Jonathan, Daniel, Olurin in crucial meeting

JONATHAN GOODLUCK

Efforts by President Goodluck Jonathan to resolve the crisis rocking the Ogun State chapter of Peoples Democratic Party have failed.
The President, in his bid to ensure victory for the party in Tuesday’s governorship election, met the dramatis personae involved in the crisis at the Presidential Villa, Abuja on Tuesday afternoon.
Those at the meeting, apart from the President, were the governor of Ogun State, Otunba Gbenga Daniel and the governorship candidate of the party in the state, Maj-Gen. Adetunji Olurin (retd.).
However, sources close to the meeting said rather than achieve peace, the meeting ended up dividing the party the more.
An investigation by our correspondent showed that the meeting was organised by the Chief of Staff to the President, Chief Mike Oghiadome.
The meeting was held shortly before the President and his deputy, Alhaji Namadi Sambo, came to the Independent National Electoral Commission to collect their Certificates of Return, having won the presidential election that was held throughout the country last Saturday.
It was learnt that at the meeting, the governor demanded that Olurin should drop his running mate, Alhaji Tunde Oladunjoye, before the two factions could discuss how to end the feud in the party.
Daniel and his group had pulled out of the party to form the Peoples Party of Nigeria, which is fielding Alhaji Gboyega Isiaka as its governorship candidate.
It was gathered that Daniel told the President that Oladunjoye was not fit to contest as the deputy governor since he had been indicted by a panel of inquiry he (the governor) set up to look into how the party’s running mate administered Ijebu-East Local Government Council while serving as its chairman.
However, our correspondent gathered that the demand to drop Olagunjoye might not be unconnected with the petition he sent to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission that all local government councils in the state were being paid the same amount by the state government.
Oladunjoye was at the commission’s headquarters in Abuja on July 28, 2010, where he was interrogated on his petition in which he alleged that the governor was always deducting money from the councils’ accounts at will.
For example, he said in his petition that the governor merely gave N738m to the 20 councils out of their N1.8bn from their monthly allocation of November 2009 from the Federation Account.
But at the meeting, the President and Olurin were said to have told Daniel that the idea of dropping a candidate or running mate was too late, since the period allowed by the Electoral Act had lapsed.
It was learnt that Daniel asked the President about his (Daniel’s) political future, having dropped his senatorial ambition.
But the President, it was gathered, said he could not promise anybody a political appointment for now, saying he had to consult widely.
Olurin was said to have told the President that Daniel was behind the problem facing the party in the state, and that it was evidently clear that if he had not encouraged the party to break up, there was no way the Action Congress of Nigeria could have defeated the party during the National Assembly election.
Confirming the meeting, the Media Consultant to Olurin, Mr. Dele Agekameh, told our correspondent on the telephone on Friday that though the meeting was held, the two parties were still discussing how to resolve the crisis.
He, however, denied that there were pressures to make any of the candidates step down for the other.
By Olusola Fabiyi, Abuja         Courtesy Of: Punch