Rivers, Delta, Akwa Ibom, may now finance party
Fresh woes may be on the way for President Goodluck Jonathan following his ill fated re-election bid.
Most of the governors elected on the platform of his party, the
Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), are understood to be plotting to
sideline him in their plan to rebuild the party.
The governors, outgoing and surviving, want to chart a new course for the party with them in the driving seat.
But they are also disposed to bringing in as many of those frustrated
out by President Jonathan as possible, sources familiar with the
development told The Nation in Abuja yesterday.
Barring any alteration of their plan, the governors are expected to
go full blast from May 29, hijacking the party’s affairs from President
Jonathan whose tenure terminates on that day.
One of those the governors have listed to bring back to the party
under the reformation plan is former President Olusegun Obasanjo, who
shredded his PDP membership card in the run up to the just concluded
presidential election, and publicly campaigned against the President’s
return to office for what he termed below par performance.
Also likely to be brought in is the Second Republic Vice President
Alex Ekwueme, who engineered the founding of the PDP during the late Gen
Sani Abacha regime.
Sources said yesterday that Friday’s public castigation of President
Jonathan by Governor Babangida Aliyu of Niger State for causing the fall
of the PDP from power in the elections, was not a co-incidence.
Aliyu who doubles as Chairman, Northern Governors Forum said in Minna
that President Jonathan and PDP’s defeat in the elections was caused
largely by his failure to keep to the alleged single term agreement he
reached with the North on assumption of office.
Besides, the reformation plan is believed to have informed a recent
meeting in Dutse, Jigawa State attended by Governor Sule Lamido of
Jigawa, ex-Governor Orji Uzor Kalu and others.
“Some PDP governors, ex-governors and party leaders have started
talking on how to revive the party and restore its glory as a democratic
party,” said one source.
“It might involve doing away with the present crop of leaders in the
party to restore the PDP to its pre-1999 era. Some of the present
leaders of the party have been rated as ‘mere usurpers’ because they
have destroyed it.
“One of the issues on the card is how to snatch the party from the
grip of President Jonathan who brought in the present National Working
Committee (NWC) which failed to sustain the party’s winning streak.
“We will not allow any individual to own the party anymore. Even if
you are a former president, you have equal right as any member of the
party. This is what has made the African National Congress (ANC) of
South Africa to survive over the years, including the apartheid period.”
Another source said: “The reformation of PDP might be pioneered by
some of the founding fathers of the party like Chief Ekwueme and other
members of the Board of Trustees of the party.
“It might involve bringing in on board former Vice President Atiku
Abubakar, former national chairmen of the party, ex-governors, past
elected leaders and others who can help to revitalise the party.
“It is going to be a total overhaul of the party from the grassroots
because we realised that we have really lost our goodwill and focus as a
national party.”
Alhaji Atiku has repeatedly said he has no intention whatsoever to dump the All Progressives Congress (APC) for the PDP.
He has turned down several overtures from the leadership of the PDP
to jump ship including a recent personal visit to his Abuja residence by
President Jonathan.
The Nation also gathered that pro-Jonathan forces in the PDP are not prepared to give up.
They are said to have drawn up a revival plan of their own with President Jonathan as the rallying point.
They are looking up to the incoming governors of Akwa Ibom, Delta, Rivers states to bankroll the PDP revival project.
Lagos State was in the original plan but that is no longer possible
with the loss of the party’s governorship candidate, Mr. Jimi Agbaje to
the APC candidate, Mr. Akinwumi Ambode .
“Unless these rich states intervene in financing our party, we may not be able to fully recover,” a member of the NWC said.
He added: “You know we have never been in opposition, it will be difficult to survive.”
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