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BREAKING: Obasanjo Dumps PDP, Tears Membership Card

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<b>Former President Olusegun Obasanjo on Monday announced his decision to quit the Peoples Democratic Party.</b><br />
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To prove his decision was irreversible, Obasanjo tore his PDP membership registration card.<br />
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The former president announced his decision when members of the party from his Ward 11 in Abeokuta North Local Government Area of Ogun State visited him at his Hilltop mansion residence in Abeokuta, the Ogun State capital.<br />
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The Chairman of the party in the ward, Alhaji Usman Oladunjoye, led the delegation.<br />
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Obasanjo ordered Oladunjoye to tear his (Obasanjo’s) PDP membership card at the meeting.<br />
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The move was hailed with a thunderous applause by those present.<br />
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Obasanjo said he has now become a statesman.<br />
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He equally denied the allegation by President Goodluck Jonathan that he was plotting to head an Interim National Government, which was the reason advanced by the administration at the centre for the recent criticism of the regime by Obasanjo.<br />
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More details soon.<br />
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BREAKING: Obasanjo Dumps PDP, Tears Membership Card

Former President Olusegun Obasanjo on Monday announced his decision to quit the Peoples Democratic Party. To prove his decision was i...

Reps Set For Showdown On Tenure Elongation

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<b>Any request for further extension of the 2015 elections by six months from President Goodluck Jonathan may result in serious bedlam in the House of Representatives, it was learnt yesterday.</b></div>
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Members of the House are billed to reconvene tomorrow after embarking on a 5-week break in preparation for the earlier scheduled February polls.</div>
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Some members of the House who spoke to Daily Trust yesterday alleged that although Jonathan had said that the May 29 hand-over date is “sacrosanct” plans were afoot to come up with a request based on Section 135 of the constitution so that the National Assembly would extend elections for six months, thereby extending Jonathan’s tenure.</div>
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One of the lawmakers told our reporter on phone that some of his colleagues had already started making moves to create an enabling environment for such a request to scale through but added that “we won’t allow that to happen.</div>
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“I can tell you that some of their foot-soldiers among my colleagues have started working towards that. About three people called me this afternoon on this issue, saying we should support it,” said the lawmaker, who pleaded not to be named.</div>
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The lawmaker said part of the plan was to woo members with financial inducements “since some of us did not get return tickets, while others are saying that they've spent a lot of money during the campaigns, so the six months additional period will give them time to recoup their money.</div>
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“My tenure ends on May 29, because that is the mandate given to me by my people. I won’t take part in any illegality, although I have my return ticket,” saying “it’s really a dicey situation we may find ourselves,” he added.</div>
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Another lawmaker said no matter the amount of money that might be given, “we will not allow some selfish individuals to truncate our democracy.”</div>
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Similarly, House spokesman Zakari Mohammed told <b>Daily Trust</b> on phone that as they reconvene tomorrow, they would do everything possible to see that the new elections dates were adhered to, saying they would not approve any extension.</div>
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He said: “Budget will be part of our main focus, but there is need for us to invite all the relevant agencies so that we’ll hold them responsible.”</div>
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Asked if the House would endorse polls shift outside May 29, Mohammed said “it’s not possible. Nigeria is not anybody’s estate that they’ll change the rules in the middle of the game. The May 29 date is sacrosanct. We’ll invite all the agencies involved so that there won’t be another shift. It’s not possible to postpone again; we won’t accept that.”</div>
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“Let’s see the rationale for that. Let’s listen to them, but it’s not attractive at all. Whoever that wants to bring any extension now must explain to us the reasons behind that,” said Rep Bimbo Daramola (APC, Ekiti).</div>
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“It supposed to be a collective decision. So we are waiting. How can tenure elongation be made when the present administration needs to hand over? The issue is that I am representing my people, once matters like this are tabled, you are allowed to consult your constituency. Your constituents’ decision on the matter will determine your position in the House,” said Rep Jerry Mamwe (SDP, Taraba).</div>

Reps Set For Showdown On Tenure Elongation

Any request for further extension of the 2015 elections by six months from President Goodluck Jonathan may result in serious bedlam in ...

