‘Eight hurdles PDP must quickly clear

A CLEARER picture of what the feuding camps of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, discussed at their Sunday’s make-or-mar meeting in Abuja emerged yesterday. To resolve the raging inferno, both camps, Vanguard gathered, identified at least eight thorny issues that must be amicably resolved. Some of the issues were ironed out through a joint resolution, a few were partially resolved and the very contentious ones that inflamed passions and on which the meeting couldn’t reach an agreement were farmed out to a committee to be raised by the party to try and resolve them ahead of the October 7 rescheduled meeting.

For instance, the leadership crisis in Adamawa State PDP was resolved in favour of Governor Murtala Nyako. The state executive committee loyal to him, which was dissolved by the Alhaji Bamanga Tukur-led national leadership will be reinstated. However, the squabble over party structure in Rivers State was not resolved. It is one of the issues that will be tackled by the yet-to-be empanelled committee. Among the eight issues are stopping President Jonathan from seeking re-election in 2015, disagreements over appointment of ministers, recall of Governor Amaechi from suspension and removal of Bamanga Tukur as National Chairman.

To discuss the outcome of the meeting, governors of the new PDP met last night, while Governor Rotimi Amaechi has called the meeting of the NGF today. Attendance of the meetings, conduct of participants and discussions therein will show how deep the unfolding reconciliation efforts have gone.

This is coming as chairman of the PDP Governors’ Forum and Governor of Akwa Ibom Sttate, Godswill Akpabio, said that the PDP cannot afford to allow the crisis in the party to linger for too long because of its dire consequences for the nation as Special Adviser to the President on Political Matters, Ahmed Gulak said the crises would be resolved in accordance with the constitutions of the PDP and the country.

Meanwhile, the PDP hierarchy has inaugurated a care-taker committee for the Kano State chapter of the party, which it dissolved last week.

Chairman PDP Governors’ Forum, Governor Godswill Akpabio of Akwa Ibom State briefing State House Correspondents on the meeting between President Goodluck Jonathan and the aggrieved PDP Governors at the State House, Abuja. 

Decisions of the meeting

Sources at the meeting told Vanguard that although all the issues have not been resolved, ‘tremendous success has been recorded and we have agreed to resolve the issues quietly.”

Said one of the sources: “We agreed that there should be no more writings in the media because some of the issues are personal and they are not something you redress in the media. We agreed to set up a committee to iron out the issues and implement the resolutions we reached.

“In Rivers, the party structure is the major problem. We agreed that the Board of Trustees should get involved and get both parties to withdraw the matter from the court so that we can arrive at a harmonious result.

In Adamawa, we agreed to re-integrate the party structure that was dissolved. The party structure before it was dissolved was with the governor and he demanded that it should be re-instated and we agreed. There was no Tukur’s structure in the first place. We had always agreed that the dissolution of the Adamawa exco cannot be allowed to stand.”

According to one of the sources, both camps presented their grievances frankly, and the resolutions were a matter of give and take. “The committee being set up will look at the issues, there are about eight of them in number and resolve them quietly. The Baraje nPDP/Amaechi and the Tukur PDP have agreed on the methodology of settling the issues. We will not allow the crisis to fester because PDP is too large. If there is problem in the PDP, it will affect the whole nation.”

Reconciliation process ‘ll achieve permanent solution –Akpabio

Speaking with State House correspondents after meeting with President Goodluck Jonathan, Akpabio said the reconciliation process initiated by the president would achieve a permanent solution when the parties involved in the crisis meet again on October 7.

According to him, “we have started a process of total reconciliation and of course you know the house is very large, very robust and PDP is very entrenched and there is no way we can have internal wrangling without being able to resolve it. So, clearly speaking it was just a family disagreement and the processes are in place now to bring everybody on board and Nigerians are very happy”.

He said the meeting on Sunday night agreed that the issue of the president contesting again in 2015 should not be a basis for discussion because everybody is entitled to have ambition.

“On the issue of 2015, both sides agreed that it wasn’t an issue for discussion because every single person has a right to have ambition. Some of the governors may have ambition like I have ambition to go to Senate and you can’t discuss anything about another person’s ambition. You are the only person that can discuss your own ambition. Ambition is personal. So both parties agreed to that, “ he said.

He said modalities have been put in place to resolve all disagreements within the party, saying that all the issues would be handled individually.

“The disagreement differs from state to state. So, it wasn’t as if there was a major issue with all PDP governors. There were few states that had difficulties. Some states complained about their delegates not being allowed entry to Eagles Square, some complained about party positions and some had court issues. But these are all things that we cannot allow to affect the fabric of the party and of course by implication the fabric of the nation because the PDP is Nigeria.

“We have been in power for the past 14 years and Nigerians have confidence that this is the only truly national party that expresses true aspirations of all and sundry and of course it is also the only party that is not owned by any individual. It’s a party that belongs to all Nigerians. Even the market woman in Sokoto claims ownership of the PDP and of course the same thing with the trader in Akwa Ibom state. The same thing with somebody in the south west and the same thing in south east. So, the PDP is Nigeria and so anything that affects the PDP will affect the entire country. And so that is why we commend the President for the peace process, for his humility and for his decision to be a father to all and for behaving like a good shepherd where if one single sheep goes astray, he abandons the 99 to go and pick that one. And that was the spirit and everybody is coming on board now. That process is going to be concluded on the 7th of October. We are all very excited.
The issues raised by aggrieved governors

“We have put in place methodologies of settling them and of course it’s a process issue. Process is on. It was in the first place an internal issue of the PDP and so we are going to settle it internally and if you want to know how it is going to be settled, then you have to leave being a journalist to join the PDP family”, he said.

He dismissed fears that opposition parties may use the opportunity created by the crisis in the PDP to poach some members of the party.

“In the first place, the controversy was too minor for the opposition to feast on. Which opposition are you talking about, is it APC? Well, you know the only thing I can see for the APC, in 2015 is that they will change their name. They normally change names. That is the only thing I know. I think they used to be AC, later they changed to ACN, then of course they now linked it with CPC and now they turn to APC and by 2015 it will be Panadol,” the governor said.