lamido (Jigawa) and Aliyu Wamakko (Sokoto). The meeting which started at about 9:18pm at the first lady’s conference room at the Presidential Villa was ongoing at press time. Journalists were asked to stay away from the venue of the meeting on the grounds that it was private. Presidency sources told LEADERSHIP that the presidency had resolved to keep journalists far away from such private meetings in order avoid any suspicion of a set-up from the governors. The other three G7 governors who did not attend the meeting were Rotimi Amaechi (Rivers), Rabiu Kwankwaso (Kano) and Abdulfatai Ahmed ((Kwara). LEADERSHIP gathered, however, that Kwankwaso and Ahmed could not attend the meeting because they had travelled out of the country.
Posted on: Wed, 11 Sep 2013 07:15:07 +0000
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