Jonathan insincere— Rebel Govs

As President pleads for understanding

 

THE second crucial meeting between President Goodluck Jonathan and the Abubakar Kawu Baraje-led faction of the
Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) slated for Monday October 07, has finally been confirmed put forward.
The much-publicised peace talks was called off at the behest of the Baraje faction, on the pretext that Baraje and some key members of the faction, including some
governors, would be on pilgrimage to Saudi Arabia on October 7.
In a statement signed by its National Publicity Secretary, Chukwuemeka Eze, the faction said it had already sent an emissary to President Jonathan seeking a postponement.
According to the Baraje camp, the decision was taken at a caucus meeting of the New PDP held at the Adamawa State Government Lodge, Asokoro, Abuja, last week.
It said: “It was discovered that the date of the proposed peace meeting clashes with this year's hajj, in which several of our key members are billed to participate.
“Our National Chairman, Alhaji Baraje and most of our other key members, including most of the G7 Governors and the five other governors that have indicated interest to join us by next week, as well as members of the National Assembly, former governors and business moguls, are billed to perform the Hajj, which is already in operation.”
But sources close to the faction informed that the hajj excuse was just convenient. The faction, they said, has lost interest in the talks, and no longer trusts the President to meet them half way on the issues separating the two sides.
The governors and the Baraje faction observed that the President and his camp are merely buying time so that they can launch a counter-attack.
The concessions being sort are the immediate lifting of the suspension of Governor Rotimi Amaechi by the Bamanga Tukur-led PDP; return of party structures to governors, including those of Rivers and Adamawa states;raising a committee to visit Rivers State, like it was with Adamawa State, to build consensus and restore party structure to the governor; the governors and party leaders should tarry awhile and leave Jonathan to decide the fate of factional National Chairman of PDP, Bamanga Tukur; and 2015 presidential ambition to be discussed at the resumption of talks on October 7.
The governors, it was gathered, were put off by the untoward attitude of some members of the presidential team who were present at the last peace talks were the first to breach the ceasefire.
It was learnt that they expressed reservations about the conduct of Governor Godswill Akpabio of Akwa Ibom State and the Political Adviser to the President, Ahmed Gulak, for allegedly renouncing some of the concessions.
At the end of the meeting, the aggrieved breakaway faction resolved to: stick to all the six demands presented by Baraje to the National Assembly;withstand any form of hostility or desperation by the Presidency;maintain the New PDP's majority in the National Assembly to influence policies and decisions in the public and national interest;tell members of the New PDP not to respond to provocation or intimidation in whatever form; and to insist on no third term for Jonathan.
Three of the governors said the G-7 and Baraje faction observed that the President was not “keen on the concessions”.
Another, apparently showing signs of frustration, said: “It is obvious that we are not near the resolution of the crisis. Water will find its level soon.
“If you look at the concessions Jonathan has made, it is only the return of party structure to governors in their states that appears acceptable to him. Even at that, he added a caveat to deal with the peculiarities of each state.
“For instance, on Rivers State, the President promised to send a team, to be led by the Chairman of the Board of Trustees, Chief Tony Anenih, to the state to talk to the two factions.
“And barely 12 hours after the meeting, the Bamanga Tukur-led PDP raised a Caretaker Committee for PDP in Kano State.
“Do you expect us to believe that he is serious about the concessions?”
To another governor, the challenge is trust. The popular thinking among the governors is that President Jonathan does not keep agreements.
“The President and his team are preaching peace on one hand, but imagine Akpabio saying that the G-7 governors agreed at the meeting that Jonathan can contest in 2015,” the governor said, pleading not to be named “for strategic reasons”.
“We suspected this mischief and that was why we were careful in monitoring the wording of the communiqué which was drafted by Governor Liyel Imoke. What we agreed was that we are still discussing,” he said, adding:
“In fact, at a point when the communiqué was being drafted, the President interjected by asking Governor Rotimi Amaechi: 'Amaechi, do you have a hidden agenda on this communiqué?
“So it is about trust, the President does not honour agreement.”
There is also the thinking that the President will be ruthless once he is re-elected in 2015.
“The President sought for ceasefire and 48 hours after, the Presidency asked seven or eight members to come and disrupt a harmless visit to the leadership of the National Assembly by G-7 governors and Kawu Baraje faction,” another governor said.
Jonathan Seeks Peace
In spite of the shift in position of the faction, feelers from Aso Rock Villa showed that the President has not foreclosed peace talks with the G-7 governors and Baraje.
Aides disclosed that the number One citizen took the postponement gracefully and is awaiting a new date for the continuation of the peace talks.