PDP, Jonathan Scaring Voters Away From Buhari’s Strongholds - APC

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<b>The All Progressives Congress (APC) has accused President Goodluck Jonathan and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) of scaring voters away from north-eastern states where Buhari is favourite to record landslide victories.</b></div>
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It also alleged that an emissary of President Goodluck Jonathan is meeting with emirs in the north in a bid to push for an interim government.</div>
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APC added that PDP was “sponsoring the circulation of leaflets urging the people of Gombe to stay away from polling booths on election days or they will be in trouble.”</div>
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In a statement issued in Lagos on Sunday by Lai Mohammed, its spokesman, the party said “it could put anything beyond the PDP and the Jonathan administration, because of their desperation to ensure that the general election did not hold, at all costs.”</div>
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It said even the attack on Gombe on Saturday was suspect, wondering how Boko Haram insurgents would drive on the highway from Maiduguri to Gombe in a convoy of many vehicles without being spotted or stopped at the myriad of military checkpoints dotting the area.</div>
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The APC said it was curious that “the Boko Haram terrorists, who have never mentioned the elections in their regular videos on YouTube, had suddenly started campaigning against the conduct of elections”.</div>
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The party also noted that the local government elections in Yobe, one of the hotbeds of the Boko Haram insurgency, went without any incident in 2013, indicating there had not been a systematic campaign by the insurgents to attack voters.</div>
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“Part of the strategy of the PDP and the Jonathan administration is to depopulate perceived opposition strongholds through all sorts of dangerous measures, and this scaremongering, supposedly by Boko Haram, fits into that strategy. They are also the unseen hands behind the advertisement by faceless groups urging Muslims to vote for Muslim candidates. It is in line with their exploitation of religious and ethnic fault lines to divide Nigerians,” it said.</div>
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APC stated that the alarm raised by Mike Omeri, coordinator of the national information centre that some female suicide bombers might strike at polling units during the elections, also fits into the PDP and Jonathan administration’s opposition stronghold depopulation strategy.</div>
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“It is now very clear to Nigerians that the PDP-led federal government does not want the forthcoming elections to hold, because it is guaranteed a shellacking. First, the government sponsored a campaign to postpone the elections because of low PVC distribution. When they realized the number of PVCs collected was growing and that their argument might no longer be tenable, they suddenly used security as an alibi, abandoning their earlier push for the election shift on the basis of low PVC distribution,” the party argued.</div>
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“After they succeeded in forcing the postponement, they launched another campaign for the PVCs and the card readers to be jettisoned in favour of TVCs, because that will allow them to rig if indeed the elections proceed in spite of them. Those campaigning against the use of PVCs and card readers have forgotten that Ghana successfully used the same technology in its last elections, and that it is not rocket science.”</div>
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It further accused the PDP-led federal government of exhibiting the traits of election phobia by “continuing to clandestinely campaign for an interim government, even though the attorney-general of the federation and minister of justice had publicly denied such moves”.</div>
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“It is an open secret that as we write this statement, their emissary is touring the north meeting with emirs and others to push for an interim government. It has also been revealed how they plan to use the national assembly to seek tenure elongation. Never before has a sitting government been this desperate to avoid elections. This election phobia by a sitting government is a first in contemporary history,” the APC alleged.”</div>
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The party urged President Goodluck Jonathan not “to plunge Nigeria into crisis or give the country the Gbagbo treatment, all in pursuit of personal interest at the expense of national interest”.</div>
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“The plot that landed Ivory Coast under Laurent Gbagbo in hot water, and for which Gbagbo is currently cooling his heels in a holding cell at the International Criminal Court (ICC) at The Hague, was not as elaborate as that being pushed by the PDP and the Jonathan administration. That is why we are urging them to tread softly and save Nigeria from crisis,” it said.</div>
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“We know Nigerians have seen through the games being played by the PDP and the Jonathan administration. Nigerians and the entire world know those who are behind the election postponement, the myriad of court cases seeking to disqualify our presidential candidate, the ongoing efforts to depopulate opposition strongholds, the devilish advertisements seeking to use ethnicity and religion to divide Nigerians, the campaign to jettison the PVCs and card readers in favour of TVCs as well as the tenure elongation and interim government options</div>
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“That is why we are calling on all lovers of democracy to be vigilant in the run-up to the rescheduled polls, and for them to insist that nothing but the holding of the elections will be acceptable to Nigerians.”</div>

PDP, Jonathan Scaring Voters Away From Buhari’s Strongholds - APC

The All Progressives Congress (APC) has accused President Goodluck Jonathan and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) of scaring voters aw...

