President Goodluck Jonathan will on Monday (today) meet with leaders of the warring parties in Ogun State to resolve the crises in the state House of Assembly and the Peoples Democratic Party.



The President had in a meeting on Thursday gave leaders of the party 48 hours to resolve the crises and brief him of their efforts.



The meeting on Monday would be attended by Governor Gbenga Daniel and the Minister of Commerce and Industry, Senator Jibril Martins-Kuye.



Since Wednesday, the warring parties had met with the President thrice in as part of efforts to unite the PDP in the state.



Investigations showed that the President, who had first met separately with the warring parties on Wednesday, was worried by that the meeting did not yield the desired result.



A chieftain of the PDP, who has been attending the meetings, said, “The President is disturbed that the warring parties had remained adamant in spite of his intervention. That must have necessitated the 48 hours given to them by the President.”



The chieftain, who pleaded anonymity, added, “The leaders of the party fear that the PDP may lose Ogun State, if the crises are not resolved before the primaries and general elections.”



Our correspondents learnt that a faction of the party led by Daniel had been discussing with the rival group headed by Martins-Kuye.



It was also gathered that besides the need to harmonise the executive of the PDP in the state, their discussions had been centred on the crisis in the state Assembly.



Investigations revealed that both sides would brief former President Olusegun Obasanjo on the outcome of their discussions.



The former president had travelled out of the country, but he was expected back in the country on Sunday.



Our correspondents learnt that both groups should have met the President on Sunday, but the meeting was delayed till Monday to allow the former President to attend it.



The Chairman of the House Committee on Information, Dr. Tokunbo Oshin, confirmed to our correspondent on the telephone that parties to the crises had been meeting.



According to Oshin, a member of the one of the two groups in the House, “The meetings are aimed at providing a holistic solution to the problem so that we can go the general elections united. The leaders of the party are expected to give the President feedback.”



Another, member, Mr. Fasiu Bakene, who belongs to a rival group, confirmed that leaders of the party were supposed to brief the President on their efforts to resolve the crises.



The state branch of the PDP had in the last one year been polarised into two with one led by the governor, while the other is headed by Martins-Kuye.



The crisis also spread to the state Assembly with the impeachment of Chief Titi Oseni as the Speaker and the election of Mr. Tunji Egbetokun as her successor.



But the development worsened on September 6 when nine members of the House impeached Egbetokun and suspended 14 of their colleagues. The nine members subsequently appointed Mr. Soyemi Coker as the Speaker.



Meanwhile, Egbetokun has said the 15 members of the Assembly, purportedly suspended by nine of their colleagues last Monday, will on Monday (today) convene in Abeokuta to conduct the Assembly’s “normal” legislative business.



Egbetokun, who spoke with one of our correspondents on the telephone on Sunday, said nothing had changed in the Assembly despite the pronouncements of the nine members, who sat last Monday and announced the impeachment of the Speaker and the suspension of 14 other members.



The Speaker said the 15 members, which he added constituted the majority, had the Mace and had the authority to conduct legislative businesses in the Assembly.



He said, “We are sitting in Abeokuta on Monday (today). Like I have said before, what happened in the Assembly on Monday, was an illegality of the highest dimension but we didn’t want to cause problem before we met the President last week in Abuja.



Having met the President, it is clear to everybody that what happened in the House could not have happened in any sane society.



That was why the President said Nigeria is not a Banana Republic, where the minority could lord it over the majority.” Egbetokun added that he had written to the State Security Service and the Commissioner of Police Ogun State Command to provide security for the lawmakers during the sitting.



“I met with the SSS from Abuja for about three hours on Saturday. They wanted to know if truly I had with the mace with me, which is the authority of the House.”

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It is high time the people of Ogun state shine their face and make a right choice during the 2011 general election. It is a pity that they have turned Ogun state to a chess game. What kind of settlements are they going to Abuja for other telling that use cooker Soleye to vacate the assembly seat “Dede omo Ogun, ise ti ya ni 2011” Lets show the PDP the way out.