Revealed: The deal between Jonathan, rebel govs

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There are serious emergence of facts on  the Sunday night meeting between  President Goodluck Jonathan and aggrieved  governors in the New Peoples Democratic Party.

Presidency sources made this known just as Jonathan met behind closed doors with some PDP governors loyal to the Bamanga Tukur-led National Working Committee of the party.

One of the sources at the Sunday meeting, said that the President and the other attendees discussed and agreed on five contentious issues: Amaechi’s suspension by the Tukur-led NWC;  control of the PDP structure at the state level; Jonathan’s alleged 2015 ambition; Tukur’s fate  and court cases.

On Amaechi, the parties agreed that  he should be recalled and that a committee be constituted to  visit Port Harcourt and reconcile all aggrieved members of the PDP in the state.

The governor  was suspended on June 21   for his alleged refusal to “obey the lawful directive of the Rivers State Executive Committee to rescind his decision dissolving the elected Executive Council of Obiokpor Local Government Area of  the state.”

The meeting also accepted that all the governors of the party, including the aggrieved ones, should be in  charge of the State Working Committees of the party in their respective states.

It was  further  learnt that since the governors  were to be in charge of the party structures  in their states, President Jonathan  should  determine the fate of  Tukur, who all  the aggrieved  governors want removed.

Our source said that  “the President argued that since it had been accepted that he  should  not interfere in the running of the party at the state level, he should be allowed to determine what would happen to its national chairman  (Tukur).”

He added that the meeting, which was also attended by three pro-Tukur governors – Godswill Akpabio(Akwa Ibom), Idris Wada(Kogi) and Liyel Imoke (Cross River State) -  agreed that all pending court cases concerning the party must  be withdrawn immediately.

Amaechi is therefore expected to withdraw a case  in which he is challenging his suspension. Also, numerous  cases filed by members of the New PDP and  the Tukur-led PDP  will  also be discontinued.

It was gathered that  Jonathan’s  2015 ambition,generated heated arguments as the aggrieved governors insisted that he had told them  that he  would not  run for a second term.

According to our source,  the President argued that there was no time he told anyone that he would not contest for second term.

The PUNCH gathered that Jonathan specifically accused one of the aggrived governors, Babangida Aliyu of Niger State, of misleading Nigerians on the 2015 debate.

Aliyu was said  to have told the President he had said at different fora that he was not going to seek re-election.

“The governor listed Ethiopia, United States and different caucus meetings of the party where the President  made the statements,”  our  source added.

When argument  on the issue raged,the Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the PDP , Chief Tony Anenih,  who was  also present at the meeting,which was held at the Presidential Villa in Abuja,  interjected and  advised  that  it should be suspended for a latter date.

The source said, “It was a give and take meeting, but at the end of the day, we agreed that the issue of 2015 should be revisited and resolved amicably.

“I can tell you that the meeting was very frank . We all spoke our minds, including the President and his deputy (Namadi Sambo). So, we wait to see the implementation of the resolutions reached.”

The  other aggrieved governors, who were also pillars of  the New PDP at the meeting were Amaechi (Rivers), Rabiu Kwankwanso (Kano), Murtala Nyaho (Adamawa), Sule Lamido (Jigawa), and  Abdulfatah Ahmed (Kwara).

A statement read by Aliyu at the end of the talks stated that the  parties agreed to avoid inflammatory remarks, pending the final resolution  of the crisis.

The statement added that further talks would continue on October 7.

On Monday Jonathan held secret talks with Wada, Benue State Governor Gabriel Suswam and other PDP governors loyal to Tukur at the Presidential Villa.

The identitities of the other governors were not known as they arrived in the Villa in vehicles with security number plates.

A source in the Villa described the meeting as  “consultative.”

Earlier on Monday,  Akpabio  and Anenih  were also sighted in the  Villa. Commenting on the outcome of the meeting, the National Publicity Secretary of the party, Chief Olisa Metuh,  said the leadership of the PDP was happy that the problems bedevilling the  party were being resolved.

Metuh said, “We are very happy and grateful  to the President, former President Olusegun Obasanjo, the chairman of BoT and other elders of the party.

“We are also happy with our governors. We are happy that the  party has shown that it is capable of resolving its crises.”

In spite of the ‘no inflammatory  comment order’, the Special Adviser to the President on Political Affairs, Mr. Ahmed  Gulak,    boasted on Monday that nobody could intimidate the President into not contesting in  2015.