Patience Jonathan, Gov Dickson Mourn Bayelsa Women

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<b>Wife of the President, Mrs. Patience Jonathan, and the Bayelsa State Governor, Seriake Dickson, on Sunday mourned some prominent women from the state who died in a motor accident in Rivers State.</b></div>
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Although the two-paragraph statement by her spokesman, Ayo Adewuyi, did not give the circumstances surrounding the death, the Federal Road Safety Corps in Bayelsa State said the wife of the Secretary to the State Government, Elizabeth Allinson-Oguru, and 10 other women died in a ghastly road accident on Ahoada/Elele section of the East-West Road on Saturday night.</div>
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It was learnt that the deceased were coming from Okrika Local Government Area of Rivers State where they had gone to pay a solidarity visit to Mrs. Jonathan.</div>
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The statement read, “The First Lady, Dame Dr. Patience Faka Jonathan wishes to commiserate with the Government and people of Bayelsa State, over the death of some prominent Bayelsa women in a motor accident around Elele in Rivers State, on their way to Bayelsa.</div>
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“The First Lady prays the Almighty God to grant the souls of the deceased eternal rest and the families the fortitude to bear the irreparable loss.”</div>
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The FRSC Sector Commander in the state, Mr. Vincent Jack, said on Sunday that the preliminary report released to him by his men indicated that apart from the deceased, 18 persons were injured.</div>
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He said the 11 women were killed on the Ahoada/Elele Section of the East-West Road in Rivers State on Saturday night when the bus conveying them to Bayelsa State went up in flames.</div>
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Explaining that 29 persons in three separate vehicles were involved in the road crash, Jack, who forwarded the report of the accident to newsmen on Sunday, stated that those who died in the accident were burnt beyond recognition.</div>
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Jack explained that the report showed that the accident was caused by burst tyre, adding that the injured were immediately rushed to Madonna Hospital along Elele Road by operatives of the Nigeria Police Force.</div>
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He also identified the three vehicles involved in the accident as a Toyota Hiace Bus with Registration Number GBB591FS, a Toyota Siena (ABU640AE) and a Toyota Highlander Jeep (YEN371RJ).</div>
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It was learnt that while the corpses of two of the dead women were taken to a nearby mortuary, nine others were burnt beyond recognition.</div>
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A source disclosed that some of those involved in the accident were an ex-member of the State House of Assembly from Brass Local Government and Special Adviser to Governor Seriake Dickson, Mrs. Ruby Benjamin and ex-Commissioner for Women Affairs during Timipre Sylva’s administration, Mrs. Gimbra Panowei.</div>
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Others, according to the source, are a woman Leader from Otuoke Community in Ogbia Local Government Area, Madam Consider Amadi, wife of the owner of Ayakpor International Schools, Mrs. Inamamu Ayakpor.</div>
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Mrs. Ebisinte Ayabowei, who is an ex-commissioner in the state, was said to have escaped death during the accident.</div>
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Meanwhile, the Bayelsa State Governor, Mr. Henry Seriake Dickson, on Sunday, expressed shock over the death of the wife of the Secretary to the State Government, Prof. Edmond Allison-Ogoru and a group of other women in a ghastly road accident.</div>
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Dickson, who spoke through his Chief Press Secretary, Mr. Daniel Iworiso-Marson, described the incident as a monumental and painful loss to the people of the state.</div>
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“The Bayelsa State Governor, Hon. Henry Seriake Dickson, has expressed deep pains, shock and grief over the sudden death of the wife of Professor Edmond Allison-Oguru, the Secretary to the State Government and a group of prominent Bayelsa Women in a fatal road accident along the Ahoada/Elele section of the East/West Road in Rivers State,” the statement read.</div>
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The governor also described the women that died during the accident as “our mothers and sisters,” even as he prayed God to grant their families the courage and strength to bear the losses.</div>
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The road accident, according to the governor, had forced him to suspend official engagements for three days as a mark of honour for the souls of the departed women.</div>

Patience Jonathan, Gov Dickson Mourn Bayelsa Women

Wife of the President, Mrs. Patience Jonathan, and the Bayelsa State Governor, Seriake Dickson, on Sunday mourned some prominent women ...

