Peace talks resume today
Atiku/Governors faction urges court to stop Tukur
The civil war in the Peoples Democratic Party
(PDP) is likely to escalate, with aggrieved
governors giving four conditions for peace.
They tabled the conditions at a meeting on
Sunday night with President Goodluck
Jonathan, 16 governors, and the Chairman of
the Board of Trustees (BoT) of a faction of the
party, Chief Tony Anenih.
The conditions are that:
•factional National Chairman Bamanga Tukur
should be sacked;
•President Jonathan should do one term only
and forget re-election in 2015;
•the Nigeria Governors Forum (NGF) and Rivers
State crises should be resolved; and
•”harassment” of governors by the Economic
and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC)
should be stopped.
Attempts were made to narrow the conditions
to two but no progress was made, The Nation
learnt.
The two factions only succeeded in setting
agenda for resumption of talks today.
But the National Secretary of the Atiku-
Governors faction of the PDP, Prince
Olagunsoye Oyinlola, said yesterday that
despite the intervention by Jonathan, ex-
President Olusegun Obasanjo and other party
leaders, members of the New PDP would not
abandon their struggle.
Oyinlola, who issued a statement in Abuja, said
the faction would not disappoint members in
the mission to make the PDP work again in the
interest of Nigeria and its people.
Sources said that Sunday’s meeting was a no-
holds-barred type, with Jonathan feeling
overwhelmed.
It was gathered that the seven governors, who
were represented by four of their colleagues,
complained lack of internal democracy in the
party and “repression” by the Presidency.
“The governors demanded the removal of the
factional National Chairman of PDP, Alhaji
Bamanga Tukur to have genuine reconciliation
in the party, a source said, adding: “They also
asked the President to stick to the agreement
he purportedly had with party leaders to spend
one term in office. They urged Jonathan to
come out openly on his rumoured re-election
bid in 2015.
They listed the crises in the NGF and Rivers
State and promotion of parallel party structure
in some PDP states as their grouses.
Another source at the session said Kwankwaso
spoke first, complaining against the use of
EFCC by the Presidency to witch-hunt
governors who have mere political
disagreements with the President.
Said the source: “Kwankwaso cited the arrest
and prosecution of a son of the Governor of
Jigawa State, Alhaji Sule Lamido, by the EFCC.
He insisted that the prosecution of Lamido’s
son was triggered by the Presidency when it
was obvious that the victim was on a medical
trip to Egypt.
“Kwara State Governor Abdulfatah Ahmed,
whose brother was recently grilled by one of
the anti-graft agencies over alleged N60million
contract, was quoted as saying ‘I have been
facing EFCC probe because I served in the
executive of Senator Bukola Saraki. There is an
atmosphere of fear in Kwara over activities of
the EFCC’.
Governors Jonah Jang, Godswill Akpabio, and
Gabriel Suswam reportedly pleaded for
understanding.
Jang was said to have attributed the challenges
being faced by the party to what he called
“deception”.
The source quoted Jang as saying: “People
should not be using deception in politics. The
same people who said I should go and contest
for the NGF chairmanship as a consensus
candidate later moved against me. As adults,
we should not engage in politics of deception.
“On EFCC investigation, this should not be an
issue because it applies to everyone. For three
years, I was placed under investigation by the
commission.”
Suswam spoke in a similar manner, saying
EFCC was not the problem because “I am also
being investigated”.
Akpabio was quoted as saying: “I do not see
anything bad in EFCC investigation. My sister,
who was on a medical trip, was sent back from
Germany because she is a relation of a
political office holder.
“I think we should all give peace a chance
because nobody will be in office for life.”
A worried factional Chairman of the Board of
Trustees of PDP, Chief Tony Anenih, pleaded
with the aggrieved governors to give peace a
chance, it was learnt.
Jonathan, according to the sources, described
the party’s challenges as “resolvable”.
Another source quoted Jonathan as follows: “All
the problems analysed are within human
capacity, we will address them.
“Those within my powers, I will address them
personally and those for the party, I will get
the party to address them
“But we should all remember that PDP is a
party in all localities in Nigeria and because of
that we will not allow anything that will
undermine the PDP.”
There were attempts to build a consensus on
some of the problems, but two were “nasty” –
in the view of a source. These are removal of
Tukur and dumping of second term ambition
by Jonathan.
Oyinlola said despite intervention, the struggle
would go on.
Oyinlola’s statement reads in part: “Alhaji
Baraje and other leaders of the party
appreciate the overwhelming outpouring of
support and encouragement from genuine
members and leaders of the party across the
country.
“We assure them that we will not disappoint
them in the mission to make the PDP work
again in the interest of Nigeria and its people.
“We also appreciate the efforts of leaders of
the party, particularly President Goodluck
Jonathan and former President Olusegun
Obasanjo who, we note, have scheduled a
meeting of the party elders for this week.
“We respect the elders and will be guided by
them even as we stress that we will not
abandon the ideals of justice and fairness that
gave birth to the new party leadership under
Alhaji Baraje.
“We equally call on all party members across
the country to remain peaceful and law abiding
as the PDP rescue process is being pursued
with vigour.
“We owe the coming generation of Nigerians a
duty of ensuring that impunity and
dictatorship do not take any root in our
democracy and, indeed, in our nation.”
The new party commiserated with families,
associates and friends of the Adamawa State
delegates who died in Saturday’s road crash.
0 100000:
Post a Comment