PDP CRISIS: Jonathan to meet with Lamido and Aliyu today, Tukur jittery
President Goodluck Jonathan is again set to meet with Governors Sule Lamido of Jigawa and Babangida Aliyu of Niger.
The two are the only remaining governor members of the rival faction of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
The meeting, slated for today, is said to be causing a lot of anxiety for the National Chairman of the party, Bamanga Tukur, after reports that he might be ‘sacrificed’ to enable peace reign in the party.
Vanguard reports:
Sunday Vanguard gathered that the meeting, scheduled to take place at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, will also have in attendance the Chairman, Board of Trustees, BoT, of PDP, Chief Tony Anenih, as well as some leaders and stakeholders of the party.
Lamido and Aliyu had stayed back in the PDP after their five colleagues in the G7, the platform on which they fought the PDP leadership, defected to the opposition All Progressive Congress (APC). The five governors who defected are Rotimi Amaechi
(Rivers), Abdufatah Ahmed (Kwara), Murtala Nyako (Adamawa), Aliyu Wammako (Sokoto) and Rabiu Kwankwaso (Kano).
The meeting is a follow up to the one Jonathan and Sambo held last Sunday with the governors elected on the platform of PDP where problems affecting the party were raised, but there was no consensus, especially as it came after the defection of the five of the governors in the G7 to the APC.
The Tukur camp is said to be jittery ahead of today’s meeting because of the condition given by the rebel governors that the PDP National Chairman must go as the only solution to the political logjam in the ruling party against the backdrop that since he became Chairman of the PDP in 2012, the party has not seen peace because of what they described as his poor administrative style.
Sunday Vanguard was told, last night, that Lamido and Aliyu would represent their former colleagues in the G7 at the meeting by proxy. In essence, the President seems to still want the five governors who defected back in the PDP.
At last Sunday’s meeting, the position was said to have been canvassed that Tukur could be dropped in March next year during the mid term convention.
It was also gathered that the 16 PDP governors under Akpabio leadership will meet today at Akwa Ibom Governor’s Lodge, Asokoro, Abuja.
Meanwhile, Tukur has described the alleged move to remove him by the governors as mere speculation, just as he said he was not moved by the report.
Speaking with Sunday Vanguard through his Special Assistant, Media, Prince Oliver Okpala, the PDP National Chairman said, “Bamanga Tukur is not moved by the political speculation on the pages of newspapers that he will be sacrificed in the reconciliation movement because he has paid his dues as the National Chairman of the party and as one of the founding fathers of the PDP.
“He is ever ready to take the PDP to greater heights and ensure more electoral victory for the party in 2014 and 2015. It is a political speculation.”