You're Not God, PDP Campaign Tells Obasanjo

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<b>The Peoples Democratic Party Presidential Campaign Organisation has told former President Olusegun Obasanjo to stop playing God over his numerous criticisms of President Goodluck Jonathan.</b></div>
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The organsiation was reacting to the claim by Obasanjo that President Jonathan was planning to perpetuate himself in office.</div>
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Apart from this, the former President also accused Jonathan of planning to cause chaos if he lost the March 28 presidential election.</div>
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But the Director of Media and Publicity of the organsiation, Chief Femi Fani-Kayode, debunked the allegations, saying the former President under whom he served as Minister of Aviation and Special Assistant on Public Communication, was trying to play God.</div>
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Fani-Kayode, who spoke at a press briefing in Abuja on Sunday, accused his former boss of trying in vain to control President Jonathan.</div>
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He said the problem between the two members of the ruling party had nothing to do with Nigeria, and called on the former President to leave Nigeria out of the issues between him and the President.</div>
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He said, "The bottom line is this: President Obasanjo's grouse with President Jonathan is personal and it has nothing to do with Nigeria.</div>
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"He should leave Nigeria out of it and let us all be. If he has a personal score to settle with Jonathan he should not do so at the expense of the peace and stability of Nigeria.</div>
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"If he wants to stop Jonathan then let him attempt to do so through the democratic process and through the ballot box and not through foul and unconstitutional means.</div>
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"We said it before and we will say it again: gone are the days that any President can be tele-guided and controlled because we have all come of age.</div>
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"We continue to hold President Obasanjo in high esteem but his recent actions and utterances are beyond the pale. He has been unfair to Jonathan, to Nigeria and even to himself.</div>
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"Most importantly the days of intimidating others with his harsh words and overbearing influence are long over. Obasanjo is not God.</div>
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"Only God is God and He alone determines the fortunes of men and the destiny of nations."</div>
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Fani-Kayode said that after Jonathan came to power, Obasanjo did not only try to control and tele-guide the President, but he also asked him to do a number of things that he said were simply wrong and unacceptable.</div>
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Asked to tell Nigerians those issues, he refused. He merely said that the President would speak on the matter anytime he likes.</div>

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Save Me From Defeat, Jonathan Begs PDP Govs

