Efforts by former President Olusegun Obasanjo to end the festering crisis within the ruling Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP) ended in a deadlock, plunging the ruling party into deeper crisis.
This was due to the promoters of the breakaway faction of the party known as “New PDP” insisting on the conduct of a fresh national convention as the “only immediate path to peace” in the party.
The PDP elders’ parley was called by Obasanjo to resolve the latest crisis which led to the formation of the new PDP by aggrieved members led by former vice-president Atiku Abubakar and seven governors who staged a walkout from last Saturday’s special convention of the party.
The governors, who alongside Atiku formed the new PDP are Sule Lamido (Jigawa), Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso (Kano), Aliyu Wamakko Sokoto), Muazu Babangida Aliyu(Niger), Abdufattah Ahmed(Kwara) and Rotimi Amaechi (Rivers).
They named former national secretary of the PDP Alhaji Kawu Baraje and Olagunsoye Oyinlola as national chairman and national secretary respectively.
Despite the reported directive by President Goodluck Jonathan to party elders and his loyalists with Obasanjo on the grounds that the former President was behind the crisis, Obasanjo still pressed ahead with his peace initiatives.
A pro-Jonathan group, the Media Network for Transformation MNT), in a statement signed by its coordinator, Ebelo Goodluck, said apart from being their sponsor, the rebel governors draw their inspiration from Obasanjo.
Obasanjo alongside former military president Gen. Ibrahim Babangida, chairman of the PDP Board of Trustees (BoT) Chief Tony Anenih, erstwhile national chairmen, senators Barnabas Gemade and Ahmadu Ali joined the former president to meet with the two PDP factions at three separate venues in Abuja.
The pioneer chairman of the party, Chief Solomon Lar, and Second Republic Vice-President Dr Alex Ekwueme did not attend the meeting as they were said to be out of the country.
According to a leader of the New PDP who spoke in confidence, the crisis was far from being over.
“As long as the demand for a fresh convention does not get attention, the crisis still lingers and we are not going to reduce any of our demands for peace, principal of which is the conduct of a fresh convention with Tukur stepping aside; that is the irreducible path to peace,” he said.
While the elders met with the Bamanga Tukur-led PDP in Niger Hall of Transcorp Hilton Hotel, the parley with the Baraje group took place at the Kaduna Hall, just as the joint parley took place at the Lagos Hall of the hotel.
Tukur was accompanied by governors Henry Seriake-Dickson Bayelsa), Godswill Akpabio (Akwa Ibom), Emmanuel Uduaghan Delta), Idris Wada (Kogi), Ibrahim Shehu Shema (Katsina), Isa Yuguda (Bauchi) and Liyel Imoke (Cross River).
On the side of Baraje were governors Lamido, Wamakko and Amaechi. Others included Sam Sam Jaja, Oyinlola, Senators Danjuma Goje, Abdullahi Adamu and Bukola Saraki.
The elders had to shuttle between the meetings throughout the duration of the five-hour meeting.
Briefing journalists after the meetings which ended at 2:55 pm, Obasanjo said: “Gentlemen of the press, I thank you for exercising patience. Let me point out, you have seen five of us as select elders of the party. We have taken it upon ourselves to prevent the worst from happening to our dear party.
“Two of our members are abroad and could not join us. They are Solomon Lar and Alex Ekwueme; and we are carrying them along. Whatever the reports we are making, suffice it to say that it is the family dispute within the PDP which we want to stem the tide of going to the brink. And I want to say that we have met with the two sides of the family; we have listened to them, and of course, we are going to put our heads together and go on from there.”
A pro-Jonathan governor also gave an indication that the crisis was not resolved at the meetings. “We are still on it; it is gradual process. God will help us to resolve it, at least in the interest of the party. God will see us through,” he said.
But there was a mild drama amidst the series of meetings as both Lamido and Amaechi taunted Tukur with “former chairman”.
As Funke, Obasanjo’s daughter, was exchanging pleasantries with Tukur, Lamido held her hand and dragged her away; but her insistence that she wanted to greet the chairman elicited a joke from Lamido who said: “Which chairman? You mean the former chairman?
Amaechi’s was even more dramatic as he accosted Tukur with a harder joke. “Former chairman, thank God we now have a brand new chairman who understands the constitution that if you suspend a party man and the NEC does not ratify that suspension after 30 days, the action (suspension) automatically lapses.”
The chairman of the new PDP, Alhaji Abubakar Kawu Baraje, accompanied by Lamido, moved to inspect the secretariat of the new PDP located at Plot 3206 A, No. 4 Oyi River Crescent, Maitama District. It was the former office of the National Democratic Party (NDP).
Construction was still going on in the building as labourers were seen placing interlocking tiles on the road leading to it. The gate was painted in the red, white and green colours of the PDP. A partially covered signpost on the building revealed an insignia similar to that of the PDP.