Also, the Baraje faction has promised to soon communicate a new date for the resumption of talks.
National Daily was told that some forces in the presidency wanted President Jonathan to damn the consequences of the G-7 governors/Baraje faction.
The avowed hawks alleged that the G-7 governors were trying to take the President for granted.
It was, however, learnt that the President insisted that he would oblige the aggrieved governors a new date to avoid being drawn into any religious controversy since the excuse given bordered on Hajj exercise.
It was, also, gathered that the President decided to explore all options to give room for the conclusion of the peace talks.
An aide confided offered that, “So far, the President has no plans to foreclose talks with the G-7 governors unless they have decided on their own to do so.
“The position of the President is that anything done for peace to reign is not too much. The President and his team are awaiting a new date.
“These governors are the aggrieved people; they are to choose a new date. If there is no meeting again, it is at the discretion of the governors or Baraje group.”
Asked if the governors had not shown signs that the peace talks had failed, the source added: “The ball is in their court; the President is waiting for them. They are the aggrieved, not the President.”
In a swift reaction to the postponement, the Bamanga Tukur-led PDP slammed the Baraje faction for making the decision to postpone the talks public.
The National Publicity Secretary of Tukur's PDP, Chief Olisa Metuh, took strong exception to what he described as the over dramatisation of the postponement by the Baraje faction.
Metuh said, “It is inconceivable that they are dramatising a matter that's being discussed with the President. If they are responsible enough, they would not be making a public show of it by taking it to the pages of newspapers.
“It's the height of irresponsibility for them to be discussing a matter they had with the President on the pages of newspapers. I am not sure that even some of the governors are aware of this.
“They are being childish and clownish. They can as well go to the National Assembly and hold a public hearing on it. They are free to go wherever they want to go.”
Responding to these harsh words, the National Publicity Secretary of the Baraje faction, Chukwuemeka Eze, said the governors were not playing to the gallery or dramatizing the postponement of peace talks.
He insisted that the governors had genuine reason to shift the talks.
Eze said: “Why are they reading meaning into the postponement of the peace talks? Ask them: Is there actually Hajj going on? Are some of the governors not Muslims? Do you expect them to leave worshipping of their God to attend political meeting?
“These governors and some of our leaders in the PDP have gone to pray in order to ask God to intervene in the affairs of the PDP and allow democratic principles to prevail in the party. They have gone to the holy land to ask God to touch the hearts of those causing crisis in the party.”
On the alleged dramatization of the postponement, Eze said: “It is reckless to describe our statement as childish. If we are to hold a meeting and the public is aware, shouldn't the public be aware if the same meeting is not holding. Does that amount to dramatizing?
“In our statement, we even pleaded with the President that we regret any inconvenience the postponement might cause. We were modest.”
He added that, “The governors have also sent a message to the President, explaining why the talks could not hold. Yet, someone, who does not know what is actually going on, will say we are childish.”
Pressed to be specific on a new date for resumption of talks, he said: “We will communicate the date after the Sallah when the Hajj exercise would have been completed.”
Elders Forum
In the interim, President Jonathan has requested some PDP elders to assist the party in reconciling the aggrieved members with the mainstream party leadership.
The elders are expected to meet with the members of the Kawu Baraje's faction, especially former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, the seven governors, former Osun State Governor Olagunsoye Oyinlola, and some federal legislators.
Party insiders said the President had proposed that the elders, who still command the respect of many aggrieved chieftains, should discuss the problems and possible solutions to the crisis, ahead of the yet to be dated fresh peace talks, where full reconciliation is expected in Abuja.
Prominent elders, who have been contacted by the President's camp for the crisis-resolution task are former Vice President Alex Ekwueme, Gen. Ibrahim Babangida, Chief Tony Anenih, Gen. Ike Nwachukwu (rtd), Senator Chris Ukpabi, Chief Alaba Williams, Prof. Tunde Adeniran, former Senate Presidents Ameh Ebute and Ken Nnamani, Senator Jerry Gana, Chief Shuaib Oyedokun, Dr. Lekan Balogun, Senator Jibril Martins-Kuye, Senator Olofintuyi, Chief Jim Nwobodo, Chief Peter Odili, Alhaji Mohammed Abba-Gana and Chief Don Etiebet.
An insider disclosed that, “The President is trying to ensure that the next meeting will focus mainly to ratify the ideas that might have come up from the reconciliation process, and not that the party chieftains will be preparing for another battle on that day. Definitely, the President will make some concessions, but it will all result into a win -win situation.
Asked if the elders will also meet with former President Olusegun Obasanjo, the source said that the former leader is already part of the reconciliation process.