2015 stalls Jonathan’s talks with ‘rebel’ govs

The issues included the governors’ demand that Peoples Democratic Party national chairman Bamanga Tukur be removed and that President Jonathan should not rush into declaring for re-election in 2015.The meeting is scheduled to resume Sunday.“I can tell you that Sunday’s meeting will determine the way forward,” a source at the meeting said.The source said Jonathan […]

The issues included the governors’ demand that Peoples Democratic Party national chairman Bamanga Tukur be removed and that President Jonathan should not rush into declaring for re-election in 2015.
The meeting is scheduled to resume Sunday.
“I can tell you that Sunday’s meeting will determine the way forward,” a source at the meeting said.
The source said Jonathan had earlier conceded to the first three demands of the governors which included that the Adamawa State PDP leadership backed by Governor Murtala Nyako be restored and that the suspension on the Rivers State Governor Rotimi Amaechi from the party be lifted.
When the governors raised the third issue on the leadership of the Nigerian Governors’ Forum, Jonathan was said to have indicated that it was a governors’ affair and directed that Niger State Governor Babangida Aliyu and his Jigawa counterpart Sule Lamido meet to sort it out, agreeing that he would be amenable to their decision.
But on the matter of Tukur’s removal which the group has been canvassing, the president was said to have tarried, saying he needed to make consultation. The aggrieved governors’ delegation also said they needed some time to make consultation.
The source said the president’s side which appeared eager for a quick fix to the problem had asked that the meeting reconvened yesterday. But while the time to resume talks was being discussed, one of the aggrieved governors raised the issue of 2015.
“He told the president that 2015 is a very sensitive matter so he should not rush into declaring that he will contest. He advised the president to give the matter some deep thoughts,” the source said.
At this juncture, Cross River State Governor Liyel Imoke was said to have intervened, asking why the president was being handed down conditions.
But Imoke was cut short by another ‘rebel’ governors who told the meeting that they were only holding Jonathan to the promises he made “at four different occasions” and not handing down any conditions.   
Meanwhile the Special Adviser to President Goodluck Jonathan on Political Matters, Barrister Ahmed Gulak, yesterday described as unconstitutional, the demands by the seven aggrieved  governors of the party.
In an interview with State House correspondents yesterday, Gulak failed to state what the demands were, but said they were inconsistent with the constitution of the party and the laws of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
The presidential aide, however, noted that efforts to reconcile all aggrieved members of the party were ongoing as elders had waded in.