Worried by the crises bedevilling his party, the Peoples Democratic Party, in the South West, President Goodluck Jonathan has moved to save it from a poor outing in the April 16 governorship poll.
THE PUNCH gathered that Jonathan spent Saturday, Sunday and Monday in the region trying to pacify aggrieved PDP members in Lagos, Ogun and Oyo states and make them close ranks.
But the efforts of the President, who arrived in Lagos on Saturday and departed on Monday, have not yielded the desired results.
A source in the South-West PDP told one of our correspondents on Tuesday that Jonathan met disenchanted party men and women in Lagos on Sunday.
Investigations showed that while the PDP members in Lagos State were united in their support for the President, they, however, differed on the choice of Dr. Ade Dosunmu as the party’s governorship candidate in the state.
THE PUNCH had on Monday reported that Jonathan met with Dosunmu and other flagbearers of the party in the state at Dodan Barracks on Sunday.
However, the meeting was boycotted by some chieftains of the PDP, including Senator Oluseye Ogunlewe; Senator Wahab Dosunmu; and Dr. Yomi Finnih, because of the alleged presence of Chief Bode George, who just completed a prison term.
It was learnt that prominent members of the party had vowed not to have anything to do with Dosunmu if George, who was recently released from jail, continued to parade himself as the PDP leader in the state.
Ogunlewe, who confirmed that he was invited to the meeting told one of our correspondents that he failed to honour it because he knew George would be there.
According to him, the manner in which George is still parading himself as the leader of the party in Lagos State has made some of the PDP elders in the state to decide not to attend any meeting that includes him.
Ogunlewe, a former minister of Works said, “We do not like the way Bode George is parading himself as if nothing has happened. We have told him to take the back stage.
“It is unethical for him to be in the forefront and it is not good for our country and the upcoming generation.
“We are not against Bode George. Any other person can have his own views, but these are mine and those of some of the Lagos PDP elders.”
He noted that the party’s governorship candidate had problems securing the support of party chieftains and some of elders of the party, because of the conduct of George.
“Dosunmu has been making efforts to reach some of us but you know that he has a very overbearing boss (Bode George) and the situation may be difficult for him,” Ogunlewe said.
On the possibility of meeting with Jonathan to resolve some issues within the party, the former minister said, “This is a political party. We have a way of meeting with the President. We will see him soon.”
However, a member of the National Working Committee of the PDP, who spoke with one of our correspondents on the condition of anonymity, defended the party’s decision to involve George in its preparations for the polls.
He also added that with the fear that many of the votes expected from Lagos and other states in the South-West might go to an opposition party, there was no way the President and the leadership of the PDP would not intervene.
When reminded of the comment of a former President, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, criticising George, he said though the former President was right, all hands must be on deck for the party’s success.
He added that anyone identified as critical to the party’s success should not be ignored, especially when it was known that such person could be useful.
The PDP NWC member said, “In churches, the pastor tolerates those he knows are not going to heaven, or are incurable sinners, but because they are the pillars of the church, he will have to patch up with them and go along with them. Such is the case in politics.”
THE PUNCH also learnt that the presence of the state Governor, Otunba Gbenga Daniel, at the Lagos meeting was part of efforts to resolve the crisis in his state.
The Ogun PDP has since last year been divided into two factions, led by Daniel and Obasanjo, which conducted parallel primaries in the state.
But the governorship candidate of Daniel’s group, Mr. Gboyega Isiaka, defected to Peoples Party of Nigeria, after an Abuja court affirmed the candidacy of a Brig-Gen. Tunji Olurin, as the PDP candidate.
After a meeting with Obasanjo on March 11, Daniel pledged to support Olurin but on Monday in Abeokuta he urged the people of the state to vote for Jonathan and Isiaka.
It was learnt that the President would soon meet with warring factions of the PDP in Oyo State, as part of efforts to resolve the crisis there and reposition the party.
The PDP faces an uphill task in the state where a former governor of the state, Alhaji Rasheed Ladoja and Senator Abiola Ajimobi are the governorship candidates of the Accord Party and Action Congress of Nigeria.
There are also internal wranglings in the state PDP even after the candidacy of Governor Adebayo Alao-Akala has been okayed by the Independent National Electoral Commission.
Only on Monday, a prominent member of the state PDP, Elder Wole Oyelese, said that the governor was part of the “causes of retrogression” in the state.
However, our correspondent also learnt that Jonathan was making inroads into the North-West as the PDP Presidential Campaign Council had secured the support of some eminent Northerners in the zone.
The President had during his campaigns in the zone met with some key Northern leaders as part of moves to shore up support for his ambition.
Former President Shehu Shagari had, during the President’s campaign in Sokoto, endorsed Jonathan, saying his candidacy could be traced to the warm relationship between the North and the South-South.
The Director of Media and Publicity, PDP Presidential Council, Mallam Aba Dabo, expressed confidence that the PDP would win overwhelmingly in the North-West.
Dabo said that Jonathan was the only presidential candidate that had campaigned in all 36 states and six zones in the country.
By Niyi Odebode and Olusola Fabiyi, Abuja
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