“The  1999 Constitution  gives Mr. President the right to offer himself for second term if he so chooses and no individual or group can abridge his constitutional right. If he decides not to contest, let it be on his own volition not because he is intimidated or cajoled into doing that, ” he told State House correspondents in Abuja.

Gulak, who  added that peace was gradually returning to the party,  said that  Tukur  would survive the crises.

 He said,   “The national chairman has no problem. He was elected and I always say that as there are processes for election, there are processes for removal or resignation. So nobody can cajole anybody to say the national chairman will not survive. Nobody is against the national chairman.”

  The Presidential aide dismissed claims that the crisis would mark the end of the ruling party, saying it (PDP) has internal mechanism for resolving its problems

“We have entered into dialogue. Peace is gradually returning to the PDP in accordance with the constitution of the party and in accordance with the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. These two documents are our guides. We abide by them and we dialogue in accordance with the provision of the constitution,” he said.

  Gulak  explained that the President would consider the demands of the aggrieved governors based on the constitution

   He  also said that the President would never ask the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission not to perform its duties.

Rebelling PDP Governors, President Jonathan, Agree To ‘Ceasefire’

The tagged 'rebel' governors of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) which met with President Goodluck Jonathan at the Aso Rock villa yesterday agreed to observe a “ceasefire” until final discussions on October 7 to iron out differences they have with the president.
An aide to President Jonathan said the air around the meeting gave them hope that the disagreements between the president’s faction and the ‘New PDP’ might be resolved on that date.
But one of the governors in attendance told us the meeting specifically achieved only the specific purpose of compelling both sides to avoid escalating the issues further.
He pointed out that before they could iron out any differences, the governor of Cross Rivers State, Liyel Imoke, had already drafted a statement to which they agreed so as to give peace a chance. the handwritten statement was later read by the Niger State governor, Babangida Aliyu
The focus of tonight’s meeting was mostly Rivers State governor, Rotimi Amaechi, who members of Mr. Jonathan’s team presented as being too “belligerent” and having had an upper hand in the media.
The president reportedly told Amaechi to allow a statement to be issued if he doesn’t have anything personal against him.

Governor Amaechi reportedly replied he does not, adding that it would however make more sense to wait till October 7 before any statement was issued.

The meeting with the governors preceded the enlarged meeting at the villa yesterday where they agreed not to question Mr. Jonathan’s firing of Ministers offloaded last week by.

 

EFCC PRESS RELEASE: $11m Fraud: Nigerian Jailed In The United States

          

A Nigerian, Emmanuel Ehkator who was investigated by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, for criminal conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud in the United States of America has been sentenced by District Court Judge, Middle District of Pennsylvania, Yvette Kane, to a three-year term. He is also ordered to pay $11,092,028 in restitution to his victims.
The conviction of Ehkator, 42, who was arrested in Nigeria by the EFCC in August 2010 and extradited to the United States in August 2011, followed his plea of guilt.
Justice Kane also ordered Ehkator’s forfeiture of properties in Canada and the contents of several bank accounts in Nigeria.
While the trial lasted, the prosecutor informed the court that Ehkator was part of an attorney collection scam. Their modus operandi, he said was for the convict to contact U.S. and Canadian law firms by e-mail claiming to be individuals or businesses outside North America who were owed money by entities in the United States and asked for legal representation to collect the money.
The prosecutor further told the court that, “often, the prospective “clients” said the money owed came from a real estate transaction, tort claim, or divorce settlement. Once the law firm agreed to represent the out-of-country client, the law firm would be contacted by the U.S. entity purportedly owing money with an offer to pay the client by cheque. The client would instruct the law firm to deposit the cheque in the law firm’s trust account, retain the law firm’s fee, and wire the remaining funds to accounts in Asia”.
The cheque that was then mailed to the law firm would be a counterfeit cheque, a fact that would be discovered only after funds from the law firm’s trust account had been wired to the Asian bank, the prosecution said.
The counterfeit cheques, which appeared to be drawn on legitimate accounts from well-established financial institutions, often included a telephone number for the financial institution. Lawyers attempting to determine the validity of the cheque would call the number only to reach another conspirator who would falsely verify the cheque. The court was also told that Ehkator’s involvement in the scheme makes him responsible for losses of more than $7 million and up to $20 million.
Ehkator’s co-defendant, Yvette Mathurin, has also been charged for conspiracy and is awaiting extradition from Canada while another co-conspirator, Kingsley Osagie, was arrested as he arrived in the Atlanta area from Nigeria and is currently awaiting trial in the Middle District of Pennsylvania. Other co-conspirators are pending extradition from several foreign countries as investigation continues against other members of the large, multi-national conspiracy.
Aside from the EFCC, other agencies that investigated the crime were the United States Postal Inspection Service, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the United States Secret Service, the Toronto Police Services and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. It was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Christy H. Fawcett

CAN Prescribes psychiatric test for El-Rufai

The Christian Association of Nigeria on Sunday asked the former Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Mallam Nasir el-Rufai, to go for a psychiatric test to ascertain his sanity following his recent attacks on Jesus Christ and the leadership of Christians in Nigeria. The association said that el-Rufai must within seven days mention the name of the person who bought a private jet for its President, Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor, failure which the former minister’s “dirty life” would be exposed by CAN.


