SAN FRANCISCO, September 11, (THEWILL) – The end to the festering crisis in the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) appears not in sight, at least for now, as yet another peace talks between President Goodluck Jonathan and the aggrieved state governors has ended in a stalemate .
Impeccable presidency sources disclosed that just as the previous peace parleys, the two warring factions appear not ready to shift ground and concede to the demands of one another.
When the meeting ended early Wednesday morning, representatives of the G7 governors, Alhaji Sule Lamido, Aliyu Magatakarda Wamakko, Mu’azu Babangida Aliyu and Murtala Nyako, who met with Jonathan and two of his loyalists, Governors Liyel Imoke of Cross River and Ibrahim Dankwambo of Gombe, stood their ground on their demands.
The demands included that which asked Jonathan to either forget his 2015 ambition or drop Vice President Namadi Sambo for one of them as. his running mate in the 2015 election.
The aggrieved governors also insisted on the sack of the national chairman of the party, Alhaji Bamanga Tukur; lifting of the suspension of Governor Rotimi Chibuike Amaechi and the reinstatement of the Adamawa State executives of the party.
Meanwhile, the Kawu Baraje faction of PDP has attributed the failure of the talks to the move to take over the party’s structures in the States of the governors loyal to Baraje’s leadership.
While commending Jonathan and PDP elders for their efforts at resolving the crisis, the group in a statement by its National Publicity Secretary, Eze Chukwuemeka Eze, advised Tukur and his team to reverse their decision and “any other action capable of worsening the crisis.”
Eze’s statement came as the Special Adviser to the President on Political Matters, Ahmed Gulak, who briefed journalists on the outcome of the meeting, said efforts were still ongoing to reconcile the aggrieved members, describing the meeting as successful.
“What we are saying is that the elders are talking. We are talking in accordance with the law of the land and of the party. So we are on peace course. Both parties are being made to understand what are involved.
The party constitution, the Nigerian constitution and other issues that are concerned; about the last night meeting, everybody was happy. Further meetings are expected,” Gulak explained.
But the Baraje group has continued to blame Tukur for the failure of the peace efforts, saying some people are “feeding fat on the crisis.”
The group said: “Mr. President should not be deceived by some party leaders who are making him believe that he can do without us. Most of these leaders currently cannot under a properly organised free and fair elections win their wards.”
Maintaining that “no presidential election in Nigeria can be won without states like Rivers, Kano, Sokoto, Adamawa, Kwara,Niger and Kebbi States,” which it currently controls, the group asked Tukur to stop attacking former President Olusegun Obasanjo and chairman of the PDP Board of Trustees, Chief Tony Anenih.
“Actually, we are asking that internal democracy be allowed to thrive within the party and that Tukur and his undemocratic gang should not see the party as their personal property in which they can wake up any day and fire whoever they dreamt about in their sleep. We will no longer condone such undemocratic reasoning and acts.
“No matter how many times he wants to take us to court to ask that we be committed to prison, we are not deterred or afraid of going to prison. We are adamant on achieving our aim of restoring democratic normalcy within the PDP as envisaged by the founding fathers of the party.
“This is a battle to which we have committed ourselves and there is no going back until undemocratic elements within our party are flushed out as their acts have done much harm and brought much shame to our great party,” the Baraje faction said in its statement.
