Presidency, G7 governors’ peace deal crumbles • Amaechi, Kwankwaso, Wamakko, Lamido, others’ demands may stall tomorrow’s meeting via TheSun Barely 24 hours to the scheduled reconciliation meeting between President Goodluck Jonathan and a group of seven aggrieved Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, governors popularly called G7 at the presidential villa, Abuja, there are strong indications that the talk may again end in a deadlock as some of the governors may boycott the meeting. Beside the boycott which will largely affect discussions at the meeting if it eventually holds, the determination of the group to stick to their demands is another indication that the peace initiative may have irredeemably crumbled. This is even as another part of the reconciliation effort being spearheaded by the National Security Adviser, (NSA), Mr Sambo Dasuki has already been stalled. Saturday Sun had about a fortnight ago reported the fresh bid by the presidency. The governors involved in the peace talks include the governors of Kano, Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso; Sokoto, Aliyu Wammako; Jigawa, Sule Lamido; Adamawa, Murtala Nyako; Niger, Babangida Aliyu; Kwara, Abdulfatah Ahmed and Rivers, Rotimi Chibuike Amaechi. President Goodluck Jonathan had begun the peace move with series of meetings with the G7 governors in Abuja. The meeting could however not continue since October following deeper cracks in the ruling PDP. Following the recent discreet intervention of Sambo to persuade the governors to return to the roundtable, a meeting has already been scheduled by the Chief of Staff to the president, Chief Mike Oghiadomhe for both parties to resume talks tomorrow, Sunday, November 24 at the First Lady’s conference room at the presidential villa by 9pm. But the latest move by the NSA who is said to be more worried about the security implications of the feud between the president and the governors has however crumbled even before the scheduled meeting due to what a source called the “endless lists of demands by the aggrieved governors and the security report indicating that some of them may boycott the meeting under one excuse or the other.” A reliable source in the presidency told Saturday Sun when asked about the update on the Sambo’s move that “the much I can tell you now is that the NSA has initiated the process but obviously the several demands from the aggrieved governors are not helping matters and as such we cant see any progress being made.” When asked what the governors’ demands were, the top presidential aide said “some of their demands for peace include the same conditions they have tabled before the president in the previous meetings which include the resolution of the crisis in Rivers state in favour of Governor Rotimi Amaechi, removal of the PDP national chairman, Dr Bamanga Tukur and protection from the activities of some law enforcement agencies. Don’t forget that the NSA has been part of the past meetings with the president and he knows that most of these demands are not only political but also personal or selfish. The last week’s invasion of Jigawa state by the EFCC has also made the process somehow difficult and crashed whatever level of confidence that was being built before between us and the governors’ camp.” The source further disclosed that “a critical review of the process clearly shows that the governors’ demands are political in nature which can only be addressed or resolved by only one person and that’s the president; whereas the NSA is only trying to approach the issue from a security point of view or perspective, to avoid a total break down of law and order in the seven states and by implication across the country. What this translates to is that there is little or nothing the NSA can do about their demands and that is why the meeting tomorrow would have been the ideal place to make concessions on some of these issues but from intelligence already, there are plans by some of the aggrieved governors to boycott the meeting while those that will attend if not shifted last minute will stick to their earlier demands. But given his determination to continue with his persuasion, we never can tell if there will be a shift of ground soon but that is the thin hope left in the latest effort to bring the two parties back to the discussion table.” Meanwhile, prominent citizens have begun to express fears over the security implications should the crisis be allowed to fester into the 2015 election year. Kano state governor, Rabiu Kwankwaso had spoken in this direction when he recently expressed fear that if the current political trend continues in the ruling PDP, “only God Knows what will happen in 2015.” He identified lack of listening ears and the existence of other undemocratic activities by the party’s leadership as some of the major problems bedeviling the party. The Acting National Chairman of African Renaissance Party, Chief Emenazu Jackson, had also said his expectation from any meeting between the governors and the NSA, is that the Rivers State Commissioner of Police Mbu Joseph Mbu, should be redeployed with immediate effect. According to him, “Mbu is a threat to democracy and the security of the state.” He said Mbu had exhibited the highest level of disrespect to the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. Speaking on the same issue, a retired Commissioner of Police and a prominent member of the Northern Elders Forum, Abubakar Tsav told Saturday Sun that the implications of the crisis dragging into 2015 is not only grave for the nation’s democracy but the survival of Nigeria as a country. According to him, “If the issues raised by these governors especially the situation in Rivers where a police commissioner is alleged to be more powerful than the state governor, are not addressed, they are capable of affecting what happens in 2015. “If they are all sincere on both sides and committed to the welfare of the citizenry, it is better for them to resolve these issues now before we go into the 2015 elections to save the nation of the looming security breaches this situation is capable of bringing upon the nation.”
Posted on: Sat, 23 Nov 2013 10:59:28 +0000
Trending Topics
© 2015