The Head of TEKAN/ECWA Block in CAN, Rev. (Dr.) Emmanuel Dziggau; and CAN’s National Director of Research, Planning and Strategy, Elder Sunday Oibe in a statement obtained by The PUNCH in Abuja said they were reacting to a newspaper interview granted by the ex-FCT minister in which he abused the President of CAN and his credibility.

The statement said, “We can no longer fold our hands and allow Christian leaders to be abused by no person than el-Rufai. We can no longer take it; enough is enough. Anytime he abuses Christian leaders and Jesus Christ, we Christians will let him know that he has many forces to contend with.”

“The fact that el-Rufai in his tweets abused our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ, and Christians ignored him doesn’t give him the impetus to make unguarded comments about Pastor Ayo (Oritsejafor) who is the leader of Christians in Nigeria. As Christians, we respect other faith and never have we abused the Sultan of Sokoto and President-General of the Nigerian Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs, Alhaji Muhammad Sa’ad Abubakar 111, who is the leader of Muslims in Nigeria. The fact that Christians are not violent doesn’t mean he should go far with his utterances. He is not in a position to tell us who should be the leader of Christians in Nigeria.”

CAN also reminded a former Head of State, General Muhammadu Buhari (retd) that his problem with the country was el-Rufai and not himself.

“It was this same el-Rufai that was abusing Buhari when he was in the cabinet of ex-President Olusegun Obasanjo that is now fighting ex-Vice President Atiku Abubakar and Obasanjo.

“We are giving el-Rufai seven days ultimatum to inform Nigerians and the world the person he claims to know that gave Pastor Ayo his private Jet. If he fails to do that, we will open up on him and his dirty life. El-Rufai stinks to the highest heaven. He is morally depraved and lacks credibility.”

Jonathan asks PDP to compile ministerial nominees list

There are indications that President Goodluck Jonathan  had directed  the  Bamanga Tukur  faction of the Peoples Democratic Party to compile  names of its members for ministerial positions.

A member of the National Working Committee of the faction, who made this known to The PUNCH in Abuja on Sunday, said the directive was already being complied with.

 Jonathan, in his first major cabinet shake-up since his inauguration on May 29, 2011, had on Wednesday sacked nine ministers.

 The  sacked ministers  were  Prof.  Ruqayyatu Rufai (Education),    Okon Ewa-Bassey (Science and Technology),  Olugbenga Ashiru (Foreign Affairs),  Hadiza Mailafia (Environment),  Shamsudeen Usman  (National Planning),and  Ama  Pepple (Housing, Lands and Urban Development).

Also affected were   Olusola Obada(Defence), and  her counterparts in the Agriculture Ministry,  Alhaji Bukar Tijani, and  Power,  Zainab Kuchi.

The Minister of Information, Mr. Labaran Maku, had explained that the sacking  of the ministers had no political undertone but there were reports that  it  was fallout of the crisis in the PDP.

 The PDP  was  factionalised on August 31 when seven of its governors  formed  a faction, known as New PDP.

  The NWC member, who pleaded anonymity, said, “The President has directed the party to suggest names for the vacant ministerial slots. We have already asked  our state chapters to send their nominees to us. As  I talk to you, we are waiting for their nominees.”

It was gathered that in  states governed by  the seven governors in the New PDP, politicians loyal to the President, would nominate candidates for vacant slots.

In Rivers State, where Pepple lost her job, party chieftains, including the Deputy National Chairman of the Tuku-led  faction, Uche Secondus and the Minister of State for Education, Nyesom Wike, would play a role in getting her replacement.

In the South-West, there are two vacancies because of the removal of Ashiru and Obada.

It was gathered that chieftains of the PDP, Chief Olabode George and a financier of the party, Chief Buruji Kasamu, were expected to nominate candidates for the zone.

In Kaduna State, the southern part of the state would fill the vacancy created by the sack of  Mailafia.

