21 Mar 2011
Former President, Olusegun Obasanjo
The Board of Trustees (BoT) of the PDP has advised President Goodluck Jonathan not to sign any agreement with the Mallam Adamu Ciroma-led Northern Political Leaders Forum (NPLF), as according to it, the NPLF leaders are also members of the party.
The group, which was formed as a vehicle to deliver a consensus PDP candidate from among members of the party from the North to challenge Jonathan at the party’s national convention in Abuja, has former military president, Gen. Ibrahim Babangida, former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar, among others, as members.
The BoT’s advice to Jonathan was one of the highlights of its meeting at the Banquet Hall of the Presidential Villa, Abuja at the weekend. It was presided over by former President Olusegun Obasanjo.
According to a source that attended the meeting, the decision was taken after the matter which came up when Jonathan briefed members of the BoT about his campaigns across the country and efforts at reconciling aggrieved members of the party was discussed exhaustively.
According to the source, “It was a consensus of members of the BoT that there should be no formal agreement in black and white with the group led by Mallam Adamu Ciroma.”
The BoT, the source further said, also argued that the NPLF “…are members of the party (PDP) and therefore nothing special should be agreed with them in writing. The members of the BoT told the president that any formal agreement with any group would complicate matters in the long run.
“We also told him that he should keep faith with the PDP campaign manifesto and nothing more, as he should see the entire country as his constituency”.
He continues: “The president cannot afford to be entering into agreements with every member of the PDP. As PDP members, they (NPLF) should stand by the presidential candidate of the PDP to prosecute the campaigns and ensure victory and all issues would be resolved.”
Jonathan had earlier told the BoT members that his meeting with the Ciroma group at the Defence House in Maitama last Friday was deadlocked. The meeting had Babangida, Atiku and Ciroma in attendance.
It was deadlocked because Jonathan and the NPLF team could not agree on the report of the seven-man committee set up on February 18 to harmonise grey areas in discussions between the president and the Ciroma group.
It is expected that another meeting between the president and the Ciroma group will come up before the presidential election on April 9.
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