Meets Amaechi, northern govs, Saraki
To meet IBB, Abdulsalami, others
To summon peace meeting of PDP stakeholders
•Obasanjo holds talks with PDP govs Aug. 1
By Olawale Olaleye
President Goodluck Jonathan engaged in a series of
meetings at the weekend to douse tension in the
polity, especially in Rivers State.
The president began his fence-mending talks with
Rivers State Governor, Mr. Chibuike Amaechi, both of
whom have been locked in an acrimonious battle in
recent time.
Jonathan, whose aides have repeatedly denied that
he has hand in the festering political crisis in Rivers
State, and Amaechi met behind closed doors for
about three hours at the weekend to pave the way for
the resolution of the crisis in the state, where the
president’s wife, Mrs. Patience Jonathan, hails from.
The first lady has also been fingered as one of the
people fanning the embers of discord in the state.
The president also met with five northern state
governors - Dr. Rabiu Kwankwaso (Kano), Alhaji Sule
Lamido (Jigawa), Alhaji Murtala Nyako (Adamawa),
Dr. Mu’azu Babangida Aliyu (Niger) and Alhaji Aliyu
Wamakko (Sokoto) — who have been shuttling
around Nigeria, consulting eminent personalities on
how to resolve the multi-faceted crises in the
country.
THISDAY checks revealed Sunday that the president
also met with former Kwara State Governor, Dr.
Bukola Saraki, now a senator.
As part of his efforts in searching for peace, the
president is to meet with former military president,
Gen. Ibrahim Babangida, and a former Head of State,
Gen. Abdulsalami Abubakar, both of whom the
northern governors had consulted in a bid to reduce
tension in the polity.
He is also billed to summon a peace meeting to be
attended by critical stakeholders in the Peoples
Democratic Party (PDP) to forge a consensus on how
to resolve the crises.
In furtherance of the peace efforts, former President
Olusegun Obasanjo, who is the immediate past
chairman of the PDP Board of Trustees (BoT), has also
scheduled a meeting with PDP governors for August
12.
THISDAY learnt that the meeting between the
president and Amaechi was brokered by the National
Security Adviser (NSA), Col. Sambo Dasuki (rtd), who
sat in on the discussion between the duo.
It was learnt that Dasuki initiated the process of
fence mending between the duo to douse the
political crisis in Rivers State that has been
threatening the security and stability of the country.
Dasuki, in his capacity as the NSA, was said to have
taken the initiative to invite Amaechi to a meeting
with the president, certain that the Rivers State crisis
amongst other security challenges, could do a lot of
harm to the nation’s fragile democracy.
Presidency sources said the NSA had been toying
with the idea since eight opposition governors met
with Amaechi in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, about
two weeks ago to plead with him to meet with
Jonathan and formally brief him on the situation in
his state.
The governors from the opposition parties had visited
Rivers State a day after four PDP governors visited
following the brawl in the state House of Assembly
involving pro and anti-Amaechi lawmakers.
During their discussion, Jonathan and Amaechi,
according to sources, discussed their grouses and
mooted suggestions on the way forward.
Although, a follow-up meeting has been slated for a
yet-to-be fixed date, sources told THISDAY that the
president told Amaechi where he felt he had wronged
him, adding that he was not comfortable with his
anti-government stance.
He was said to have cited the Nigeria Governors’
Forum (NGF) leadership crisis and what he perceived
as the regular confrontation with the governor, as
some of the reasons for the frosty relationship
between the duo.
On the way forward, a source quoted the president as
telling the governor that the matter was beyond him
now as everybody on the presidency side who have
issues with Amaechi would have to be brought
together so that their grievances could be finally
addressed.
However, Amaechi, sources said, made it clear that
the crisis was not essentially about him as his first
condition was that the president should meet with
his group, that is the northern governors in his camp,
who at their meeting with Jonathan, listed the terms
for peace.
It was learnt that the fact that Amaechi avoided
listing conditions at the meeting was deliberate
because he thought of the need to go along with the
team that has stood by him as well as leaving the
peace terms at their discretion.
This, sources said, was the reason the president met
with the five northern governors who gave the terms
for peace, citing the Rivers crisis as a major item on
the agenda.
Amaechi, sources said, intentionally avoided
discussing the NGF issue as well as the alleged
partisanship of the state Police Commissioner, Mr.
Joseph Mbu, with the president but the meeting with
the five governors raised them.
In addition, sources explained that Amaechi did not
raise the issue of the first lady’s alleged
meddlesomeness in Rivers politics as well as the
activities of the Minister of State for Education,
Nyesome Wike, and the PDP factional chairman in
Rivers State, Mr. Felix Obuah, who are edging on the
anti-Amaechi opponents.
At the meeting with Kwankwaso and others, the
governors were said to have told the president that
the main problems in the polity were the Rivers crisis
and the hijacking of the party in some states by
some PDP national officers.
Another source told THISDAY Sunday that Jonathan,
during his meeting with Saraki, who was Amaechi’s
predecessor as NGF chairman, solicited for his
cooperation in resolving the crises in the country.
On his part, Obasanjo is billed to meet PDP governors
on August 12 shortly after his return from Zimbabwe
where he is leading the African Union (AU) Election
Observer Mission for the Zimbabwe general election,
slated for this week.
The former president is one of the personages
consulted by the northern governors who met with
him in his Abeokuta home on July 20; the same day
Jonathan also met with him.
The president was on a condolence visit to the town
to commiserate with his spokesman, Dr. Reuben
Abati, who lost his mother.

Peace is very costly after war!