In Niger State, it was learnt that a former military dictator, Gen. Ibrahim Babangida and an ex-Minister of Information, Prof. Jerry Gana, might nominate an indigene of the state to  replace Kuchi.

It was also gathered that, to fill the vacant ministerial slots, governors that were loyal to the President had been directed to  nominate candidates, if there were vacancies in their states.

The  PUNCH  learnt that the Akwa Ibom State Governor, Obong Godswill Akpabio, would nominate a chieftain of the party in the state to replace Ewa-Bassey, a native of the state.

When asked  to comment on the development, the PDP  National Publicity Secreary, Chief Olish Metuh, said, “That is not important. It is the  President that will choose whoever he wants to work with him to achieve his transformation agenda.”

The Special Adviser to the President on National Assembly Matters, Senator Joy Emodi, had on Friday said Jonathan was still consulting on the appointment of new ministers.

She had said, “He is still consulting. He will present the list to the National   Assembly as soon as he concludes  his  consultations.”

 Meanwhile, investigations on Sunday revealed that security reports were mostly responsible for the sack of the ministers.

A Presidency source told one of our correspondents that following the crisis in the PDP, the Presidency could no longer trust the affected ministers.

The   source said, “The ministers were nailed by security reports. Their telephone lines were bugged and they were being monitored for at least four months. It was discovered that they were no longer sincere with Mr. President, especially since the internal crises in PDP erupted.

 “Go and find out, no sincere government or President will tolerate a minister whose loyalty is in doubt. In the case of the affected ministers, they were having divided loyalties. First, to their state governors or the godfathers who nominated them and secondly to Mr. President.

“But by their functions, their loyalty to the President should be total and so the best option is to shop for people with committed loyalty and not divided loyalty.  This should be a serious lesson to any public servant; divided loyalty is never tolerated anywhere in the world.”

Efforts to get the reaction of the President’s Special Adviser on Political Affairs, Mr. Ahmed Gulak, prooved abortive as he could not be reached through his mobile telephone.

A civil rights organisation,  the Anti-Corruption Network, has, however,  described the sacking  of the ministers as vindictive.

The Executive Secretary of the group and former member of the House of Representatives, Dino Melaye, in an interview with  one of our correspondents, linked the sacking to the crisis in the PDP.

He said, “The sacking of the ministers is vindictive, petty and political.  It shows that President  Jonathan, like I have always said, condones, romances and promotes corruption. He spared all the corrupt thieves in his government, including those who are still busy enjoying their loots.

“The sacking  of these ministers is a cowardly reaction. The  former Minister of Education  was a nominee of the Jigawa State Governor. The  ex-minister of National Planning  is  from Kano State and it is because Jonathan wants to appoint a strong politician who will fight Governor Rabiu Kwankwaso in Kano State.”

Nigeria, 18 others barred from US visa lottery

Nigeria and some other countries will no longer be eligible to participate in the America Diversity Visa lottery programme.

Information from the United States Department of State sighted on Sunday said Nigerians and citizens from few other countries were not eligible for DV-2015

The department said Nigeria was excluded since over 50,000 Nigerians had immigrated into the United States in the last five years.

The department listed other countries not eligible as Bangladesh, Brazil, Canada, China (mainland-born), Colombia, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador and Haiti.

Others are India, Jamaica, Mexico, Nigeria, Pakistan, Peru, Philippines, South Korea, United Kingdom (except Northern Ireland) and its dependent territories, and Vietnam

However, many African countries would continue to enjoy the programme.

Some of them are Algeria, Angola, Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Central African Republic, Chad, Comoros, Congo, Cote D’Ivoire (Ivory Coast), Djibouti, Egypt, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Gabon, Gambia and Ghana.

Others are Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Kenya, Lesotho, Liberia, Libya, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mauritania, Mauritius, Morocco, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Rwanda, Sao Tome and Principe, Senegal, Seychelles and Sierra Leone.

Diversity visas are said to be distributed among six geographic regions, while no single country could receive more than seven per cent of the available space in any year.

Already, advertsiements for the 2015 US DV lottery have started with several businesses inviting Nigerians to apply for the program.

Applications for the 2015 US DV lottery is expected to take off from October 1, 2013.

In 2012, 14,769, 658 persons were said to have qualified worldwide for the US DV lottery among the 19, 672, 269 which applied.

APC DENIES KEYAMO'S ADOPTION FOR DELTA SENATORIAL RERUN

Onu: How APC’s Emergence Triggered Revolt in PDP

One of the national leaders of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and the former national chairman of the defunct All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP), Dr. Ogbonnaya Onu, has said the current crisis rocking the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) could be linked to the political revolution brought about by the opposition party.