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<b>Not wanting to take chances or ignore the formidable forces arrayed against him within and outside his ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the build up to the rescheduled general elections, President Goodluck Jonathan, on Friday night met stakeholders of the party.</b></div>
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The objective of the meeting was how to maximise the opportunity offered by the new poll’s date, March 28, 2015, to swing more support and votes for the second term ambition of the President.</div>
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According to Dino Melaye, former member of the House of Representatives, who first broke the news in his official tweeter handle (@dino_melaye), the meeting was attended by PDP governors, members of the party’s National Executive Committee and some key persons, including Tony Anenih, chairman of the Board of Trustees (BoT) and Edwin Clarke, a party leader.</div>
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“The President who spoke after lengthy discussions by participants at the meeting chaired by PDP National Chairman, Adamu Mu’azu, thanked those present particularly the governors and NEC members, assuring them of his total support.</div>
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“He appealed to the governors to stave off the impending loss at the poll and called for collaboration to ensure victory at the polls.</div>
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“We must work hard to save the party and all our contestants. It is true, the report out there calls for great concern and this is why we must use the new window in the poll shift to talk to Nigerians, woo them and even beg them where necessary,” Melaye said.</div>
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Also speaking, Chief Anenih begged the gathering to put more efforts in their various states to ensure victory in the coming election. For him: “It is either we win or perish together.”</div>
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Melaye also revealed that Governor Ayo Fayose of Ekiti State, blamed the conspiracy by some unnamed elements, in reply to an otherwise rhetorical question by Clark as to why the President is seemly unacceptable despite all his laudable achievements.</div>
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“Please my people I beg you, this election is a must win for our president and all of us,” Chief Clark was quoted as saying.</div>
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The meeting was attended by all governors under the party’s platform, except Isa Yuguda and Sule Lamido of Bauchi and Jigawa States respectively, who were also not represented.</div>
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At the meeting, which held at the First Lady’s Conference Hall in the Presidential Villa, ending minutes after 6 a.m. on Saturday, Mu’azu was said to have lamented the way intra-party wrangling had been allowed to degenerate to the point where five governors dumped the PDP at the same time.</div>
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The governors are Murtala Nyako (Adamawa) who was subsequently impeached; Abdulfatah Ahmed (Kwara); Rotimi Amaechi (Rivers State); Rabiu Kwankwaso (Kano); and Aliyu Wamakko (Sokoto).</div>
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They were part of the group called G7 Governors in the aftermath of the elections of the now splinter Nigerian Governors Forum, dumped the party first for the Peoples Democratic Movement (PDM), before moving to the All Progressives Congress (APC), the nation’s main opposition party. The other two: Dr. Babangida Aliyu and Lamido of Niger and Jigawa respectively, however, chose to stay back in the PDP at the last moment.</div>
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As the meeting progressed, Governor Godswill Akpabio of Akwa Ibom State was said to have announced a Presidential approval for the distribution of ₦20 billion among some state governors, just as key swing states like Kano, Lagos, Rivers and Kaduna would get ₦2 billion to woo voters.</div>
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Another “₦2 billion was also set aside to buy some political and public analysts to talk more about Mr. President and his achievements over the last six years. Some TV stations such as AIT and Channels would do the job,” he added.</div>
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Those at the meeting, Melaye continued, were particularly pained by the exit of the governors of Rivers and Kano, which were PDP strongholds before now.</div>
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It was further learnt that there was a mild drama at the point when the party chairman tactically blamed the First Lady, Mrs. Patience Jonathan, for allowing matters to degenerate to the point where the problem she had with Amaechi snowballed into his leaving the PDP. The intervention of Clark was said to have saved the situation from going worse.</div>
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The party’s chairman was also said to have taken a hard look at the build-up to the election and cautioned Femi Fani-Kayode, Director, Media and Publicity of the PDP Presidential Campaign Council, who was also at the meeting, and Olisa Metuh, Publicity Secretary of the party.</div>
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Melaye said both men were told that their propaganda activities seem to be having a backlash and rather making the APC candidate, General Muhammadu Buhari more popularly rather than the contrary.</div>
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“Instead of the current situation, he called for more issue based campaigns rather than attacking Buhari’s people as most of the campaign materials already churned out have done, if the PDP must get good support from the ordinary northerner.</div>
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“The meeting agreed to reduce negative adverts on Buhari, but Governor Ayo Fayose of Ekiti and his counterpart from Ondo saw it differently,” he noted.</div>
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Calls to the phone numbers of Metuh, the PDP spokesman, did not connect, just as short messages to his phones were not replied as at press time.</div>
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When contacted on telephone, Fani-Kayode who neither confirmed nor denied that the meeting actually held promised to return the call. When he did, he said it was not true. “No meeting of such took place,” he said.</div>
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In a phone interview with our correspondent on Sunday evening, Anenih, who allegedly arrived the meeting venue in company of Clark, denied knowledge of such a meeting, talk more of being in attendance.</div>
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He told <b>Daily Independent</b> from his Abuja base: “I am not aware of such meeting. I have been in Benin and just landed in Abuja.</div>
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<i>Chief Anenih:</i> “When was the meeting held?</div>
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<i>Daily Independent:</i> “Between Friday night and very early Saturday morning, Sir.</div>
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<i>Chief Anenih:</i> “I have been in Benin (City), I just arrived Abuja… Why not call Mu’azu…”</div>
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But another source told one of our correspondents that the meeting indeed held and that members of the PDP National Executive Committee moved from the party’s Wadata Plaza secretariat in Abuja, where they held a meeting to the Presidential Villa that Friday night.</div>

Save Me From Defeat, Jonathan Begs PDP Govs

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