Fresh facts emerged at the weekend on the role a letter reportedly sent from Aso Rock Presidential Villa mid last month fuelled the unmitigated angst of the seven aggrieved state governors of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, otherwise known as G-7, leading to five of them dumping the party and joining the APC.
In fact, whereas the state governors were expecting a reply to their admonition that President Jonathan should fix a date for the continuation of exploratory talks with a view to resolving the crisis rocking the party at the national level, what they got was a big shocker. See all the revelations below…
According to a Vanguard report, it was an opportunity and they grabbed it with both hands.
The aggrieved governors of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, (G-7) wanted a reason to dump their party and they were handed one by no other person than President Goodluck Jonathan himself.
And although some of the seven governors explained that they all knew that Jonathan was not prepared to meet with them and resolve the issues that gave rise to the crisis, given his body language and the sustained acts of impunity arising from the party leadership, they waited for the appropriate time.
LETTER-IN-CHIEF FROM COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF
In fact, one of the governors confided in Sunday Vanguard that the impression they got from the President’s body language suggested a “great deal that we were being taken for a ride”.
The meeting that was supposed to have been held on October 7, 2013 but which was postponed because some members of the G-7 had gone for the Hajj, appeared to have been permanently kept in abeyance.
Vanguard was made to understand that whereas the Hajj had been concluded and another meeting expected to be scheduled and held, nothing of the sort was in the horizon.
“It got to a point that we all decided to write a reminder to Mr. President”, one of the governors disclosed.
The content of the letter was simply to “remind Mr. President of the importance of time and the fact that he needed to meet with us”.
Rather than a quick response to their letter, the governors did not get any from the Villa.
Corroborating this, another governor revealed to that what they got was a belated response, the content of which was “not only uncomplimentary, it showed clearly that some people were deceiving President Jonathan about their sense of self importance”.
The response jolted the governors.
“We were surprised to see a belated letter from the Presidency which should have read something like ‘based on earlier talks’ or ‘based on earlier exploratory talks with a view to achieving peace for our great party’, what we got was a letter telling us that ‘in response to our request for a peace meeting, the President has decided to meet with us.’
“The impression the tone of the letter conveyed was that we were the ones seeking to make peace with President Jonathan.
“Meanwhile, we staged an open walkout on him at Eagle Square during that sham described as a national convention; the leaders of the party called a meeting and we decided to honour our leaders and elders by attending the meeting; a committee was set up and we also accorded the committee some level of due regard and respect, only to be slapped with such a letter that can best be described as impudent.
“From the tone and contents of the letter from the Villa, it became clear to all of us that the President was not interested in resolving the contentious issues and we decided to leave the party for them and go over to the APC”.
Even the last opportunity to avert the defection was bungled last Sunday.
Although the seven governors had waited for him to meet with them in Abuja, as scheduled, the President surreptitiously called off the peace parley, claiming that he was tired after returning from the meeting of the Honorary International Investors Council, HIIC, in London. Jonathan shot himself on the foot by calling off the meeting when all the governors had already settled down in Asokoro waiting for his arrival for the final push to salvage the party from the brink.
“The President wanted to give the whole world the erroneous impression that it was the seven of us, who actually sought for peace, forgetting that he had intervened before and asked us to sheath our sword and we respected him and still waited,” the governor explained.
“As far as we are concerned, we are gone to the APC for good and there is no turning back. Any of the governors, who wants to still remain in PDP can do so; but for me, it is over and forever,” the governor said.
via 247naijagossip
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