Onu, who spoke in a interview with journalists in Abuja at the weekend, said the strategic positioning of the APC as a credible alternative to the ruling party had emboldened those with voices of dissent within PDP to stand up against the party's leadership, insisting on remedying such rights.

"The situation in PDP clearly shows that the party ought to really reexamine itself, understanding that it is the ruling party with certain obligations to the nation. Yes, disagreements may come  but do not forget that what is happening in PDP now would never have happened if there has not  been APC," he said.

Onu, whose former party, the ANPP, played an important role in helping to create what seemed an upset in the polity with the merger of opposition parties of the defunct Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) and Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) and ANPP, said the existence of the APC gave impetus to the now legendary defiance by the seven New PDP governors and their allies.

He said though there had been disagreements within the ranks of the political parties, PDP not being an exception, but that such dissenting voices had been suppressed due to lack of equally credible and influential alternative party which could absorb them.

"What is happening to the PDP would not have happened it there was no party like the APC. Because the aggrieved members of PDP  have been emboldened by the fact that they have an alternative platform which is equally influential like the PDP with about 11 governors.

"They have always had disagreements but because there was no alternative platform that people can easily go to, at that time, people who felt unhappy decided to stay off.

"However, now there is an alternative and for the first time in the history of the fourth republic, there is an opposition party controlling 11 states. The party now has representations in all the six geopolitical zones of the country.

So, because of the coming of APC, those who are not happy with what is happening in the ruling party can now be more assertive and be able to speak out concerning their rights and if those rights are not respected, they know they can go somewhere else," he said.

On the suggestion that the crisis in the PDP may have long been plotted by the actors in concert with the APC, Onu said such insinuation could not be true, adding that APC was not interested in what was happening in PDP or whether it would be an advantage to the party.

According to him, whatever relationship that existed between the PDP governors and their counterpart in the APC could be traced to Nigerian Governors’ Forum (NGF).

He said the governors usually met regularly under the auspices of the NGF even before the polarisation of the body and it was not out of place if they engaged in political discussions of the future of the country.

The former governor of the old Imo State described the crisis in Rivers State as very disturbing, adding that the recent action of the police by blocking Governor Chibuike Amaechi from entering Government House was nothing  but an embarrassment to the country.

"Because there is NGF, we expect that when these governors meet, they are bound to discuss and strategise over the politics in the country and this may account for the apparent understanding between APC governors and the dissident PDP governors.

"What happened in Port Harcourt  in respect of the police action to prevent Amaechi from entering the Government House is an embarrassment to the country. It is a very disturbing development, there is no reason for stopping the governors from entering the government house no matter what the purpose was," he added.

PDP: Hope Brightens for Crisis Resolution

President Goodluck Jonathan and Niger State Governor, Dr. Mu’azu Babangida  Aliyu

•Party to continue reconciliatory talks Oct 7  

•Baraje asks police to unseal office 

•Lamido: Tukur's removal will start the healing process 

•Faction's national treasurer returns to PDP

By Chuks Okocha, Muhammad Bello  and Shola Oyeyipo 

In what could be described as a last-ditch effort to save the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), President Goodluck Jonathan met  Sunday with the seven aggrieved governors of the party who broke away two weeks ago to form a splinter group of the PDP, with both sides resolving to reconcile their differences.

Making this known last night, the Niger State Governor, Dr. Mu’azu Babangida Aliyu, who spoke after the meeting, said discussions were cordial and fruitful, with a commitment by both sides to resolve all the issues that had led to the break up of the party.

Mu’azu, who was surrounded by the president, Vice-President Namadi Sambo and other governors of the party, said: "Sequel to the number of meetings convened by leaders and stakeholders and the governors of Adamawa, Niger, Rivers, Kwara, Sokoto,  Jigawa, Akwa Ibom, Kogi, Kano and Cross Rivers States met with the president, vice-president and chairman of the Board of Trustees and extensively deliberated on various issues.

"The meetings were cordial and deliberations fruitful with a clear commitment on all sides to resolve all issues raised at the meetings. The meetings also called on all parties to shield their swords and avoid further inflammatory comments on issues particularly during the course of our deliberations as we have all agreed to resolve all the differences.

"In the interim, all parties have accepted to commence immediate action and agreed towards the complete resolution of all matters and will continue to meet until all processes toward reconciliation are totally complete.

"The meetings will continue on Monday, 7th October, 2013. We use this opportunity therefore to thank all members of our party and supporters for their patience and understanding as we will ensure that there is progress in resolving the crisis."

