Strong indications have emerged that
some second term governors, elected on the platform of the PDP who are eyeing
the Senate in 2015, may have some hurdles to cross ahead of nomination.
A meeting between the PDP national
chairman, Dr Adamu Mu’azu, and governors elected on the platform of the party,
which took place on Wednesday night at his residence, failed to reach a
consensus on the vexed issue of endorsement and automatic tickets for first term governors, Senate-bound governors and their
preferred successors.
They are expected to reconvene over
the weekend, but a party source said ‘acceptable conditions’ are likely to be
given to the outgoing governors who want the PDP ticket to go to the Senate.
“They cannot have everything they want,” the source, a
member of the party’s National Working Committee told a team of journalists in
Abuja over the weekend.
According to him, the party was worried that even though it desired that some its ranking senators returned to the Senate in 2015, the activities of some of the governors had become ‘big constraints on the way of the party’s desire.’
As the party tries to manage this
development, a south-south governor (names withheld) and the senator
representing his senatorial district openly confronted themselves before
President Goodluck Jonathan at the Presidential Villa last week over the Senate
ticket for the zone.
According to Leadership, aside
confirming that there were indeed pressures from the outgoing governors on
Mu’azu and President Jonathan over the issue of automatic senatorial tickets
for the two-term governors, the NWC member disclosed that the national
leadership of the party had concluded plans to meet with the governors to reel
certain conditions.
“The truth is that the pressure has
always been there since the issue of the president’s endorsement was concluded
at our last NEC meeting. It has taken a very dangerous dimension because of our
desire to strengthen our National Assembly, especially the Senate, so that the
polity could benefit from their wealth of experience, but the governors and
their desire to all go to the Senate is setting a big constraint on our desire
for this.
“While we believe that the governors
are our field commanders, we cannot say in the same breath that our senators
are no more useful and should be discarded; so we have outlined some acceptable
conditions that will guide both the governors and the senators; because,
especially the governors, they cannot have everything for themselves without
consideration for others.
“We are going to tell them politely
that if a governor wishes to go to the Senate, fine, but such one cannot be the
one to anoint his successor; and, if at all, let the senator any governor
wishes to replace also take the governorship slot,” he explained.
The disclosure by the NWC member
came on the heels of the report that a south-south governor had lured the
senator representing his (the governor’s) zone to Aso Villa to see the
president.
According to him, as soon as they
settled for discussions, the governor told President Jonathan to ‘look for
something for the senator’ after the elections because he (the governor) was
already set to supplant the senator at the National Assembly.
“It was very embarrassing that the
senator had to pointedly tell the governor that if he wanted to go the Senate,
he (senator) was ready to be governor. It took the intervention of the
president to calm frayed nerves because it was becoming a heated argument
between them in the presence of Mr President,” he said.
It was gathered that the governor
did not take the stands of the senator because he had already endorsed someone
to take over from him in 2015.
It has emerged that in Enugu State,
Governor Sullivan Chime is set to replace Deputy Senate President Ike
Ekweremadu.
In Delta, it is Governor Emmanuel
Uduaghan versus Senator James Manager even as Cross River State governor Liyel
Imoke has not hidden his plans to replace Senator Ndoma-Egba with Hon John Eno.
Akwa Ibom State governor Godswill
Akpabio is trying to displace Senator Aloysius Etok just as Benue State
governor Gabriel Suswam is battle ready to upstage former PDP national
chairman, Senator Barnabas Gemade.
In Niger State, Senator Nuhu
Zagbayi’s stay in the Senate might be abridged as Governor Babangida Aliyu has
indicated an interest to take it over…
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