"Forget 2015" - PDP Governors Tell Jonathan

The civil war in the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) is likely to escalate, with aggrieved governors giving four conditions for peace. They tabled the conditions at a meeting on Sunday night with President Goodluck Jonathan, 16 governors, and the Chairman of the Board of Trustees (BoT) of a faction of the party, Chief Tony Anenih. The conditions are that: •factional National Chairman Bamanga Tukur should be sacked; •President Jonathan should do one term only and forget re-election in 2015; •the Nigeria Governors Forum (NGF) and Rivers State crises should be resolved; and •"harassment" of governors by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) should be stopped. Attempts were made to narrow the conditions to two but no progress was made. The two factions only succeeded in setting agenda for resumption of talks today. But the National Secretary of the Atiku- Governors faction of the PDP, Prince Olagunsoye Oyinlola, said yesterday that despite the intervention by Jonathan, ex- President Olusegun Obasanjo and other party leaders, members of the New PDP would not abandon their struggle. Oyinlola, who issued a statement in Abuja, said the faction would not disappoint members in the mission to make the PDP work again in the interest of Nigeria and its people. Sources said that Sunday's meeting was a no-holds-barred type, with Jonathan feeling overwhelmed. It was gathered that the seven governors, who were represented by four of their colleagues, complained lack of internal democracy in the party and "repression" by the Presidency. "The governors demanded the removal of the factional National Chairman of PDP, Alhaji Bamanga Tukur to have genuine reconciliation in the party, a source said, adding: "They also asked the President to stick to the agreement he purportedly had with party leaders to spend one term in office. They urged Jonathan to come out openly on his rumoured re-election bid in 2015".