The meeting, which started at about 5 pm, had Governors Rotimi Amaechi (Rivers), Sule Lamido (Jigawa), Rabiu Kwankwaso (Kano), Murtala Nyako (Adamawa), AbdulFatah Ahmed (Kwara) and Babangida Aliyu, representing the G7 governors. Only the Sokoto State Governor, Aliyu Wamakko, who is a member of the group, was absent.

Others in attendance included the vice-president, Chairman of the PDP Board of Trustees (BoT), Chief Tony Anenih, Governors Liyel Imoke (Cross River), Ibrahim Shema (Katsina), Godswill Akpabio (Akwa Ibom), Ibrahim Dankwambo (Gombe) and Idris Wada (Kogi).

But before the meeting with the president, the G7 governors had held a closed-door meeting at the residence of the National Chairman of the New PDP, Alhaji Abubakar Baraje, in Asokoro, Abuja yesterday.

Other than the G7 governors, some senators and members of the House of Representatives were also in attendance at the meeting in Baraje’s residence.

A source told THISDAY that the objective of the meeting was to articulate their position on the peace talks with the president, select the governors to represent them at the meeting and agree on a common front on the pertinent issues to be addressed.

According to the source, “We want to be treated as a team and our position would be treated as a team and not on an individual basis. We want an all-inclusive party where all of us shall be equal partakers and not a party that is exclusive. We want a party devoid of harassments of members.”

Also ahead of the meeting with the president, the PDP yesterday urged all its estranged members to fully utilise the window of dialogue and reconciliation offered it and avoid playing into the hands of those who do not wish the country or her democracy well.

The party’s plea coincided with that of Baraje who called on the Nigeria Police to unseal the offices of the New PDP on the grounds that Justice E.S. Chukwu had refused to grant PDP’s request for the continued closure of the splinter group.

The Baraje faction also called on its members to embark on seven days of prayer and fasting over the continued strike by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), since all means to resolve the ASUU strike had failed.

The mainstream PDP, however, stated that the on-going crisis and skirmishes are aimed at portraying the president in a bad light, but noted that it is needless, because as members of one big family, no challenge is insurmountable.

In a statement signed by the National Publicity Secretary of PDP, Olisa Metuh, the party said: “These tactics are antithetical to democracy but not unfamiliar rules of engagement. However, it is important that we avoid over-stretching it and shutting out glaring overtures, so as not to play into the waiting hands of the desperate (who are) wishing to incite the people and destroy our common destiny.”

PDP expressed regrets that the problem in the party was a challenge that could be resolved within the ambit of the crisis resolution mechanism of the party but was being exaggerated by some politicians desperately looking for quick photo-ops through sensationalism in the media.

Metuh said: “We wish to assure our members therefore that we are still capable of resolving our challenges and urge them to be more committed to our progress. We shall emerge stronger.”

It added that the nation would benefit the more should detractors of the president pick him or the party on issues of development so as to enrich our practice of democracy.”

“But unfortunately, the easiest way to gain prominence today is to attack the president and the leadership of his party, not on issues of governance or on alternative directions of governance but on pedestrian issues that border on sheer mudslinging,” Metuh said.

In a reference to the media coverage of the crisis, he added: “While the inconsequential makes the banners, the essential and the substantial in the consistent, though quiet transformation of the nation are tucked away in obscure riders.

“The media is a critical building block of democracy and the Nigerian media has stood firm across the decades. It must not relent.”

The party further said in all this, “our firm support for the president as the leader and symbol of our party in government remains total. We shall neither waver nor allow narrow sentiments stand in the way of the absolute resolve of our great party to better the lot of all Nigerians.”

On its part, the Baraje faction of the PDP called on the police to unseal all its offices on the grounds that the request by the National Chairman of the party, Alhaji Bamanga Tukur, before a Federal High Court in Abuja on September 13, was turned down.

The court, according to Baraje, had ruled that his faction of PDP “should be allowed to operate without any harassment or inhibition as it was not breaking any known law”.

In a statement by the faction’s National Publicity Secretary, Eze Chukwuemeka Eze, making reference to Justice Chukwu’s ruling, said there was no evidence before the court to show any tardiness on the part of PDP under Baraje as claimed by the Tukur-led faction, which had requested it to stop the Baraje-led PDP from operating.

Eze said: “In view of this ruling, the police no longer have any valid reason (it never did, anyway) to continue to seal our secretariats. We therefore wish to appeal to President Goodluck Jonathan to save the police from the plot to ridicule the government by using it to perpetrate illegalities such as sealing the lawfully acquired national secretariat of PDP and our secretariats in states like Rivers, Bayelsa, Kaduna and Kwara.

