President Gooluck Jonathan, Tuesday night held a crucial meeting with the Governors loyal to him and the Bamanga Tukur-led Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to find a way out of the crisis rocking the ruling party.
The meeting ought to be attended by the seven aggrieved governors of Rivers, Niger, Sokoto, Adamawa, Jigawa, Kano and Kwara but they boycotted it, giving indication that the crisis may be a prolonged one.
Disturbed by the turn of event at the special convention of the party last Saturday, which led to the declaration of a ‘New PDP’ and formation of a parallel national executive committee, President Jonathan hurriedly convened peace talks with all PDP governors.
The meeting held at the Presidential Villa on Sunday night was attended by only 16 Governors. They were Governors Babangida Aliyu (Niger), Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso
(Kano), Isa Yuguda (Bauchi), Murtala Nyako (Adamawa), Idris Wada (Kogi), Liyel Imoke (Cross River), Godswill Akpabio (Akwa Ibom) and Abdulfatah Ahmed (Kwara).
Others were Emmanuel Uduaghan (Delta), Ibrahim Shema (Katsina), Mukhtar Ramallan Yero (Kaduna), Garba Umar (Taraba Acting Governor), Saiidu Dakingari (Kebbi), Theodore Orji (Abia), Ibrahim Dankwambo (Gombe), Jonah Jang (Plateau).
However, since the resume meeting was boycotted by the aggrieved governors, it is expected that the focus would be on the way out- either to continue to press for dialogue or prepare for legal battle.
Already, the ‘New PDP’ as the Atiku’s faction is known, on Monday approached a Lagos High Court, seeking declaration that the Bamanga Tukur-led national executive of PDP is illegal.
