A shameful display of political partisanship, poor planning and manipulation, left the Presidency in default damage control mode, after the opposition All Progressive Congress (APC) accused President Goodluck Jonathan of conscienceless public grandstanding with the rising insecurity in the country, fueled by the Boko Haram insurgency. The ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), was still trying to mend broken fences and those that are about to break, after it emerged that PDP governors met secretly with the President, while opposition governors had been cavalierly informed that the meeting had been called off.
The APC was not amused and are demanding an apology. APC leader, General Mohammadu Buhari, in a statement Thursday, demanded an apology from the PDP; not only for the snub, but also for comments attributed to PDP officials, who continue to blame the APC for the endless Boko Haram terrorism that has transformed the northern part of the country into a huge killing field.
Huhuonline.com understands that some PDP governors led by Godswill Akpabio are strongly of the opinion that the Boko Haram insurgency is a political agenda by the north-dominated APC; and so asked that they be excluded from the meeting between the President and the nation’s 36 governors; to discuss the degenerating security situation, in the wake of the suicide bombing in Abuja that killed 72 people and injured over 164 others. The Presidency had on Wednesday, via a statement by Ruben Abati, Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, invited all governors and the National Security Council for a meeting on Thursday over insecurity in the country.
“The meeting of the National Security Council will be followed at 1300 Hours by an enlarged meeting on security developments in the country to which President Jonathan has invited State Governors. President Jonathan, members of the National Security Council and the state governors will review the security situation in the country as well as ongoing national security measures and operations with a view to determining the best way forward,” Abati said in the statement.
But the meeting was rescheduled to next Wednesday, ostensibly because the APC governors failed to show up. It was thus with a sense of shock that opposition governors learnt the meeting held with only PDP governors in attendance. As the brickbat exchanges intensified, and with both sides trading accusations, Akwa Ibom State Governor and president of the PDP Governors Forum, Godswill Akpabio, insisted that only PDP governors were invited for Thursday’s meeting. Speaking to State House correspondents at the end of the two hour meeting, Akpabio said, the PDP met separately with the President and the security chiefs because they are the ruling party; and it was incumbent on them to concert first before meeting the other opposition governors. He intimated that the decision to include the opposition governors in the meeting followed their consideration that the Boko Haram insurgency was a national issue affecting the whole country.
Hear Akpabio; “This is a fall out of our meeting which we held with PDP governors and we felt that there was a need for us and also meet with security chiefs. Mr. President has listened to us and even said that since it is a problem that involves all the state of the federation, it is better for all the state governors to be in attendance. Because of that he has graciously agreed to meet with all the governors of the 36 states of the federation on Wednesday by 4pm. Of course you know we are very much concerned first as PDP governors and the center belongs to the PDP and so we felt that we should see our dear president and if need be with some of the security chiefs.”
“He has graciously listened to us and he said since it is a national issue we must have all the 36 governors in attendance. So I believe strongly notice will be going out and all governors will be meeting with Mr. President and service chiefs next week Wednesday so we can sit and discuss and proffer solutions to the current insecurity in the country. I believe it will come to an end.” Akpabio further stated that all the governors of the 36 states of the federation will be invited for next week’s meeting.
But the APC found Akpabio’s explanations, trifling and an afterthought excuse to douse the inferno of public criticisms that trailed the decision by the president to meet secretly with the PDP governors. APC National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, accused the PDP of outright deceit and lies-telling. He said the APC governors were misled by the Presidency, hence their absence from the security meeting. Alhaji Lai Mohammed said the truth of the matter is that the governors were given the impression that the meeting had been called off, hence they did not attend.
In his words, “on Wednesday, the Presidency called the Chief Detail of the Kwara State Government to say that the meeting has been called off. On the basis of this information, which apparently got to other Governors under the aegis of the APC, our Governors did not attend. “Now that the meeting has been held, it is incumbent on the Presidency to launch an investigation into the source of the call to the Kwara State Government and what the call was meant to achieve, “ he said.
