nPDP & APC SEAL POWER SHARING DEAL

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The  New  Peoples Democratic Party   said on Wednesday that it had signed a  Memorandum of Understanding  with the All Progressives Congress. When  and where  the MOU  was signed as well as its content   were  not made  public by the National Publicity Secretary of the New PDP, Chukwemeka Eze, in a text message he sent to one of our correspondents.

Both sides agreed that the five PDP governors who defected to the APC on Tuesday, would control the structures of the party(APC) in their states.

The five  governors, also known as rebel governors,  are  Muritala Nyako(Adamawa), Rabiu Kwakwanso (Kano),  Abdulfatah Ahmed (Kwara), Rotimi  Amaechi (Rivers),  and Aliyu Wamakko (Sokoto). It was also gathered that the rebel governors and leaders of the New PDP  would play active roles in the emergence of the APC presidential candidate in 2015.

Both parties, investigations revealed,  also decided that the New PDP members would be actively involved in the APC convention. A source in the APC  said that both sides agreed that the party would face some challenges in Sokoto and Kano states. In Sokoto, an APC chieftain, Attahiru Bafarawa, is an arch rival of   Wamakko. Both sides were said to have agreed that  a committee of elders should be set up to reconcile them.

In Kano,  a  former Head of State, Muhammadu Buhari, would reconcile  an ex- governor of the state, Ibrahim Shekarau and his successor,   Kwakwanso. When contacted, Eze  said the meeting  at  the Kano Governor’s  residence in Abuja on Tuesday,  was a sign that the  New PDP and the APC  had agreed to merge. Eze had earlier  said  on Wednesday  that   the APC and New PDP would on Tuesday next week sign   the  MOU , which would contain their  power-sharing arrangement.

But he later corrected himself in a text message   to one of  our correspondents, saying he had been directed to inform the media that the agreement had been signed.

He said, “Please, I have just been corrected by our National Chairman, Alhaji Abubakar  Baraje that the MOU has been signed and  that the merger has been effected. So, my former statement should be ignored.”

Eze also said that members of the New PDP would attend a  peace meeting with President Goodluck Jonathan on Sunday. It was gathered that some of the aggrieved governors were not  keen on  being present at the Sunday meeting.

While the leadership of the New PDP  said it had asked  the rebel  governors to honour the invitation, some of them (governors)  said they would  not attend . But  Eze said the  New PDP  leadership had encouraged its members to attend. According to him, by virtue of the fact that aggrieved members of the  PDP are Nigerians and  Jonathan, the  President, they will honour his invitation  to the meeting. He said, “We have respect for the office of the President (it is not about Jonathan as an individual). “We have asked our governors to attend the meeting with the President, if he invites them.

“That we have an understanding with the APC at the moment does not mean that Jonathan is our enemy.

“He is still our father.  He is still our President. It is not a meeting that anybody will stay away from, and we will attend. “By Sunday, we are to meet with Mr. President. We will listen to him and  by Monday, we will be holding a meeting.”

The governors, however, differed on  the issue.

The Niger State Governor, Babangida Aliyu, who  had on Tuesday insisted on remaining in the PDP,   expressed willingness to attend the meeting. But his counterparts in Kano, Adamawa, Sokoto and Rivers were non-committal. When contacted,  the spokesman for Aliyu, Mr. Danladi Ndayabo, simply said, “Yes, His Excellency will be in attendance.”

His colleague in Kano, Baba Dantiye sent a text message which reads, “I will check his dairy and revert.”

But Nyako, who spoke through his Director of Press and Public Affairs,  said, “Has the President honoured the previous meeting he called? That question (will Nyako attend the meeting) is more appropriate for the President.” On his part, Amaechi  said he would not be a  part of the meeting. The governor, in a text message to one of our correspondents, said,   “no”!.

The Sokoto State governor, Alhaji Aliyu Wamakko, is still outside the country and may not return before the meeting.

However, the Presidency said despite the defection  of  the five aggrieved governors, Jonathan   was still favourably disposed to meeting them. The Special Adviser to the President on Political Matters, Mr. Ahmed Gulak, said this in an interview with one of our correspondents . Gulak said as the leader of the country, Jonathan was open to all Nigerians irrespective of their political leanings.

The presidential aide said, “Despite the fact that they have announced their decisions to join the APC, the President can still meet with them whenever they request it. “Even if the APC national leader, Asiwaju Bola  Tinubu, writes the President,  seeking  to meet him on politics and national issues, Dr. Jonathan  will oblige him and listen to him.

“Since they have shown their desire to still meet the President, he will meet with them.

“You know that even the meeting that was supposed to hold last Sunday was initiated by them. They wrote the President, seeking resumption of the peace talks that were  suspended ahead of Muslim and Christian pilgrimages.” Gulak did not however say  whether the President would reconsider his stand on some of the conditions given by the governors in view of the latest development.