Jonathan sets up 5-man governors' committee on Elechi's impeachment saga
President Goodluck Jonathan has raised a five-man committee made up of governors to resolve the political crisis in Ebonyi State.
The committee members are Governors Gabriel Suswam (Benue); Sule Lamido (Jigawa); Saidu Dakingari (Kebbi)‎; Sullivan Chime (Enugu); and Godswill Akpabio (Akwa Ibom).
The committee were mandated to help resolve the face-off between Governor Martin Elechi of Ebonyi state and his deputy, Dave Umahi, who is the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) flag bearer in the state, which has sharply split
Umahi is alleged to be behind the impeachment move against Elechi with majority of members of the State Assembly well in on the plot.
The Vice President Namadi Sambo and ‎the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Anyim Pius Anyim, was also present at the meeting
At the end of over five hours reconciliatory meeting, Elechi left the State House with Umahi but they refused to answer the questions posed by State House correspondents who tried to find out the outcome of the meeting. ‎
The Benue Governor Gabriel ‎Suswam, announced to State House correspondents that a resolution is at hand, even as he explained that Elechi did not storm out of the meeting but left at the end of the meeting to hurry off and catch a flight back home.
According to ‎Suswam: '‎I don't think he (Elechi) stormed out of the meeting. We ended the meeting properly, and I believe he had a flight to catch so he was rushing.
'Yes, Ebonyi problem was one of the issues discussed at the meeting, but we are almost at the solution to that problem. The meeting ended amicably.'
‎The meeting Suswam said further discussed the forthcoming general elections for which he declared that the President was trying to 'calibrate the party properly for victory.
'The calibration of every thing takes time, but we were discussing issues of the party and issues that can enhance our victory in the March 28 and April 11 elections.'
The governor said the PDP was sure of victory and dismissed insinuation that some candidates were campaigning for themselves alone without championing the campaign for Jonathan's re-election.
According to him, 'I don't think that is true. People have different ways of campaigning, and as a senatorial candidate there is no way I can be campaigning for my seat alone without campaigning for the President.
'You know in political parties we have issues and different candidates have different issues. There are no universal issues across the length and breadth of the party. So it is not true that people are not campaigning for the President.
'There are minor issues here and there and you will observe that between yesterday and today we have been meeting. We are meeting because we want to be in charge, we want to be abreast.
'PDP is going to win this election in a landslide, there are no two ways about it. Forget about the noise and propaganda. We are ready and willing, and with all we have done today, like I said we have properly calibrated ourselves to win this election and nothing is going to stop it.
'So, there's no issue of nobody is campaigning for the President. We are all campaigning for the PDP, and all the PDP candidates across, even if no names are mentioned.
'People say that vote for PDP from House of Assembly to the Presidency, so once you mentioned that, it is all encapsulated. Most people forget to mention candidates by candidates or position by position but they say vote for PDP and that is happening across.
'We are more than ever prepared to win this election and we are going to win it.'