“The powers that be should as a matter of urgency stop projecting and portraying the police as a tool of injustice and attack on the perceived political opponents of Mr. President.”
On the ASUU strike, Baraje’s PDP called on members to commence seven days of fasting and prayers to seek the face of God to end the continued strike by university lectures.

The splinter PDP said it had become imperative to seek the face of God over this matter considering that all efforts to resolve the unwarranted strike had failed woefully and considering the socio-economic damage the strike was causing both parents and their wards.

In furtherance of its objective to end the strike, Baraje set up a four-man committee with Babangida Aliyu as its chairman to advise the party on the best way to get the federal government’s negotiating committee and the leadership of ASUU to reach an agreement on the issues at stake.

Other members of the committee are Nyako; President of UNIPORT Alumni, Hon. Chinwo Ike; and the faction’s National Youth Leader, Mr. Timi Frank.
Meanwhile, Tukur’s removal as the chairman of the PDP has been identified as capable of heralding the “healing process” in the crisis-ridden party.

This was part of views expressed by the Jigawa State governor while fielding questions from journalists at the Government House, Dutse, at the weekend.

The governor said if the party’s chairman was shown the way out, “then we would begin to address the wrongs of the party.”

According to him, “The demands are many and there has to be a collective way for all of us that are prepared to do the right thing for the party and for Nigeria. And by the time we agree to do the right thing, of course there will be healing and continuity.”

On the resolution of the crisis in the party, he said there was a way out but it would come with “some spill-over effects and some collateral damage”, adding: “If what we had been saying in the last two to three months, was accepted and done, may be we wouldn't be here today.”

He however said while the G7 governors were aggrieved, they on their part are conscious of the need to avoid acts that might make the party’s crisis escalate.

“I have been saying no to them. For the love of Nigeria, we would not do anything to cause any unnecessary turmoil in this country. For the love of those people who believe in us, we will do anything to ensure that this party does not crash,” he said.
Lamido implored the president to accept the recommendations of former President Olusegun Obasanjo Elders’ Committee, so as to find a lasting solution to the impasse that has destabilised the party.

In addition, a chieftain of the party in Ogun State, Buruji Kashamu, has taken a swipe at Baraje for having the effrontery to give the president an ultimatum on the ongoing peace talks.

Baraje had on Saturday said his group would stop further negotiations with the president if all their requests were not met yesterday (Sunday).
In a statement he issued on Sunday, Kashamu considered it insulting and ridiculous that Baraje, a former teacher who should be the epitome of morality and good behaviour, had the audacity to give an ultimatum to the embodiment of our sovereignty and President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria over some contrived party issues.

“His tenor and language on a day the peace talks are meant to resume show that these people are not ready for peace. They have some hidden agenda. And it is high time they were told the truth. Nigerians are wiser.

“They can see through all their theatrics and attempts to stop the president from exercising his fundamental right to vote and be voted for. They are only hiding behind some smokescreen,” he said.

Kashamu noted that from Baraje’s outbursts, it was obvious that "these people are frustrated and desperate for power, no more, no less," adding, “They should come out of their cloaks and tell Nigerians their real intentions instead of masquerading as champions of democratic ideals when they are the exact opposite.”

In the meantime, the National Treasurer of the New PDP, Alhaji Tanko Gwamma, yesterday announced his resignation from the post that he held for less than a week.
He announced his resignation at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, following a meeting with some party officials.

He said he had resigned to enable PDP present a coordinated front for the 2015 presidential election.

“This decision was arrived at after a careful study of the unfolding events in the polity and a deep sober reflection of the consequences of the outcome of such impasse on our party,” Gwamma further stated.
According to him, as a lover of democracy, he was of the view that the impasse would not augur well for the unity, peace, progress and prosperity of the party in particular and the nation in general.

Gwamma, who pledged his loyalty to the Tukur-led PDP, called on all party faithful to unite and ensure the amicable resolution of the current impasse in the party.

“Our desire is for the PDP to continue to lead while others follow, as such, we must eschew all vices capable of unnecessarily heating up the polity.

“I pledge my loyalty to the Bamanga Tukur leadership while calling on all party faithful to do same,” he said.

Rivers Blockade: APC, Group Blame Jonathan for Police Action

The All Progressives Congress (APC) has blamed President Goodluck Jonathan for last week's alleged blockade of the Rivers State Government House by the police in the state.

