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.
It said there was no reason why any governor would not honour an invitation by the President.
The
statement reads in part,“There is therefore nothing extraordinary about
the correct decision of the two governors to meet with the President,
even as we note that the decision by some PDP governors to attend the
meeting is purely within their prerogative.
“The decision by the
governors to leave the PDP is irreversible, in spite of the meeting.
Therefore, Governors Wamakko and Kwankwaso remain APC governors.”
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