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Meeting of elders of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) called by former President Oluse-gun Obasanjo to resolve the deepening crisis in the party is billed to hold today in Abuja.
Bitter feuds have been raging within the ruling party for quite some time now, with many governors and prominent party members accusing the leadership of dictatorial tendencies, edged on by the presidency.
The face-off culminated in a dramatic walkout from the convention ground by seven governors and former vice president Atiku Abubakar in protest to alleged manipulation and underhand tactic during the convention.
They proceeded to the Shehu Yar’adua Centre, Abuja to announce the formation of a new PDP at a crowded press conference. In the course of the week 22 senators and 57 representatives announced they moved over to the new PDP.
Within 48 hours of that development President Goodluck Jonathan called former President Obasanjo for a meeting at the Presidential Villa to help prevent a possible breakup of the self-styled Africa’s biggest party.
At the end of the meeting Obasanjo announced to newsmen that he is calling for a truce preparatory to a meeting of selected party elders who he will lead to intervene with a view to resolving the crisis.
The meeting was planned for yesterday but it has been pushed forward to today because Obasajo himself had been away to Kenya.
Sources close to the former president said he is now back in the country. As at the time of filing in this report Obasanjo was said to be at the Presidential wing of the Murtala Mohammed Airport waiting for a presidential aircraft to bring him to Abuja.
The identity of the select elders who will attend today’s meeting has not been revealed nor where the meeting will hold.
A source close to former President Ibrahim Babangida said the former leader had left Minna for Abuja ,hinting that he is likely to attend the elders meeting.
Former Vice President Atiku, a leading figure in the new PDP is already out of the country. His Media office told Daily Trust last night that he will be leaving London for the Chinese capital, Beijing to attend an international investment conference on the invitation of the Chinese president.
Atiku is leading 17 Nigerians to the confe-rence which will hold between September 8 and 12. It is not clear what his absence will mean to the current effort to broker a truce and then end the drift toward a breakup of the party.
The face-off culminated in a dramatic walkout from the convention ground by seven governors and former vice president Atiku Abubakar in protest to alleged manipulation and underhand tactic during the convention.
They proceeded to the Shehu Yar’adua Centre, Abuja to announce the formation of a new PDP at a crowded press conference. In the course of the week 22 senators and 57 representatives announced they moved over to the new PDP.
Within 48 hours of that development President Goodluck Jonathan called former President Obasanjo for a meeting at the Presidential Villa to help prevent a possible breakup of the self-styled Africa’s biggest party.
At the end of the meeting Obasanjo announced to newsmen that he is calling for a truce preparatory to a meeting of selected party elders who he will lead to intervene with a view to resolving the crisis.
The meeting was planned for yesterday but it has been pushed forward to today because Obasajo himself had been away to Kenya.
Sources close to the former president said he is now back in the country. As at the time of filing in this report Obasanjo was said to be at the Presidential wing of the Murtala Mohammed Airport waiting for a presidential aircraft to bring him to Abuja.
The identity of the select elders who will attend today’s meeting has not been revealed nor where the meeting will hold.
A source close to former President Ibrahim Babangida said the former leader had left Minna for Abuja ,hinting that he is likely to attend the elders meeting.
Former Vice President Atiku, a leading figure in the new PDP is already out of the country. His Media office told Daily Trust last night that he will be leaving London for the Chinese capital, Beijing to attend an international investment conference on the invitation of the Chinese president.
Atiku is leading 17 Nigerians to the confe-rence which will hold between September 8 and 12. It is not clear what his absence will mean to the current effort to broker a truce and then end the drift toward a breakup of the party.
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