Ogun PDP crisis: Jonathan to meet Daniel

here were indications on Friday night that President Goodluck Jonathan would meet the Ogun State Governor, Otunba Gbenga Daniel, about the controversy surrounding the Peoples Democratic Party’s list of candidates in the state.

Investigations by our correspondents showed that the meeting, which would hold very late Friday, was aimed at appealing to the governor not to leave the PDP.

Daniel had on Tuesday criticised the rejection of his faction’s list by the party and the Independent National Electoral Commission.

While INEC rejected the Daniel faction’s list, it accepted the candidates that emerged from a rival group led by former President Olusegun Obasanjo and the Minister of Commerce and Industry, Chief Jubril Martins-Kuye.

The commission based its action on the order of a Federal High Court in Abuja, which restrained it from accepting Daniel’s group’s list.

The governor, in an interview with journalists on Tuesday, indicated that he might defect from the PDP, if his group’s candidates were not accepted.

In a swift move, Jonathan had on Wednesday sent a delegation, which included his Chief of Staff, Chief Mike Oghiadome to appeal to Daniel not to defect.

It was gathered that Friday’s meeting would be a follow-up to Wednesday’s parley, which was inconclusive.

Investigations showed that the Daniel arrived in Abuja on Thursday night for the meeting, which would be held after Jonathan’s return from Enugu, where he went to campaign for the April presidential poll.

Although the meeting had not begun at the time of sending the report, a top member of the PDP said, “The meeting will still be held, but it will start late. The President and the Vice-President will attend it. We don’t want Daniel to leave the party. We’re ready to pacify the governor and other aggrieved members.”

The Ogun State Commissioner for Information and Orientation, Mr. Sina Kawonise, confirmed that the governor had arrived in Abuja. He said, “We’re in Abuja. No meeting has taken place.”

But Chief Joju Fadairo, the chairman of the Ogun PDP faction belonging to Daniel, confirmed that they were in Abuja on the invitation of the President to discuss the lingering crisis.

 -Punch

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Posted by admin on Feb 11 2011. Filed under Ogun, State News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry