PDP Governors at the meeting

Ademola Adegbamigbe

Tenants and the landlord do not sleep when a big snake slithers onto a house’s roof. That is the situation in the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), which has suffered some losses lately as many prominent members have defected to the All Progressives Congress (APC). To salvage the situation, Governors elected on the PDP platform held a meeting over the state of the party on Sunday night at the Bauchi State Governor’s Lodge in Abuja. Sheriff Oborevwori of Delta State, recently dumped the party; he is now smiling in APC.

Pronto, like a conjurer’s rabbit, the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) minister in the APC government, Nyesom Wike (legally a member of PDP), stormed the venue with his entourage. The party members could not send him out!

The meeting, which was billed to commence by 7pm, however, started much later. It was expected to deliberate on the impact of defections that have hit the party in recent months, the top of which was in Delta State.

Those in attendance included Governor Ademola Adeleke (Osun); Governor Caleb Mutfwang (Plateau); Governor Bala Mohammed (Bauchi); Governor Seyi Makinde (Oyo); Governor Ahmadu Fintiri (Adamawa); Governor Peter Mbah (Enugu); Governor Dauda Lawal (Zamfara), and Governor Kefas Agbu (Taraba).

Some of the former governors present were Ahmed Makarfi; Seriake Dickson; Olagunsoye Oyinlola; Achike Udenwa; Liyel Imoke; Ifeanyi Ugwanyi (Enugu); Okezie Ikpeazu (Abia); Samuel Ortom (Benue); Idris Wada (Kogi) Babangida Aliyu (Niger); Adamu Muazu (Bauchi); Udom Emmanuel (Akwa Ibom); Aminu Waziri Tambuwal (Sokoto); Gabriel Suswan (Benue); Abubakar Bukola Saraki (Kwara); Sule Lamido (Jigawa), and Ibrahim Dankwambo (Gombe).

The party’s NWC members at the meeting were acting national chairman Amb. Umar Damagum; National Organizing Secretary, Umar Bature, and National Legal Adviser, Kamardeen Ajibade.

At a time when PDP should be formidable enough to challenge the APC government at the centre, the party is suffering some cracks of high seismic figure. This, as Daily Trust put it, is over a series of crises ranging from the national chairmanship seat, the national secretary position, the tussle for party leadership in Rivers State, and the congresses conducted.

The meeting, according to the report, would also review their court case on the emergency rule in Rivers State. Recall that the PDP governors had challenged the state of emergency declaration at the Supreme Court.
The meeting, as Daily Trust concluded in its report, also comes ahead of the elusive National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting of the party. Internal wranglings have caused the postponement of the NEC meeting six times.