The
meeting President Goodluck Jonathan had with Peoples Democratic Party
governors on Sunday which was aimed at resolving the crisis in the
ruling party ended again in a deadlock in the early hours of Monday.
Contrary to expectation, Governor Rabiu
Kwankwaso of Kano State and his Sokoto State counterpart, Aliyu
Wamakko, who had earlier announced their defection to the All
Progressives Congress, stuck to their guns at the end of the meeting.
Wamakko told State House correspondents
at about 2.15 am on Monday that he used the opportunity of the meeting
to formally inform the President of the defection of five PDP governors,
including himself, to the APC.
He explained that Kwankwaso and himself only attended the meeting out of respect for the President, who invited them.
Wamakko said, “The meeting went on
very well because some of us came here as governors. In the PDP matter,
our position has been known.
“On behalf of the five of us, I have
already briefed Mr. President of 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.”
When asked why he sat through the
meeting which started around 10pm on Sunday and ended in the early hours
of Monday when he knew he was no longer a PDP member, the governor
replied, “We had to tell the President and the Chairman of the PDP BOT
(Chief TonyAnenih) 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.”
Jonathan had on Saturday in France boasted that three of the ex-PDP governors were still “sitting on the fence.”
Apart from Wamakko and Kwankwaso, the
other governors, who left the PDP for the APC are Rotimi
Amaechi(Rivers), Abdulfatah Ahmed(Kwara) and Murtala Nyako(Adamawa).
The Chairman of the PDP Governors
Forum, Godswill Akpabio, however claimed that the defection of the
governors was not discussed during the meeting with Jonathan.
Akpabio also said if Wamakko insisted
on leaving the party, he was only one out of the thousands of PDP
members in Sokoto State.
He said, “I think the meeting we had
was part of the dialogue with Mr. President. 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(Monday), 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.
“You have to distinguish 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 the 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 and large. As much as
possible, we are interested in keeping our leaders together. That is
why, we as governors, are all here.
“We will continue to 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
(Monday), we are more; I think 17 or 18 governors and you can be sure
that the number will keep increasing.
“I think the issues differ from state
to state. They are all family issues. They are mostly issues that linger
within the PDP and we believe strongly that the President is very
poised and determined to ensure there is harmony.”
Akpabio also denied knowledge of media
reports that the PDP governors were demanding the sacking of the
national chairman, Dr. Bamanga Tukur.
Sign that the meeting did not end well
emerged when Anenih hurriedly left the venue of the meeting with the
President and Vice-President Namadi Sambo at about 1.40am.
The National Security Adviser, Col.
Sambo Dasuki (retd.), also left with them, leaving the governors to
continue meeting for about another 30 minutes.
Other governors, who attended the
meeting were those of Abia, Kebbi, Kogi, Katsina, Bauchi, Plateau,
Enugu, Cross River, Akwa Ibom, Delta, Ebonyi, Kaduna and Taraba states.
Before the meeting ended, the APC had
said in a statement by its Interim National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji
Lai Mohammed, that Wamakko and Kwankwaso would not return to the
PDP.
PUNCH NG
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