PDP crisis: Presidency can't intimidate us, says G-7 Governors

Following media reports that the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), considering punitive measures against the seven aggrieved governors for allegedly harbouring selfish demands that were capable of undermining the party, the Jigawa State governor Sule Lamido said he and his colleagues in the group cannot be intimidated by anyone.

Lamido said that 'in the G-7, no amount of intimidation would deter us from actualizing the cause of ensuring that the right thing is done in the polity,' he said.

A major demand of the governors that Jonathan should not contest the 2015 presidential election has divided the new PDP to which the G-7 governors, former governors as well as aspirants on the platform of the PDP belong.

A peace meeting between President Goodluck Jonathan and seven aggrieved governors of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has been slated for October 7 to resolve lingering issues generating hostilities in the PDP.

But Lamido, who spoke in Sokoto yesterday at the commissioning of a water project initiated by his Sokoto State counterpart, Aliyu Wamakko, said what the G-7 governors have advocated since the inception of the crisis were genuine and democratic: 'You have to understand that the G-7 governors run governments owned by the people; our combination is made up of leaders with genuine, sincere and honest intentions to deliver credible leadership to their people. Our demands are democratic and genuine.'

'Democracy cannot be dramatized. It has to be real and when it is real, you will see it demonstrated in the people. The government we run is owned by the people. We the G-7 governors are genuine, sincere and honest leaders. No matter the level of intimidation, we will stand by the truth,' he said.