President Goodluck Jonathan and breakaway governors of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) have agreed to postpone the peace meeting called to resolve the ongoing crisis in the party.
Those governors who attended the brief meeting on Monday where the decision was reached were Babangida Aliyu (Niger), Abdulfatah Ahmed (Kwara), Rotimi Amaechi (Rivers) and Rabiu Kwankwaso ( Kano); while those who had already embarked on Hajj — Sule Lamido (Jigawa), Aliyu Wamakko (Sokoto) and Murtala Nyako (Adamawa) — apologised for their absence.
Reading the communiqué issued at the end of the meeting in the company of Babangida Aliyu, Abdulfatah Ahmed, and Idris Wada (Kogi), Governor of Cross Rivers State, Liyel Imoke revealed that no particular date was fixed for the next meeting.
“Sequel to the meeting held on the 15th of September and in line with the agreements reached at the meeting, the governors met with the president, vice president and the chairman of the board of trustees, with apologies from the Governors of Jigawa, Sokoto and Adamawa, who had travelled for the Hajj,” he said.
“The meeting, which was cordial, resolved that in spite of the unfortunate events that arose after the meeting of 15th of September, the parties remain committed to the resolution of the differences.
“The meeting agreed to continue to take steps towards implementing the resolutions agreed at the previous meetings. In view of the absence of some the governors, it was resolved that the meetings be reconvened shortly after the Muslim hajj and Christian pilgrimages are concluded.”
In attendance also were Governor of Akwa Ibom State, Godswill Akpabio and Governor of Katsina State, Ibrahim Shema.
Earlier,Chairman of the breakaway faction of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Alhaji Kawu Baraje mandated those of the G7 governors who haven’t travelled out of the country on to Mecca on lesser Hajj, such as Rotimi Amaechi (Rivers), Babangida Aliyu (Niger) and Rabiu Kwankwaso (Kano) to attend the peace meeting with President Goodluck Jonathan originally scheduled to hold with today, in order to formally seek permission for its postponement.
According to National Publicity Secretary of the faction, Chief Eze Chukwuemeka Eze, a formal permission from the president to move the meeting to a more convenient date when all the governors would have returned from Hajj, will ensure that they are all able to attend.
Earlier, the party demanded the immediate resignation of Alhaji Bamanga Tukur, saying he is not a registered and card-carrying member of the party and as such cannot be National Chairman.
“All the records at our disposal show that Alhaji Tukur has not followed due process for his readmission into the party. He neither apply for, nor obtained the requisite waiver by the National Executive Committee of the party before offering himself for election into the office of National Chairman in 2012. This makes his membership incurably defective and his emergence as PDP’s National Chairman null and void and of no effect whatsoever since he is the product of a flawed process” Eze argued in a statement.
“All the actions he has taken as the Chairman of PDP since his purported election in March 2012, including the illegal, contentious convention of August 2013 are null and void and of no effect.
“Reliable information reaching us from the PDP National Secretariat indicates that Alhaji Tukur is desperately seeking a way out of his predicament and has set about falsifying party records with regard to revalidating his membership through the back door. We wish to put him on notice that this is criminal and we hope he understands the consequences of his actions. In this regard, Alhaji Tukur’s continued occupation of the Office of PDP National Chairman is clearly fraudulent, illegal and unconstitutional.”
