PDP Begins Re-conciliatory Talks, Meets Former Governors

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) wednesday commenced the
first leg of its planned dialogue and re-conciliatory talks with a
meeting with former governors and their deputies.
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The meeting, which was called at the instance of the National
Chairman, Senator Ali Modu Sheriff, provided an opportunity for
former leaders of the party in the states to formally interface with
the National Chairman, and other National Working Committee
(NWC) members on some of the perceived ills in the party.
Sheriff said the purpose for calling for the meeting was to involve
all the elected leaders of the PDP since 1999 in the re-building of
the party.
Sheriff promised to carry both the serving and former governors
along in running the affairs of the party, describing them as
leaders in their own right.
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Former governor of Benue State, Mr. Gabriel Suswam, who spoke
in an interview after the meeting, said the national chairman
briefed them on the coming congresses and national convention.
One former governor each was chosen to speak on behalf of the
six geopolitical zones during the meeting which lasted till late
evening Wednesday.
The former state chief executives and their deputies lamented their
neglect by their successors and accused them of abandoning those
who contributed to the successes of the party.
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However, the former National Chairman of the party and former
governor of Bauchi State, Alhaji Adamu Mu’azu, as well as former
governor of Akwa Ibom State, Senator Godswill Akpabio were
among the former governors absent at the meeting.
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Former governor of Ebonyi State, Dr. Sam Egwu, who spoke on
behalf of former governors and deputies from the South-east, said
things had got to the extent that their successors no longer invite
them to party meetings.
Egwu who recalled the role of the former governors in the
formation of PDP, noted that Senator Sheriff was the first National
Chairman to recognize former state chief executives under PDP.
“It appears that PDP has woken up from their slumber. The
meeting has shown that PDP has not forgotten those that formed the
party. We believe in the party; this is the only party that has the
soul of Nigeria. We have learn from our defeat, the space is wide
enough for everybody.
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“We started with five governors in the South-east, now we have
three. We have remained steadfast. In 2019 we will make sure that
that the two states are won by PDP,” Egwu added.
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On his part, former Niger State governor, Abdulkadir Kure
challenged the national chairman and other members of the
National Working Committee (NWC) to work for the good of the
party.
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“G-34 would not have succeeded if the first set of governors did
not support the party. Power belongs to Almighty God. We were
arrogant; somebody said we were going to rule for 60 years, we
stopped at 16 years.
“I hope with the emergence of Sheriff, there will be change in the
party. There is a group called G-84. You should be careful with this
group because they always have a way of getting what they want
in the party,” he told the chairman.
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Some of the former governors and deputies who attended the
meeting include, Theodore Orji (Abia), Babangida Aliyu (Niger),
Iyola Omisore (Osun deputy) Gbenga Daniel (Ogun), Ramlan Yaro
(Kaduna), Ibrahim Shakaru (Kano), Sam Egwu (Ebonyi), Achike
Udenwa (Imo), Gabriel Suswam (Benue), Abdulkadir Kure (Niger),
Ikedi Ohakim (Imo), Okechukwu Itanyi (Enugu deputy), Bala James
Ngilari (Adamawa), Umaru Fintiri (Adamawa), Idris Wada (Kogi),
etc.