President Goodluck Jonathan has held a secret meeting with the Peoples Democratic Party leadership in the National Assembly.
Investigations by The PUNCH in Abuja on Tuesday showed that the meeting began at 11pm on Monday and ended at 2am on Tuesday.
It was learnt that issues discussed at the meeting included the intractable crisis in the PDP, particularly the recent defection of five of its governors to the All Progressives Congress; and the delay in presenting the 2014 budget.
Those at the meeting were the President of the Senate, David Mark; his deputy, Ike Ekweremadu; and the Senate Majority Leader, Victor Ndoma-Egba.
The Speaker of the House of Representatives, Mr. Aminu Tambuwal; his deputy, Mr. Emeka Ihedioha; the Majority Leader, Mrs. Mulikat Adeola and the Deputy Majority Leader, Leo Ogor, were also at the meeting.
It was gathered that the President was concerned that with the defection of five PDP governors, the PDP might lose its majority position in the National Assembly to the APC.
A source at the meeting said the President and others at the meeting considered measures that could be adopted to ensure that the PDP members in the National Assembly did not join their governors in the APC.
The five governors that left the PDP on November 26 are Murtala Nyako (Adamawa); Rabiu Kwakwanso (Kano); Aliyu Wamakko (Sokoto); Rotimi Amaechi (Rivers); and Abdulfatah Ahmed(Kwara).
It was gathered that among measures being considered to prevent mass defection of the lawmakers to the APC were offering automatic tickets to those who stayed in the ruling party.
Investigations also showed that the President urged the National Assembly leadership to ensure a smooth passage of the 2014 budget when it is eventually presented.
Jonathan, according to a source, emphasised the need for a cordial relationship between the Executive and the Legislature.
The source said, “We discussed how to prevent the gale of defection from spreading to the National Assembly.
“We also touched on the budget and emphasised the need to prevent unnecessary antagonism in view of the recent crisis in the PDP.”
When contacted, Ogor admitted that a meeting took place and demanded to know why The PUNCH wanted to know what they discussed.
He asked, “Why do you want to know what we discussed? Are you a member of our party (the PDP)?
“It was a meeting; nothing more and we discussed issues that are of interest to our party.”
Ndoma-Egba, who also confirmed the meeting , however, said their discussions only centered on the 2014 budget.
When asked if the meeting had to do with the defection, he said, “No. not at all, it was essentially the budget. There were fears in the PDP that the party might lose many of its members in the National Assembly to the APC because of the governors’ defection.
The PUNCH had on Thursday reported that the APC Caucus at the House of Representatives, was preparing to unveil 186 members as its latest numerical strength.
The 186 could alter the majority leadership in the House, as only 174 members would be left out of 360.
Source: Punch
