PDP crisis: Three rebel governors to meet Jonathan today

Three governors under the New Peoples Democratic Party (nPDP) umbrella will on Monday (today) meet with President Goodluck Jonathan on)  at the Presidential Villa, Abuja to seek the postponement of their peace meeting.

The three governors – Governors Rotimi Amaechi (Rivers), Babangida Aliyu (Niger) and Rabiu Kwankwanso (Kano) - have been mandated by the splinter Peoples Democratic Party  to officially inform of their desire for a new date for the meeting.

The National Publicity Secretary of the nPDP, , Chief Chukwuemeka Eze,  announced in a statement in Abuja on Sunday, that the chairman of the New PDP, 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.'

The statement explained that 'this step  is born  out of the plea by President Jonathan  and respect we have for his office.'

The  other governors in the New PDP are  Murtala Nyako (Adamawa), Sule Lamido(Jigawa), Abdulfatah Ahmed (Kwara), and  Aliyu Wamakko (Sokoto).

Before Eze's statement, there  were  indications  that the Presidency was going ahead with the preparations for the meeting as it was not formally informed of the postponement.

The meeting was originally scheduled for today but the  New Peoples Democratic Party, through its National Publicity Secretary, Chief Chukwuemeka Eze, announced in a statement last week,  that it had been cancelled because most of the seven aggrieved governors were billed for the 2013 Hajj in Saudi Arabia.

He had said,  '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.'