Despite nPDP/APC Merger President Will Meet G7 Governors Sunday - PDP
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) said that the scheduled meeting between President Goodluck Jonathan and the 7 aggrieved governors would still hold at the Presidential Villa on Sunday.
The two groups, All Progressive Congress (APC) and nPDP said they agreed to merge “in order to rescue our fledgling democracy and the nation.” Seven governors elected on the platform of the PDP belonged to the splinter group.
They are Sule Lamido (Jigawa), Abdulfatah Ahmed (Kwara), Aliyu Wamakko (Sokoto), Musa Kwankwaso (Kano), Chubuike Amaechi (Rivers), Murtala Nyako (Adamawa) and Babangida Aliyu (Niger).
However, Mr. Aliyu claimed that he remained a member of the PDP.
PDP commented on the merger action as follows,
“We wish to state categorically that the PDP remains unperturbed as we are now rid of detractors and distractions."
The PDP also commended the decision of some of the aggrieved governors to dissociate themselves from
the merger, adding “We assure all Nigerians that the PDP will continue to grow from strength to strength and will definitely emerge stronger from this event.”
The National Secretary of the PDP, Wale Oladipo, reacting to the situation, said the merger of the party’s splinter group and the APC would soon collapse. He is also sure that when May 29, 2015 comes, members of the splinter group will want to come back, noting "and like the democrats that we are, we will welcome them with open hands."
Mr. Oladipo, who admitted that the last four months had been challenging for the party, noted that in spite of the challenges, Mr. Jonathan had effectively weathered the storm.
He said, “He has weathered the storm admirably, he has negotiated with these people even many within the party felt that they already have an opinion of where they wanted to go and it was so obvious.
“The president had graciously given them a very long rope to pull.” Mr. Oladipo, who hails from Osun State in the South Western zone of the country, expressed happiness that the rebellion in the PDP did not find a foothold in the zone.
