Pages

Monday 9 December 2013

23 LG Chairmen Follow Wamakko to APC •Why We Met Jonathan In Aso Rock -G5 Governors


CHAIRMEN of 23 local government areas in Sokoto, members of the state executive council and their supporters, alongside the Sokoto State governor, Alhaji Aliyu Magatakarda Wamakko, officially announced their defection to the All Progressives Congress (APC), on Monday.
Briefing newsmen at the end of an expanded state executive council meeting held at the Sokoto Government House, the state Commissioner for Information, Malam Nasir Dan’Ladi Bako, said stakeholders at the meeting prevailed on the governor to lead them into joining the APC.
“The meeting analysed state government performance in the last 11 months and what it needed to do for the state in 2014.

“It also analysed the services Governor Wamakko provided for the people of Sokoto in the last six years and what the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP)-led Federal Government did for the state within the period under review and came to the conclusion that the state governor, government and good people of Sokoto should move to the APC,” he said.
Bako, who was assisted by one local government council chairman, as representative of the 23 local council chairmen, two special advisers representing their colleagues and the state secretary of the PDP at the briefing, said the decision by the stakeholders was long overdue, as the people of Sokoto had taken a long time waiting for the governor to move the state to the APC.
He said the decision to defect to the APC was being hatched in the last five months, through series of meetings between the state government and members of the National Assembly (NASS) from Sokoto, members of the state House of Assembly, local government council chairmen and members of the state executive council.

Why we met Jonathan in Aso Rock –G5 govs
In spite of ongoing efforts to resolve the lingering crisis in PDP, the G5 governors have officially informed President Goodluck Jonathan of their decision to leave the party, in order to pitch tent with APC.
Rising from a five-hour meeting which ended in the early hours of Monday with President Jonathan at the Presidential Villa, Governor Wamakko told State House correspondents that himself and his Kano State counterpart, Rabiu Kwankwaso, were in the Villa to formally inform the president that they had joined APC.
The two governors, along with Rotimi Amaechi (Rivers), Abdulfatah Ahmed (Kwara) and Murtala Nyako (Adamawa) had recently defected to the opposition, following the alleged failure of President Jonathan to meet their demands.
Governors Babangida Aliyu (Niger) and Sule Lamido (Jigawa), members of the original G7 opposed to the national leadership of the PDP, declined to defect to APC along with the five other governors.
The meeting of the two governors with Jonathan started at about 10.00 p.m on Sunday, with Vice President Namadi Sambo,  chairman of the PDP Board of Trustees (BoT), Chief Tony Anenih and the National Security Adviser (NSA), Colonel Sambo Dasuki, in attendance.
Also present were PDP governors, including Aliyu, Theodore Orji (Abia), Saidu Dakingari (Kebbi), Idris Wada (Kogi), Shehu Shema (Katsina), Isa Yuguda (Bauchi), Jonah Jang (Plateau), Sullivan Chime (Enugu), Godswill Akpabio (Akwa Ibom), Liyel Imoke (Cross River), Emmanuel Uduaghan (Delta), Martins Elechi (Ebonyi), Ramallan Yero (Kaduna) and acting governor of Taraba State, Garba Umar.
President Jonathan, however, left the meeting about an hour before it ended.
Speaking at about 2.45 a.m., Wamakko told reporters that the meeting provided the G5 the opportunity to tell the president about the grievances which led them to dump the PDP, but he declined to answer questions on what exactly the grievances were.
“Well, the meeting went on very well, because some of us came here as governors and our position has been known. On behalf of the five of us, I have already briefed Mr President on our position, that we are no longer in the PDP mainstream and that we are already in another party.
“But as a president of this country, if he calls us, we will come and listen to him and respect him as a leader of our country. Otherwise, what we had there was mostly a PDP affair.”
Explaining why they needed a five-hour long meeting to tell the president “the truth” about their grievances, Wamakko said “we had to tell the president and chairman of the BOT our position. We can’t just be going about talking. We had to come and tell them the truth where the truth must be told and that is why we came here.”
Also speaking with State House correspondents after the meeting, chairman of the PDP Governors Forum, Akpabio, said the meeting was part of the ongoing dialogue to restore harmony and peace in the party, noting that the G5 grievances would be approached on state-by-state basis.
According to him, “the last time we met, we met with the G2 governors and today we had the G3 and so it is part of the continuing dialogue to ensure harmony and peace in the party and Mr President is not relenting.
“He is very serious about consulting with all strata and all the bigwigs in the party, particularly the governors who are aggrieved, with a view to bringing everybody on board and ensuring harmony and unity of the party and the governors. I don’t think the issue of APC was discussed.”
On whether all hope is lost going by Wamakko’s claim that the meeting was about officially informing the president of their defection, Akpabio said “please, you have to distinguish the issue state-by-state. You have to take the issues state-by-state.
“I wasn’t here when the governor of Sokoto was talking to you and I know that the governor of Sokoto State is just one member of the PDP in Sokoto and if he says he is leaving the PDP, I am sure there are still thousands of other members of PDP who will say we are staying within the PDP.
“So you can’t say all hope is lost. How can all hope be lost? The party is very robust, large and as much as possible we are interested in keeping our leaders together. That is why, we as governors are all here. We will continue dialogue, this is not going to be the end.
“We have narrowed down few issues which we are taking up with Mr. President and the governors are also going to discuss. You saw the number of governors today, we are more, I think 17 or 18 governors and you can be sure that the number will keep increasing.”
Responding to a question on the actual cause of the PDP crisis, Akpabio said “I think the issues differ from state to state. They are all family issues. They are mostly issues that linger within the PDP and we believe strongly that the President is very poised and determined to ensure there is harmony.”
We’re done finally with PDP —Aggrieved govs
Hope of possible reconciliation between the aggrieved governors in the PDP and President Jonathan dimmed on Monday, as the governors said the party was over between them and the PDP.
Spokesman for the G7 governors, Ibrahim Kazaure, who spoke with Nigerian Tribune, affirmed that the governors would not go back to PDP on the basis that the reason they defected from the ruling party was fundamental and germane.
Kazaure said the governors were already comfortable within the APC, stating that all of them had resolved to work together with the opposition party to dislodge the PDP from power by 2015.
Kazaure told Nigerians not to worry about the G7, with regards to the refrain by the governors of Niger and Jigawa states not to join APC.
He said at the nick of time, the two governors would dump the ruling party, after exploring all available opportunities for making the PDP realise its follies.

No comments:

Post a Comment