CAUCUS MEETING: JONATHAN INVITES SIX GOVS, OTHERS KICK

President
Goodluck Jonathan has further moved  to divide the ranks of the governors
elected on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party by inviting six of them
to the party’s national caucus meeting.

The
criteria used by the President to invite the governors were however not known.

The
President conveyed his decision to the governors concerned and the National
Chairman of the party, Dr. Bamanga Tukur, via a letter dated February 27.

In the
letter, which was signed by the Chief of Staff to the President, Dr. Mike
Oghiadhome, Jonathan also directed that three ministers be invited for the
meeting.

With
reference number SH/COS70/A/7232, Oghiadhome wrote, “His Excellency, President
Goodluck Ebele Jonathan GCFR, has directed that the National Caucus meeting of
the PDP be convened on Wednesday March, 6, 2013, in the Banguet Hall, State
House, Abuja.

“He has
also directed that the following governors be invited to the meeting.”

Listed
as chosen ones are Ibrahim Shema(Katsina), Isa Yuguda(Bauchi), Gabriel
Suswan(Benue) Theodore Orji(Abia), Godswill Akpabio(Cross River) and Emmanuel
Uduaghan (Delta).

The
President also directed that three ministers – Justice and Attorney-General,
Mohammed Adoke (SAN); Transport, Sen. Idris Umar ,   and the Minister
of Petroleum, Mrs. Diezani Allison-Madueke – be in attendance.

Part
V111 (30) of the party’s constitution, deals with those who can be members of
the caucus.

Among
those listed as members are the national chairman of the party, the President
and his Deputy, Senate President and his deputy, the Leader and Deputy Leader,
Chief Whip and Deputy Chief Whip of the party in the Senate.

From
the House of Representatives are the Speaker and his deputy, the Leader and
Deputy Leader, Chief Whip and Deputy Chief Whip of the party in the House.

Also
listed are six governors, who are members of the party to be nominated by the
President bearing in mind the need for spread and the chairman and secretary of
the Board of Trustees and one member, drawn from each of the six geo-political
zones.

A
member of the National Working Committee of the party, who spoke with our
correspondent on condition of anonymity, wondered why the President would
always favour his geo-political zone in any of the appointments he is making.

He
wondered why the President would pick two governors from his zone, when he
could have picked two from other political zones apart from the South-South.

Both
Akpabio and Uduaghan are from the President’s geo-political zone of the
country.

“The
President should have used that to make a statement that he is not in
government to serve the interest of his people at every given opportunity,” he
added.

Referring
to the nomination of Allision-Madueke as one of the three ministers nominated
as members of the caucus by the President, the source added “it is wrong for
the President to have included three of his kinsmen among nine persons he has
powers to nominate” into a committee.

Already,
he said governors of the party were already grumbling, wondering the criteria
the President used to nominate those he picked for the meeting.

A
governor, who also spoke on condition of anonymity, said it was wrong for the
President and the party to have ignored the Chairman of the Nigeria Governors
Forum, Mr. Rotimi Amaechi, from the list.

Almost
all those invited for the meeting are known to be good at playing what a source
described as “Villa’s politics,” and were said to have played a major role in
the establishment of the PDP Governors Forum.

It is
believed that the Forum, which is headed by Akpabio, was formed to oppose the
NGF, which Amaechi heads.