The charge came just as APC leaders in the South-east met at the weekend to strategise on how to undertake  membership mobilisation  and harmonisation of its operations in the zone.

The Vice-Chairman of APC in South-east, Chief Anyim Nyerere,  who spoke to THISDAY yesterday, said apart from opening state party offices in all the five South-eastern states, the leaders had agreed on  guidelines on the harmonisation of party structures in the five states.

In a statement issued  Sunday, by its National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, the party said the police could not have had the temerity to act the way they did in blocking the Rivers State  Governor,  Chibuike Amaechi and his guests from his residence if they were not promised support from higher authorities.

It alleged that the president's  unbridled disposition towards cheap political vendetta may have pushed him to commit impunity and unconstitutionality perhaps more than any other president in the history of the country.

The party said it would resist any attempt to turn Nigeria into a police state.
It cautioned that giving presidential backing to the police or any national institution at all to commit impunity and violate the nation's constitution was the fastest means to destroy such institutions and erode public confidence in them.

''In the case of the police, what is happening in Rivers State is sending a wrong signal to the polity concerning the role of the force in 2015.

“How can a malleable police be trusted to be neutral and to help ensure the conduct of a free and fair election - with the president as a candidate - in 2015?'' APC queried.

The party said the Nigeria Police Force under President Jonathan had increasingly become a lawless force whose allegiance was only to the president and not to the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, a police force that had become a tool in the hands of the president to harass, intimidate, arrest and persecute all his real and perceived political enemies.

''Since the onset of the President Jonathan-inspired political logjam in Rivers State and the implosion of his party, the PDP, the president has been depending on the police to shore up his dwindling political fortune. The insubordination of the Rivers State Police Commissioner, Mbu Joseph; the police-sponsored fracas in the state House of Assembly; the assault on the five visiting governors by thugs working under the direction and protection of the Commissioner of Police and the unlawful occupation of the new PDP secretariats at Abuja and Lagos are clear examples.

''President Jonathan, however, should be told in clear and unambiguous language that Nigerians will resist all machinations by him to turn Nigeria into a police state,'' it said.

The APC also said those who have been struggling to distance the president from the crisis in Rivers were being clever by half, since it was clear to all Nigerians that the president was the puppeteer in the crisis from day one, hence it had festered despite all efforts to end it.

Also, a leading socio-political organisation of all Rivers people both at home and in the diaspora, the Rivers’ Peoples Forum (RPF), has said the presidency was responsible for the many political travails of Amaechi and any harm that would befall the governor.

Rising from a general executive meeting in Port Harcourt, at the weekend, the forum in a statement signed by its President, Charles Bekwele, condemned the Thursday night police blockage of the governor’s convoy from accessing Government House. 
The forum described the blockage as one attack too many on the person and Office of the Governor.

The forum also described as shameful and a big insult to the sensibilities of Nigerians, the comments by the Bamaga Tukur-led faction of the party on the incident.

“This current attack on the office and person of the governor is one attack too many.  They have grounded the official plane of the Rivers State Government. They have withdrawn some of Amaechi security aides, thereby exposing him to harm and danger. And all these are been orchestrated by certain interests within the presidency. 

“The presidency has been consistent in its harassment, intimidation and attack of Amaechi.  They are doing this because of 2015. They believe Amaechi won’t support President Jonathan 2015 election.

“But this attacks on the person and office of the governor must stop now.  The Presidency must stop using the apparatus of State to harass, intimidate and attack an elected governor.

“We want to alert Nigerians, the international community that if any thing happens to Amaechi, if any harm befalls the governor, the Presidency should be held responsible," the Forum added.

On the comments made by the  Tukur-led faction of the PDP on the police blockage, the RPF described their comments as most unfortunate.

Meanwhile, as part of moves by APC to make in-roads into the South-east considered the strong of the PDP, the party has constituted state harmonisation committees made up the chairman and secretaries of each of the parties involved in the merger.

According to the South-east Vice-Chairman of APC, Nyerere, the key function of the humanisation committee  is to organise and coordinate the membership registration and subsequently the congresses.

"We are to commence immediately with the membership mobilisation, prior to the registration of members which is to start in October. Though the party will welcome every Nigerian who may want to join, including the members of New PDP, it will guard against any attempt to hijack the platform, " he said.

THISDAY gathered that at the meeting of the South-east APC stakeholders held in Owerri, the Imo State capital, the state Governor, Rochas Okorocha, pledged to assist in mobilising support for the party in the zone, including backing the party's candidate in the November 16 Anambra State governorship election.