It was called at the instance of former president Olusegun Obasanjo and was meant, among others, to assess the crisis that has bedeviled the PDP as well as the circumstances surrounding the conflict that the May 24 election of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF) brought about, LEADERSHIP gathered.
The former president was said to have personally written all the governors elected on the PDP platform, inviting them for the meeting.
This is the first time such a meeting was taking place since the controversial NGF election, which saw the re-emergence of the Rivers State governor, Rotimi Amaechi, as chairman of the governors’ elite caucus: both factions of the NGF represented by Amaechi and the Plateau State governor, Jonah Jang, were in attendance.
A source close to the parley gave indications that none of the governors elected on the platform of the PDP is happy with Tukur. The national chairman of the ruling party has not called a meeting of the governors since he came on board, he said.
According to him, the crisis in the PDP would not have degenerated to its present state had Obasanjo shown keen interest in the affairs of the party. The former president’s body language was worrisome, the source said.
He expressed optimism that, with the former president’s intervention, the tension within the PDP would “mellow and far-reaching decisions shall be taken to overhaul the PDP”.
But the source said Obasanjo’s acceptance to broker peace among warring tendencies in the PDP was not a tea party. He, however, stated that the parley would resolve all issues as, according to him, the former president had given indications that every bit of crisis within the PDP would be resolved before all those in attendance would be allowed to leave the villa.
He said: “There is no pretence about it; everyone missed ‘Baba’ (Obasanjo) for the brief period he remained indifferent to affairs in the PDP. We were all worried about the body language of the former president because his refusal to be part of activities in the party became a general thing to worry about. Also, there is this impression that the former president and President Jonathan were fighting; we know there is nothing like that but there is the need to close up the relationship more effectively than before, which is why some of us made efforts to reach out to Chief Obasanjo to intervene in the crisis because it is not good for both the PDP and the presidency.
“For now, you all know that even though the APC cannot go anywhere, its approval to be registered as a party is shaking everybody and putting all on their toes; this is coupled with the fact that some governors who are close to him have become more and more radical.
“We just thought that the former president can talk to them and douse the tension in the party because they are all his boys who will listen to him when he talks to them.
“The assurance is that, after tonight’s meeting, PDP will not be the same crisis-ridden way you see it now; everything would have been put to rest except that the only issue we as stakeholders have had to contend with is that of the national chairman of the party.”
According to the party chieftain, as national chairman of the PDP, Tukur had not called a meeting of all PDP governors before the commencement of the crisis. He said the only attempt made by Tukur was marred by poor attendance — only four PDP governors attended. The meeting, according to him, had to be postponed.
He alleged that, ever since, Tukur has been holding isolated meetings with individual governors, a situation he said had accentuated mutual distrust and suspicion among the governors. “We must reorganize PDP if we must win in 2015,” he warned.
The meeting which had dragged into the early hours of today was preceded by an all-night meeting of President Jonathan and governors loyal to him on Sunday night.
The governors, especially those of the PDP, had left the venue of their NGF factional meeting in Maitama, Abuja, for the presidential villa to confer with the president.
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