L
LequteMan
Guest
Speaking through his media aide – Garba Shehu, in response to a Sunday Vanguard questionnaire, former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has accused President Goodluck Jonathan’s aides of frustrating his meeting with the president to solve the PDP’s crisis.
He claimed that a meeting at the instance of President Jonathan to discuss the issues surrounding the ongoing crisis in the party was sabotaged by staff in the presidency, who seemed not to be interested in finding a solution to the political impasse.
He also explained why he supported the faction of the PDP led by Alhaji Kawu Baraje, citing the need to entrench internal democracy in the party as basis for his decision.
Atiku noted that the decision among aggrieved leaders of the party to walk out during the convention of the PDP “was the culmination of several attempts to call the attention of the party to how things were going in the wrong direction.”
“What we did by the actions we took is to say that infractions to democracy and impunity will no longer be tolerated in the PDP.”
“There had been several behind-the-scene efforts involving respected leaders of the party to correct certain wrongs in the PDP”.
“The effort to correct the wrongs in the PDP didn’t just start now. And that is why I will want to correct you on the appellation of ‘rebel governors.’
“It appeared that the party was not ready to give consideration to all these complaints and it got to a point that some people felt that it was time to salvage the PDP, before it tarries far beyond redemption.
“I recall that not less than four different delegations were sent to me, three of which were led by former state governors and one by a serving governor, on why we need to act fast and salvage the PDP before the party collapses.
“At that point, I asked myself which was the right direction to go: to leave the party in the hands of Bamanga Tukur and watch the party I helped build to collapse, or join hands with like-minded people and rescue the PDP. I think at the end of the day, I took the right decision.
“I decided to join the governors in their protest after four delegations, one after the other, were sent to me. I did not give them any terms or preconditions because I believe in their sincerity of their purpose.”