Obasanjo, rebel govs meet over PDP crisis

Former President Olusegun Obasanjo

Five of the seven aggrieved governors of the   Peoples Democratic Party on Monday  met behind  closed doors  with former President Olusegun Obasanjo  in Abeokuta, Ogun State.

The meeting which lasted about two hours  took place barely 13 hours after policemen from the Asokoro Area Command in Abuja   briefly disrupted the governors’ talks at the Kano State Governor’s Lodge in  the nation’s capital.

The  governors  that met with Obasanjo were  Rotimi Amaechi (Rivers); Babangida Aliyu (Niger); Rabiu   Kwakwanso (Kano); Sule Lamido (Jigawa); and Murtala Nyako (Adamawa).

Governor Abdulfatai Ahmed  of  Kwara State and  his Sokoto State counterpart, Aliyu Wammako,  were however absent.

Journalists were barred from  the Hilltop residence of the ex-President where  the   meeting, which is a continuation of the rebel governors’ consultations on  how to end their disagreements with President Goodluck Jonathan and the Bamanga Tukur-led PDP, was held.

They had  previously met with Obasanjo who chairs the PDP Elders Committee which is trying to reconcile   the  parties  . They also had talks with former Heads of State, Generals Absulsami Abubakar and Ibrahim Babangida.

 It was   gathered that the rebel governors  updated the former President on the latest developments in their efforts to end the face-off with  Jonathan and the PDP leadership.

At about 1:50pm,  Amaechi drove the other governors in an unmarked black BMW jeep out of the expansive mansion in a convoy of other vehicles.

Earlier, the Rivers State  governor had interrupted  Aliyu, who  was  addressing  journalists  on their  Abeokuta mission .

The journalists had asked Aliyu if they came to inform Obasanjo about their alleged decision to leave the PDP.

Amaechi,   in response to the question, asked, “Who told you  that?”

But Aliyu  continued , saying  “I don’t know about that. It’s just a speculation.”

He added that their meeting with Obasanjo was part of their consultations with the elders of the party.

Aliyu however expressed hope that the disagreements  between them and the President would soon be resolved.

He added  that they  had been having discussions with   Jonathan on the current face-off.

The governor said, “You may recall that when issues started, we consulted our elders, so this is part of the consultation;  more so that we are coming to the resolution of the matter .

“We’ve been discussing with the President about these issues  and we believe after the lull caused  by  the pilgrimage to Mecca, we will  continue from where we stopped.  So,  we needed to consult again to find out if there is any variable that has intervened and we are very happy things are going normal.”

It was further learnt that the governors had scheduled separate meetings with other former Heads of State, including  Gen. Yakubu Gowon .

 Meanwhile, some National Assembly members and New PDP leaders   from Rivers State  were on Monday held up on an aircraft at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja.

This followed the grounding of the aircraft, which was  conveying them    to Port Harcourt, based on instructions from aviation authorities.

It was gathered that the chartered aircraft had on board, Senator Magnus Abbe,  members of the House of Representatives and the Deputy National Chairman of the New PDP, Dr. Sam Jaja.

Abbe,who  confirmed the development, said he and his colleagues were perplexed about the turn of events.

He  said, “We boarded the aircraft and were about to take off when we were told that the plane could not take off based on orders from  above.

“We tried  to find out where the  order  came from but  nobody  talked to us. It is unfortunate that we have degenerated to the level of playing politics with transportation.”

He explained that they were on their way to Port Harcourt to join Amaechi in hosting officials of the All Progressives Congress.

A senior official of the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria, who pleaded for anonymity  said, “The aircraft meant to convey them was grounded, but I cannot tell you why.

“However, this has nothing to do with FAAN for in this context, it is not our business to ground (any) aircraft.”

When contacted, the spokesperson for aviation parastatals, Mr. Yakubu Dati, said the aircraft might have been grounded for safety reasons. He said those on board the grounded aircraft  took another  to Port Harcourt.

He said, “There was a problem with the other plane that they boarded; so they took another plane and left.

“If you go and charter a vehicle and it can’t move, and you go to the next one and charter it, is there anything wrong with that? So check those angles.

“Any problem can arise. This is why we ensure that people follow regulations. You will recall that one of the issues that affected Amaechi’s plane is because there were issues with that aircraft’s manifest.

“And when the Associated Airlines flight had an accident, what saved us was that there was a manifest. If not we wouldn’t have known who was on the flight. So there could be one issue or the other.”