Two Governors of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Aliyu Wamakko (Sokoto) and Rabiu Kwankwaso (Kano), rose from a closed door meeting President Goodluck Jonathan in the early hours of Monday, vowing that the G5 Governors will never return to the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
It will be recalled that five former PDP governors, now known as G5 recently defected to the APC alongside key chieftains of the defunct ‘New PDP’ led by a former acting chairman of PDP, Abubakar Kawu Baraje.
Those that left the PDP are Governors Rotimi Amaechi (Rivers), Muritala Nyako (Adamawa), Rabiu Kwankwaso (Kano), Aliyu Wamakko (Sokoto) and Abdulfatah Ahmed (Kwara).
Their decision to defect was sequel to the defunct ‘new PDP’ merger with the All Progressives Congress (APC).
Governor Wammako, told State House correspondents after the meeting that himself and Governor Rabiu Kwankwaso decided to attend the meeting as a mark of respect for President Jonathan as the father of the nation.
He however, assured on behalf of the G5 that they would never return to the ruling PDP again, saying they had told the President and other key stakeholders in the party the plain truth.
Present at the meeting held at the First Lady Conference room were Vice President Namadi Sambo, Board of Trustees chairman, Tony Anenih, the National Security Adviser, Sambo Dasuki and about 15 PDP governors led by their chairman, Godswil Akpabio of Akwa Ibom state.
Also present was Governor Babangida Aliyu who was the first to arrive the venue. He had backed out of the merger decision immediately it was announced, insisting he was still part and parcel of the PDP and would continue to fight for reform from within. The same also goes for Jigawa governor Sule Lamido.
Governor Wamakko said, “Well, the meeting went on very well because some of us came here as governors. Our position has been known.
“On behalf of the five of us (G5 Governors), I have already briefed Mr. President our positions, G-5 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.
“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”.
On his part, Governor Akpabio said, “I think the meeting we had was part of the dialogue Mr. President initiated months back at that time we had the G-7 governors.
“The last time we met, we met with the G-2 governors and today we had the G-3 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”.
