Eleven of the 23 PDP governors boycotted a reconciliation meeting held at the Akwa Ibom State Governor’s Lodge in Asokoro District, yesterday in Abuja.
The meeting which was initially slated for 3pm had to be rescheduled to 8pm due to poor attendance by the governors.
The governors who boycotted the meeting include Niger State’s Babangida Aliyu, as well as the governors of Kano, Jigawa, Adamawa, Sokoto, Taraba, Rivers, Cross River , Ebonyi, Bauchi and Kebbi.
The governors are said to not be comfortable with the fact that Baylesa governor, Seriake Dickson was appointed as the chairman of the party’s National Reconciliation Committee.
The governor’s were also in absentia due to the fact that Dickson openly supports Jonah Jang, who is widely seen as an usurper of Amaechi’s mandate as chairman of the Nigeria Governor’s Forum. Dickson is also seen as a close confidant of President Jonathan and thus unable to be impartial in his dealing with the aggrieved governors.
The meeting was attended by Dickson and governors of Delta, Benue, Kogi, Enugu, Akwa Ibom, Katisna and Abia states. Governors of Kaduna, Kwara, Plateau and Gombe states sent their deputies.
Other items on the agenda were the upcoming National Convention and the November 14th Anambra gubernatorial election.
After the meeting came to an end, the governors headed to Abuja to see President Jonathan. Dickson said he wanted to see the president to step down as head of the reconciliation committee as he was not consulted before his appointment, and stepping down may lead to progress in the reconciliation talks.
Speaking on the Rivers Crises, Akpabio said the incident was unfortunate and called on both parties to sheathe their swords.
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