Apparently not at ease with insinuations that there are plans to woo former President Goodluck Jonathan out of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), former Senate president, Bukola Saraki, yesterday asked the All Progressives Congress (APC) to stop disturbing leaders of the major opposition party to join the governing party.
Saraki who heads the PDP national reconciliation and strategy committee stated this shortly after leading members of the committee to a meeting with the former president at his Abuja residence.
The meeting followed weeks of speculations about Jonathan’s political future after some APC governors had paid him a visit in Abuja.
But rising from the closed door meeting with Jonathan yesterday, Saraki said the former president assured that he would avail his time and experience to enable PDP return to power at the centre.
The former Senate president, who described the meeting with Jonathan as productive, stressed that those “disturbing” the former president to join the major opposition party should perish the thought as he remains a PDP member.
Saraki said, “We are members of the national reconciliation and strategy committee set up by the party and part of our task is to meet with our former President Dr. Goodluck Jonathan.
“We are starting off with our former president and we are here to let him know what our plans are and also to hear his own views and advice on what we need to do and how to do it as well as how we need to strengthen the party and reconcile aggrieved members in order to bring about unity and focus in our party.”
Describing the meeting as productive, Saraki said Jonathan assured the committee of his commitment to the PDP
He said, “He (Jonathan) gave us his views and we are very happy. He reassured all of us of his commitment to the PDP and he told us that he is still ready to offer his time, experience and resources to strengthen the party and that is very strong and important for us. Of course, you know there are funny issues going on but we are leaving this place very happy.
“He is also ready to work with the reconciliation committee to play his own role. That is a great step for the party. We have put that behind us all those people of the other party that would like to come and disturb our leaders. Our leaders are here and they are ready to work for the party”.
Saraki was however evasive when asked if the meeting deliberated on the possibility of Jonathan contesting for the presidency in 2023.
He added that the former first citizen’s pledge to work for the PDP is commendable.
“We spoke about what role former presidents like him would play and he left us feeling very happy that he would like to play that role in the PDP and helping our committee to move forward,” he reiterated.
Other members of the committee at the meeting are former Governors Ibrahim Dankwambo (Gombe), Ibrahim Shema (Katsina) and Liyel Imoke (Cross Rivers).
Others are former secretary to the government of the federation, Senator Anyim Pius Anyim, and erstwhile House of Representatives leader, Mulikat Adeola-Akande.
The Saraki committee was inaugurated late last year with the mandate to reconcile aggrieved PDP members who left the party as well as woo new members into the party ahead of the next general election cycle.
Ex-Ogun State Governor, Gbenga Daniel, Defects To APC
Meanwhile, former governor of Ogun State, Otunba Gbenga Daniel, announced yesterday that he was dumping the PDP for the APC.
Five governors elected on the platform of the APC party formally received Daniel in the governing party in Shagamu, Ogun State.
The governors who were led by the Ogun State governor, Prince Dapo Abiodun, are Nasir el-Rufai, Kaduna State; Abubakar Atiku Bagudu, Kebbi State, Abubakar Sani-Bello, Niger State, and Abdullahi Ganduje, Kano State.
The former governor, in a terse note he sent to his supporters, reads: “Our cause is just, well considered, not for any personal gain or aggrandizement but in the overall interest of our people.
“What we all need to do is to be active and proactive with our
responses as there will be no time for briefing.
“We all know what has happened to the intractable problem in the Ogun State PDP over the last decade or more with no end in sight.
“We can see the unfolding crisis in the SW (South West) and the
National situation does not look any better. The situation in the country also calls for serious engagement across
the board.
“Not that there won’t be challenges in the other parties but all
considered and the benefit of what I know, this is the best thing to
do now. If the dynamics change at any time we will take it as it comes.’’
Daniel who was the chairman of the PDP presidential campaign in 2019 further stated that the governors welcomed.
