2015: PDP elders’ panel divided over Jonathan -Tukur summons state chairmen to Abuja

The Peoples Democratic Party Elders’ Committee, headed by former President Olusegun Obasanjo, has started compiling a report of its meetings with the leaders of the two factions of the PDP in Abuja on Friday.

One of our correspondents gathered in Abuja on Sunday that one issue the committee would find a hard nut to crack is President Goodluck Jonathan’s 2015 ambition.

A very reliable source in one of the factions  told The PUNCH on Sunday that while the elders were divided on  Jonathan’s reelection bid, the governors were also in disagreement on the fate of Tukur,  who would on Monday (today) meet with state chairmen of the PDP in Abuja.Those at the  Friday  meeting,
apart from Obasanjo, were  former chairmen of the PDP, Dr. Ahmadu Ali and Senator Barnabas Gemade, the Chairman of Board of Trustees of the party, Chief Tony Anenih   as well as former military President  Ibrahim Babangida.

Another ex-Chairman of the PDP, Solomon Lar and  a former BOT Chairman, Dr.  Alex Ekwueme,  were absent at the meeting as they were said to have travelled outside the country.

The National Chairman of the party, Dr. Bamanga Tukur  led some members of his National Working Committee to the meeting while    Alhaji Abubakar Baraje led the  National Secretary of the New PDP, Prince Olagunsoye Oyinlola; the Deputy National Chairman, Dr. Sam Jaja, a former Governor of Gombe State, Sen. Danjuma Goje and an ex-Governor of Kwara State, Senator Bukola Saraki.

Also in the Baraje group were  governors  Sule Lamido (Jigawa),  Rotimi Amaechi (Rivers)  and Alhaji Aliyu Wamakko (Sokoto).

Governors, who came on the side of the Tukur-led PDP  included Liyel Imoke (Cross River), Idris Wada (Kogi), Seriake Dickson (Bayelsa), Theordore Orji (Abia), Godswill Akpabio (Akwa Ibom), Emmanuel Uduaghan (Delta), Ibrahim Shema (Katsina) and Isa Yuguda (Bauchi).

The PUNCH however gathered that during the meeting, two  members of the committee were in agreement that Jonathan should sacrifice his second term ambition while  two  disapproved.

The fifth committee member was   said not to be very committal to any of the positions canvassed by his colleagues.

Our source  said, “The committee is in a fix on whether  to recommend that President Jonathan should forget his second term or not

“Two  of the committee members or elders argued that the President would have done six years by 2015 and doing another four years would amount to third term. They are saying that the constitution stipulates that the President can only be in office for eight years and if he(Jonathan) gets another four years, he would have done 10 years, which to them amounts to third term.”