Jonathan, PDP Govs Move to Bring Back G5 Govs…They Will Come Back – Gov. Aliyu

In a frantic move to to bring back five PDP governors who had defected to the All Progressives Congress (APC), President Goodluck Jonathan met with governors of the PDP to strategise on how to make it a reality.
President Jonathan met with the PDP governors before the party’s caucus meeting started.

After the meeting with the president, Benue State governor, Gabriel Suswam, told State House correspondents that the governors’ meeting with Jonathan last night bordered on issues concerning the dwindling fortunes of the party, particularly the arduous task on how to win back their colleagues who defected to the APC.
Suswam said, “First, we met with the president as PDP governors to discuss issues of the party and the way forward. And that meeting is continuing; we just touched based with the president to discuss issues that affect the party.
“The issue discussed with the president was basically on how to re-strategise and re-position our party and how to move forward as a party. The second meeting is the national caucus and I am not in a position to comment on that; after the BoT meeting, the vice president will brief on the outcome.”
On concerns raised at the meeting, he said: “The concern is that the fortunes of our party are dwindling and so we need to address that. How do we re-position our party to win the forthcoming elections in Ekiti and Osun? How do we win back our colleagues that have stepped aside? We don’t believe that they have left the party; they only stepped aside. These are the issues that were raised.”
Niger State governor Muazu Babangida Aliyu, who chipped in some words while the interview with Suswam was going on, stated that the five governors who left the party would definitely return.
He said the G5 governors were just on the side-lines and that as soon as the party is restructured following ongoing effort, they would return.
The governors who attended the meeting include Emmanuel Uduaghan (Delta), Ibrahim Shema (Katsina), Gabriel Suswam (Benue), Theodore Orji (Abia), Jonah Jang (Plateau), Godswil Akpabio (Akwa Ibom), Isa Yuguda (Bauchi), Garba Umar (Taraba), Ralaman Yero (Kaduna), Idris Wada (Kogi), Liyel Imoke (Cross River), and Babangida Aliyu (Niger).
At the caucus meeting were Vice President Namadi Sambo, Senate president David Mark, Speaker Aminu Tambuwal, deputy Senate president Ike Ekweremadu, deputy speaker Emeka Ihedioha; Senate leader Victor Ndoma-Egba, Mulikat Adeola-Akande, BoT chairman Tony Anenih, Dr Ahmadu Ali, PDP NWC member Chief Emmanuel Iwuanyanwu, Chief Bode George, former Rivers governor Peter Odilli, former Akwa Ibom governor Obong Victor Attah, Nigerian high commissioner to Britain Sariki Tafida, among others.
Those in attendance at the caucus meeting were Vice President Sambo and the governors of Delta, Katsina, Benue, Abia, Plateau, Akwa Ibom and Bauchi states.
Others who were at the caucus meeting include Senator David Mark, Hon. Aminu Tambuwal, Chief Tony Anenih, other principal officers of the National Assembly and NWC members.
But speaking for the G-5 governors, the chief press secretary to Adamawa State governor Murtala Nyako, Ahmed Sajoh said, “I’m not aware that the leadership of the PDP and the presidency have reached out to my boss and his colleagues; that is one. The second and perhaps the most important of all is the fact that whatever remedial measure both the PDP and the presidency contemplate now is rather too late in the day.
“My principal and his colleagues who took the decision to leave the party they toiled to form are men of character and integrity. They took their time to access the situation; they complained loud enough but none listened; lies were idolised and truth was sacrificed. They will not say one thing and do another because they are men of honour.”


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