LEON USIGBE reports on the Peoples Democratic Party Governors’ Forum (PDPGF) meeting hosted by Governor Sule Lamido in Dutse, Jigawa State and the opportunity provided by new PDPGF’s initiative for peer review.
GOVERNOR Sule Lamido of Jigawa State played host to the last meeting of the Peoples Democratic Forum Governors Forum (PDPGF) last week; a similar one was hosted by his Katsina State counterpart, Shehu Shema, last January. The next meeting is slated for Bauchi in line with the resolution of the forum to move away from the practice of having the meeting only in Abuja.
The rotation initiative serves several positive purposes. Apart from the avoidance of the normal distractions in the Federal Capital, members of the Governor Godswill Akpabio-led forum were able do a peer review of their development efforts even though the secretariat of the forum, headed by Mr Osaru Onaiwu, has been reluctant to admit this. But rather than the one-day meeting they normally have in Abuja, the meetings in the states lasted for two days, giving them an ample opportunity not just to discuss party issues, but also to bond as they visited places of interest in a relaxed atmosphere.
The PDP national chairman, Dr Adamu Muazu, was present in both meetings and is expected to continue his attendance in the subsequent ones in the run-up to the 2015 general election.
It was in Katsina that the governors first resolved to set up a reconciliation committee to help the Muazu-led National Working Committee (NWC) to reconcile aggrieved members of the party and possibly, bring back PDP governors who defected to opposition All Progressive Party (APC). At the time, they also condemned the call by the APC for its members in the National Assembly to stall the passage of the 2014 budget and the confirmation of the service chiefs.
Lamido's hosting of the event is significant in the sense that he was one of the initial group of seven PDP governors who were aggrieved over the state of affairs in the party. While the others decamped to the APC, Lamido and his Niger State colleague, Aliyu Muazu Babangida, decided to remain in the ruling party. In spite of his disaffection with the party, like the highly principled leader that he is, Lamido has stayed back to lead the effort to re-engineer the PDP.
The Jigawa governor was excited to receive the governors, ostensibly because of the opportunity the meeting in his state provided to show off his administration's outstanding achievements. Forty eight hours prior to the arrival of the governors, his officials, in collaboration with the PDPGF secretariat, organised a media tour of various projects, ongoing and completed, around the state. They included the N11.7 billion Dutse International Airport slated for inauguration by President Goodluck Jonathan at the end of this month, the new Jigawa State University in Kafin Hausa, new College of Nursing and Midwifery, Birni Kudu, Jigawa State Academy for the gifted, the N785million General Yakubu Gowon NYSC Camp and Sports Centre, State Secretariat Complex, roads, Legislators' Quarters, several other new housing complexes, among others. The PDP governors were supposed to visit some of the projects to see what they could take away from the initiatives.
At the end of the Dutse's meeting, the governors extolled the position of the judiciary on the 37 members of the House of Representatives who defected to the APC from the PDP, as they demanded that the defectors immediately vacate their seats in compliance with the court's ruling. A Federal High Court in Abuja presided over by Justice Adeniyi Ademola had given an order of perpetual injunction restraining the lawmakers from effecting any leadership change in the House of Representatives, saying that they no longer had any business, morally and legally, to stay in the House. The court had ruled that they should honourably resign from their seats as members, having moved to another political party while their tenure had not yet expired.
The PDP governors were enraged by attempts by the APC hierarchy to play politics with the judiciary over the issue and they stated in the Dutse meeting how disappointed they were with the opposition party. The governors insisted in the communique issued at the end of the meeting that any member of the PDP who defected and failed to return to the party must lose his seat.
They commended Jonathan for the ongoing national conference and also congratulated Mr Ayo Fayose and Senator Iyiola Omisore, who emerged the PDP governorship candidates for the forthcoming elections in Ekiti and Osun states respectively and promised to work with them to ensure that they achieve victories at the polls. Both candidates were received by the governors in Dutse as the forum appealed to aspirants who contested for the tickets with them to close ranks and work for the election of PDP in their states. In attendance at the Dutse meeting were 18 governors, including the deputy governors of Nasarawa and Sokoto states, whose governors belong to the APC.
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