Aggrieved PDP Governors, Others Outline Grievances Against Jonathan

In a statement released in Abuja Monday, the
governors said they were displeased that Mr.
Jonathan had shown no commitment to
addressing the issues they raised at past
meetings with him. The governors are Rabiu
Musa Kwankwaso (Kano), Aliyu Wamakko
(Sokoto), Chibuike Amaechi (Rivers), Sule
Lamido (Jigawa), Aliyu Babangida (Niger),
Abdulfatai Ahmed (Kwara), and Murtala Nyako
(Adamawa).
The statement was signed by the National
Publicity Secretary of the new PDP,
Chukwuemeka Eze. It disclosed that members
of the PDP faction met Sunday night in Abuja,
Nigeria’s capital, and deliberated on issues
brought to the president’s attention by the
aggrieved governors at two separate meetings
they held with Mr. Jonathan.
The statement revealed that some of the
aggrieved governors’ demands included “the
need to reverse the impunity in Rivers State,
where a sitting Governor was suspended from
the party against the constitution of the Federal
Republic of Nigeria and the PDP Constitution,
and refusing to uphold the result of the Nigeria
Governors’ Forum election that saw Governor
Amaechi winning 19 to 16 votes against
Governor Jang.”
According to Mr. Eze’s statement, the splinter
group also demanded the removal of Bamanga
Tukur as the party’s national chairman, citing
the flawed nature of his election into the post.
They also called for an end to what they called
“the impunity in Adamawa State,” adding that
their demands would put the PDP “in a strong
position as a political party but for reasons not
too clear to some of us failed to receive the
blessing of Mr. President.”
Mr. Eze stated that the faction’s Sunday
meeting noted with sadness that, instead of
President Jonathan critically examining and
acting on some of the issues raised, Mr.
Jonathan had looked the other way as
members of the new PDP in various states of
Nigeria were being persecuted, humiliated
through the unfair use of state power, arrested
and put into prison as reportedly happened in
Bayelsa and Gombe States. He suggested that
the acts of intimidation demonstrated a disdain
for peace and represented a plot to destroy the
party.
Prominent members of the new PDP who
attended Sunday’s meeting included Governors
Kwankwaso, Wamakko, Nyako, Amaechi, and
Lamido. Other participants included former
Governors Adamu Aliero (Kebbi State), Bukola
Saraki (Kwara State), Danjuma Goje (Gombe
State), and Abdullahi Adamu (Nasarawa State).
The meeting was also attended by the faction’s
national chairman, Abubakar Kawu Baraje;
deputy chairman, Sam Sam Jaja, national
secretary Olagunsoye Oyinlola, and vice-
chairman, North-West, Ibrahim Kazaure, among
others.
The governors of Kwara and Niger States sent
messages explaining their inability to attend the
meeting.