Three governors out of the seven that makes up the G-7, have scheduled a meeting with President Goodluck Jonathan today at the presidential Villa, Abuja.
These governors who intend to request for the postponement of proposed peace meeting with the president include Governors of Niger, Rivers and Kano; Babangida Aliyu, Rotimi Amaechi and Rabiu Kwankwanso respectively.
National Publicity Secretary, of the “New PDP” Chief Chukwuemeka Eze, announced in a statement last week, the intention of the faction tohold the meeting on a later date after the ongoing Hajj activities in Saudi Arabia some of the prominent leaders are involved in.
In a new statement released Sunday, Eze noted that the chairman of the New PDP, Ahlaji Abubakar Baraje directed the three governors to formally obtain permission from the president to postpone the peace meeting date to a more convenient date for all the pertinent members to be able to attend.
Alhaji Abubakar Baraje, gave the directive that Amaechi, Aliyu and Kwankwaso should officially notify the President of the need to shift the meeting to a later date.
Eze said, “Alhaji Baraje, the national chairman of the New PDP just called from Saudi Arabia around 9pm on October 6, 2013 to direct that the governors and stakeholders of the (New) PDP that include Rotimi Amaechi, Babangida Aliyu, Rabiu Kwankwaso, who have yet to travel to Mecca should meet with the National Leader of our party and President, Dr. Jonathan by 9am on October 7, 2013 to formally obtain permission from Mr. president to shift the meeting date to a more convenient date when all our leaders may have come back from Hajj.
“Shifting the meeting to morning period is to allow the mentioned governors apart from Amaechi to travel to Mecca later in the day (October 7) for the Haji operation.”
“This decision was taken during the Caucus Meeting of the New PDP held at the Adamawa State Government Lodge, Asokoro, Abuja, during which 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” it was stated.
However, Eze defended his statement last week, saying he was asked to issue it after a meeting by the leaders of the PDP faction at the Adamawa State Governor’s Lodge in Abuja.
“I was asked to issue the statement and I did as directed. I cannot say whether the governors got in contact with President over the shift of the meeting or not,” he told one of our correspondents in Abuja on Sunday.
Besides, Special Adviser to the President on Political Matters, Ahmed Gulak, said denied being aware of the intentions of the members of the New PDP to officially meet the president to announce the cancellation of the Monda, October 7, 2013 peace meeting.
“I am not aware whether the President has been informed or not. I don’t know if they had communicated with him on their position. I just read it on the pages of newspapers,” he said.