As the crisis within the ruling Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP) drags on, there are strong indications that President Goodluck Jonathan may call the bluff of the seven aggrieved governors of breakaway faction.
Dr. Jonathan, who reportedly got angry at a meeting with PDP governors loyal to him on Tuesday night, asked them not to lose sleep over the party’s crisis.
It was also learnt that the Presidency is not comfortable with former President Olusegun Obasanjo’s efforts as a peacemaker because the aggrieved governors are seen as his “die-hard” loyalists.
Obasanjo has scheduled a peace meeting for tomorrow in Abuja.
A source, who spoke with our correspondent last night, said: “The President, after going through some security reports on the crisis, got angry and told the governors, ‘we will not lose sleep. Those who ignited the fire should go and quench it’.
“It is obvious that the Presidency is already closing in on those pulling the strings to divide the PDP ahead of the 2015 poll.
“I think the Presidency may damn the consequences. The next few weeks might be for dirty politics. There is a likelihood of tit-for-tat politics.”
Those who attended meeting were Governors Emmanuel Uduaghan (Delta); Ramalan Yero (Kaduna); Gabriel Suswam (Benue); Theodore Orji (Abia); Liyel Imoke (Cross River); Henry Seriake Dickson (Bayelsa); Ibrahim Dankwambo (Gombe); Godswill Akpabio (Akwa Ibom); Idris Wada (Kogi) and Isa Yuguda (Bauchi).
Special Adviser to the President on Political Affairs Ahmed Gulak and Deputy National Chairman of PDP Uche Secondus were also there.
A close aide to the president faulted Obasanjo’s intervention in the crisis.
According to the aide, “What is happening in the PDP has nothing to do with the President; it is not his headache at all and he is not losing sleep over it.
“There is also the belief that Obasanjo is the one behind the crisis; he cannot start a crisis and now pretend to be finding a solution to it.
“It is good that the current happenings are unfolding at this time; we now know those who are doing what, those who have been hiding their faces while creating problems – including security crises for the government. The government is studying the situation and will respond at the appropriate time.”
The aide added that though Obasanjo and the governors are hell-bent on preventing the 2015 elections, “his achievements will speak for him and he will contest in the elections.”
“Those who are calling for revolution should better start preparing for it because President Jonathan will contest the election; Nigerians will decide his fate and not Obasanjo and the six or seven governors. Those calling for war should start preparing now,” he said.