PDP primaries: Jonathan, Senators set to tackle govs

Posted by admin Governors, Latest Politics, Legislature, Senate Saturday, November 8th, 2014

President Goodluck Jonathan and members of the Peoples Democratic Party in the Senate have agreed to curb the overwhelming influence of state governors in the affairs of the party, particularly its primaries.

SUNDAY PUNCH, on Friday, gathered that during a meeting at the Presidential Villa on Thursday night, the President, the senators and the leadership of the party agreed to ensure a level playing field at the primaries as a way of checking the governors.

The PDP senators had on Tuesday and Wednesday embarked on protest sittings and vowed to continue so until the Presidency curbed the autocratic powers of the governors, whom they accused of hijacking the party’s ward congresses in their respective states.

The senators were said to be demanding that at least, two sitting senators must be allowed to return to the Senate in 2015.

The development had forced the President of the Senate, David Mark, to lead the aggrieved senators to President Jonathan on Thursday.

Sources at the Thursday meeting told one of our correspondents that the parley, which was chaired by Jonathan and attended by the leadership of the PDP, agreed that allowing governors to choose candidates that would contest the National Assembly seats, would be counterproductive.

One of the sources from the South-South geo-political zone said all the 15 senators, who spoke during the meeting, lamented how their governors had been frustrating their moves to return to the Senate.

He said, “We spoke quite frankly at the meeting presided over by President Jonathan and which also had in attendance, the Chairman of the PDP, Mr. Adamu Mu’azu, about our fate in the hands of our state governors.

“We let the President and the PDP chairman know that the governors had hijacked all the party structures and that the fate of all aspirants lies solely in the hands of the state executives.”

He added that the senators specifically told the President that the only way forward was to curb the overbearing influence and display of arrogance by the governors.

Another senator from the North- Central part of the country said his colleagues were unanimous in calling the President’s attention to the dangers inherent in allowing the governors to determine those who will fly the party’s flag during the 2015 National Assembly polls.

He stated, “We told the President that some of the governors, who wanted to come to the Senate are perfecting strategies to make themselves relevant and superior to others from their states.”

He said, “One of us drew the attention of Mr. President to the fact that the governors are trying to take over the control of the National Assembly by coming in with their men and women.

“We know how the ex-governors currently in the Senate are leading others to revolt against Mr. President and the party and if we allow that to continue, they will pose themselves as strong opposition within the party.

“The sources said Jonathan commended the PDP senators for their support and loyalty to his government which according to him, ensured stability in the polity.

However, governors in the PDP on Thursday said they were no threat to the ambitions of the party’s serving senators seeking to return to the Senate next year.

The governors, through the Chairman, PDP Governors’ Forum, Godswill Akpabio, however pointed out to the senators that they (governors) would not surrender their leadership of the party in their respective states to anyone.

Akpabio, in an interview with journalists in Abuja after submitting his forms to contest the senatorial seat for the North-West Senatorial District of Akwa Ibom State, argued that there was no basis for the protests by the PDP senators over the issue.

The governor pointed out that the number of governors seeking to go into the National Assembly was few and should not be a threat to any senator.

At the meeting with the PDP senators, Jonathan was also quoted to have assured the senators that everything would be done by him and the party to ensure that majority of the serving PDP senators return to the red chamber in 2015.

He was also said to have complained bitterly about the crisis being caused by the former governors in the Senate, some of whom he said, were initially elected on the platform of the PDP.

“The President and the leadership of the party assured the senators that the National Assembly primaries will be well monitored to ensure the governors do not hijack them. Any primaries that do not meet democratic tenets will be annulled,” one of the senators threatened.

Jonathan had held several private meetings with some leaders of the party, which were aimed at resolving the internal crises in the party.

Jonathan, in company with the National Chairman of the PDP, Adamu Mu’azu, had met with stakeholders from Enugu State, including Governor Sullivan Chime; Deputy President of the Senate, Ike Ekweremadu; and a former President of the Senate, Ken Nnamani.

Same day, Jonathan met with some PDP senators; Governor Gabriel Suswam of Benue State; and the Chairman of the party’s Board of Trustees, Chief Anthony Anenih.

SUNDAY PUNCH observed that 11 out of the 13 former governors in the Senate are in the opposition All Progressives Congress. They are: Senators Danjuma Goje (APC, Gombe); Buka Ibrahim (APC, Yobe); Bukola Saraki (APC, Kwara); George Akume(APC, Benue); Abdullahi Adamu (APC, Nasarawa); Shaaba Lafiaji (APC, Kwara); Chris Ngige (APC, Anambra); Ahmed Zani Yerima (APC, Zamfara); Lawan Ma’aji (APC, Bornu); and Kabiru Gaya (APC, Kano).

Only Senators Joshua Dariye (PDP, Plateau) and Ahmed Makarfi (PDP, Kaduna) are in the ruling Peoples Democratic Party.

However, Senators Saraki, Lafiaji, Goje and Gaya got elected into the Senate on the platform of the PDP but defected to the APC.

But Saraki, while speaking with one of our correspondents through his media aide, Bankole Omisore, explained that it was wrong to describe former governors as bench warmers in the red chamber.

He said, “It is on record that it was Senator Saraki who moved the motion for the probe of the petroleum subsidy in the country, which the President Jonathan administration is using as part of his transformation agenda.

“It is also on record that Senator Saraki as Chairman of the Senate Committee on Environment and Ecology, raised the alarm of the lead problem in Zamfara, which attracted government attention that saved over 2000 lives.”

Omisore also said his principal first gave the suggestion on how to tackle the insurgency in the North Eastern states of the country.

The Senate spokesperson, Eyinnaya Abaribe, refused to comment when one of our correspondents contacted him on the phone.

He only said, “The issue is not a Senate affair; it is a party affair, which I cannot make any comment on.”

When contacted, the national leadership of the Peoples Democratic Party said it had yet to be briefed on the outcome of the meeting between the President and the senators.

The National Publicity Secretary of the party, Chief Olisa Metuh, stated this in an interview with one of our correspondents on Friday.

He said he would not be able to speak on what transpired at the meeting.

He said, “We have not been briefed about the outcome of the meeting.”

It was, however, learnt that the leadership of the PDP was in a dilemma on how to accommodate the demands of the aggrieved senators, especially on their plan to return to the Senate in 2015.

A member of the National Working Committee of the party, who spoke to one of our correspondents on condition of anonymity on Wednesday, had said though the party would make concession to the senators, he wondered whether their demands could be met.

Apart from this, he said members of the party’s caucus in the House of Representatives were equally making their demands.

The PDP, had in September, announced November 22, 2014 as the date for the National Assembly primaries.

It fixed December 6 and November 29 for its presidential and governorship primaries respectivelywp_posts