http://www.thisdayonline.com/nview.php?id=101855
Ali Walks Out Bankole(speaker), Kingibe out of aso rock!

It was like a joke. Last Sunday night, Rt. Hon. Dimeji Bankole, Speaker of the House of Represen-tatives and Nigeria’s No 4 citizen, walked into Aso Rock to hold an “inner caucus” meeting with the big wigs of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). So also did Alhaji Babagana Kingibe, Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF).
But they got the shock of their lives as the chairman of the party, Dr. Ahmadu Ali, asked them to “please excuse us”.
As the No 4 citizen, the Speaker is a member of the “inner caucus” which includes President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua, Vice President Goodluck Jonathan (who was absent after his father’s burial), the Board of Trustees Chairman and former president, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, the Senate President, Senator David Mark, Ali, the National Chairman, and the acting National Secretary, Bernard Eze and the SGF.
The meeting usually precedes the National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting of the party and was called Sunday night to deliberate on what was to be presented at the Monday NEC meeting.
The National Chairman did not give reason why he asked the two men to stay out but the silence of others at the meeting was believed to mean that they were privy to the action.
A source told THISDAY that Ali based his decision to walk out Bankole on the fact that Mark, the Senate President, was already representing the National Assembly at the “inner caucus” meeting.
Kingibe is also said to be in the bad books of the chairman because of recent reports that the SGF was positioning himself as the replacement for Yar’Adua in the event that PDP loses at the presidential election petition tribunal and Yar’Adua decides not to stand for fresh election on medical ground.
THISDAY learnt that the Speaker, who felt slighted by Ali’s request, walked away and immediately summoned the PDP caucus in the House and relayed the matter to them, following which they resolved to boycott the NEC meeting the following day.
Sources said that the action of the National Chairman is not unconnected with the letter written to the party leadership by a group of 21 members including the father of the Speaker, Alani Bankole, along with the former Senate President, Chief Ken Nnamani, and former Speaker of the House of Representatives, Rt. Hon. Bello Masari.
The G21 sought an amendment of the PDP constitution that would have led to the ouster of Obasanjo as the chairman of PDP Board of Trustees.
THISDAY gathered that the former President Obasanjo and Ali were angry at the alleged role of the Speaker and the SGF on the “rebellious” letter.
It was at the meeting, THISDAY was informed, that the decision to checkmate the opposition of G21 was taken.
It was agreed that the National Convention of the party should hold on March 8, which technically killed any move to amend the constitution since any such change would require a two-month notice.
By the time the NEC met on Monday, it was presented as a fait accompli.
Yar’Adua, who hosted the “inner caucus” meeting, was said to have kept mum on the incident.
A PDP source told THISDAY yesterday that walking out the Speaker and SGF was intended to keep their strategy a top secret against the Group of 21 which had mobilised to Monday NEC meeting to battle both Ali and the former President but was frustrated by the constitutional lacuna.
Meanwhile, 250 PDP members of the House of Representatives yesterday met for over two hours after plenary to deliberate on the humiliation meted out to the Speaker. They resolved to write a protest letter to the party.
They also resolved to meet again to agree on who to support for the positions of National Chairman and National Secretary.

the old man has nothing to loose.he's already confirmed an ambassador, maybe to the states