Onyebuchi Ezigbo in Abuja
Fresh facts have emerged on the reasons for the failure of the stakeholders’ meeting of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) convened by former President Goodluck Jonathan last week to reconcile the dispute among the warring parties in the PDP.
The peace initiative, which raised a lot of hopes for members of the party that the nearly one-year-old leadership crisis would be resolved, crumbled like a pack of cards when Ali Modu Sheriff suddenly walked out on the leaders during the meeting.
Sheriff walked out of the meeting in protest over the refusal to allow him make opening remarks as the PDP National Chairman.
However, a source at the meeting disclosed that party elders felt insulted by the conduct of the chairman, whom was alleged to have verbally insulted the former president.
According to the source, Sheriff felt betrayed by Jonathan who allegedly told him that the purpose of the meeting was to endorse the Governor Seriake Dickson report to allow him preside over the forthcoming national convention.
“The meeting was to legitimise Sheriff’s chairmanship, using the name and platform of the former president to attract credible leaders of the party. But when the governors saw the programme, they refused to allow such to happen.
“They told Jonathan that since he was the one calling for the meeting, no other person should make a remark after he finished addressing the gathering.
“That was why Sheriff felt betrayed and verbally insulted Jonathan. But Governor Nyesom Wike cautioned him, telling him that this man was a former president,” the source added.
The party blamed the failure of the peace meeting on inadequate consultations with critical stakeholders by the convener.
It was learnt that Jonathan worked with some of his former ministers, but excluded the governors and National Assembly caucus.
