G5 Governors Not Going Back to PDP- Kwankwaso to Jonathan
The meeting between President Jonathan and the aggrieved governors, which he thought would help resolve the crisis in the ruling party, ended in a deadlock. Contrary to his expectation, Governor Rabiu Kwankwaso of Kano State and his Sokoto State counterpart, Aliyu Wamakko, stuck to their guns at the meeting.
Jonathan and Governor Akpabio begged them to change their mind but the governors refused.
Wamakko told State House correspondents at about 2.15
am on Monday that he used the opportunity of the meeting to formally
inform the President that he and four others have left the PDP and are
now in APC.
He explained that Kwankwaso and himself only attended the meeting out of respect for the President.
Wamakko said, “The meeting went on very well because some of us came here as governors. In the PDP matter, our position has been known. On behalf of the five of us, I have already briefed Mr. President of our position as G-5, that we are no longer in the PDP mainstream and that we are already in another party.
“But as a President of this country, if he calls us, we will come and listen to him and respect him as a leader of our country, otherwise what we had there was mostly a PDP affair.”
When asked why he sat through the meeting which started around 10pm on Sunday and ended in the early hours of Monday when he knew he was no longer a PDP member, the governor replied, “We had to tell the President and the Chairman of the PDP BOT (Chief Tony Anenih) our position. We can’t just be going about talking; we had to come and tell them the truth where the truth must be told and that is why we came here.”
President Jonathan had on Saturday in France boasted that three of the ex-PDP governors may likely return to the PDP, because they accepted his invitation to the meeting. But he was disappointed at the end.
He explained that Kwankwaso and himself only attended the meeting out of respect for the President.
Wamakko said, “The meeting went on very well because some of us came here as governors. In the PDP matter, our position has been known. On behalf of the five of us, I have already briefed Mr. President of our position as G-5, that we are no longer in the PDP mainstream and that we are already in another party.
“But as a President of this country, if he calls us, we will come and listen to him and respect him as a leader of our country, otherwise what we had there was mostly a PDP affair.”
When asked why he sat through the meeting which started around 10pm on Sunday and ended in the early hours of Monday when he knew he was no longer a PDP member, the governor replied, “We had to tell the President and the Chairman of the PDP BOT (Chief Tony Anenih) our position. We can’t just be going about talking; we had to come and tell them the truth where the truth must be told and that is why we came here.”
President Jonathan had on Saturday in France boasted that three of the ex-PDP governors may likely return to the PDP, because they accepted his invitation to the meeting. But he was disappointed at the end.
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