We will not return to PDP, Governors Wamakko, Kwankwaso tell Jonathan Talatu Usman and Sani Tukur Published: December 9,2013 The governors held a 5-hour meeting with the president. The five aggrieved governors, who recently defected from the ruling Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, to the All Progressives Congress, APC, have informed President Goodluck Jonathan that they have no intention of returning to the PDP. The position of the governors was made known by the Governor of Sokoto state, Aliyu Wamakko, early on Monday morning, after meeting President Jonathan, alongside Governor Rabiu Kwankwaso of Kano State. The meeting between two of the decampee governors and Mr. Jonathan lasted almost five hours. A visibly enraged Mr. Wamakko told journalists after the meeting, which ended at about 3:00 a.m., that they had come to tell the President where they stand. “Well the meeting went on very well because some of us came here as governors. On PDP matter and our position has been known. “On behalf of the five of us, I have already briefed Mr. President our position as G-5 that we are no longer in the PDP mainstream and that we are already in another party. But as a President of this country, if he calls us, we will come and listen to him and respect him as a leader of our country, otherwise what we had there was mostly a PDP affair,” he said. The G-5 governors who joined the APC are Messrs Wamakko and Kwankwaso, Rotimi Amaechi of Rivers, Murtala Nyako of Adamawa, and Abdulfatah Ahmed of Kwara. Messrs Kwankwaso and Wamakko arrived the first Lady’s residence, venue of the meeting, about an hour after Governor Babangida Aliyu of Niger State. The Niger governor and the National Security Adviser, Sambo Dasuki, were already seated at the venue when Messrs Kwankwaso and Wamakko arrived. Mr. Aliyu (and Governor Sule Lamido of Jigawa) was a member of the Abubakar Baraje-led faction of the PDP that announced a merger with the APC. He, however, dissociated himself from the merger, saying he was still a member of the PDP. The Chairman, Board of Trustees of the PDP, Tony Anenih, who also arrived before the two decampee governors, went to confer with the President at his private residence before joining them at the venue. Messrs Jonathan and Vice -President Namadi Sambo arrived the venue at about 9.50 p.m. At 10 p.m., other PDP governors, who had earlier met at the Akwa Ibom State Governors Lodge in Asokoro, arrived the venue of the meeting; and the meeting commenced. Those who arrived alongside the PDP Governors’ Forum Chairman, Godswill Akpabio, were the governors of Abia, Kebbi, Kogi, Katsina, Bauchi, Plateau, Enugu, Cross River, Akwa Ibom, Delta, Ebonyi, Kaduna and Taraba States. At about 1:40 a.m. on Monday morning, the President, Vice President Namadi Sambo, Mr. Anenih, and the NSA left the meeting; and the governors continued till about 3 a.m. Approached by journalists after the meeting, Mr. Wamakko said they could not turn down the President’s invitation, but had told him that they no longer belonged to the PDP. When asked why they took the pains to sit through the whole meeting, despite it being a PDP affair, Mr. Wamakko said, “We had to tell the President and Chairman of the BOT our position. We can’t just be going about talking, we had to come and tell them the truth where the truth must be told and that is why we came here”. Wamakko spoke for himself The Chairman of the PDP Governors forum, Mr. Akpabio, speaking to Journalists shortly after Mr. Wamakko, claimed Mr. Wamakko spoke for himself. Mr. Akpabio said the issue of APC was not discussed at the meeting, but quickly added that if one member of the PDP in a state decided to leave, it does not mean the others will go with him. “Please, you have to distinguish the issue state-by-state. You have to take the issues state-by-state. I wasn’t here when the governor of Sokoto was talking to you and I know that the governor of Sokoto State is just one member of the PDP in Sokoto and if he says he is leaving the PDP, I am sure there are still thousands of other members of PDP who will say we are staying within the PDP. “So you can’t say all hope is lost. How can all hope be lost? The party is very robust, large and as much as possible we are interested in keeping our leaders together. That is why, we as governors are all here. “We will continue dialogue; this is not going to be the end. We have narrowed down few issues which we are taking up with Mr. President and the governors are also going to discuss. You saw the number of governors today, we are more I think 17 or 18 governors and you can be sure that the number will keep increasing,” he said. Mr. Akpabio also noted that three aggrieved governors (Messrs Wamakko, Kwankwaso, and Aliyu) attended the Sunday night meeting, an indication that dialogue was on. “I think the meeting we had was part of the dialogue Mr. President had talked about. Months back at that time we had the G-7 governors. The last time we met, we met with the G-2 governors and today we had the G-3 and so it is part of the continuing dialogue to ensure harmony and peace in the party; and Mr. President is not relenting. “He is very serious about consulting with all strata and all the bigwigs in the party, particularly the governors who are aggrieved with a view to bringing everybody on board and ensuring harmony and unity of the party and the governors. I don’t think the issue of APC was discussed,” he said. When PREMIUM TIMES contacted the spokesperson of Mr. Kwankwaso, Baba Dantiye, over the telephone, he said his principal came back late from the meeting and did not discuss its outcome before retiring to his residence.
Posted on: Mon, 09 Dec 2013 16:08:40 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015