Governors elected on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, are meeting today.
The extraordinary meeting as it is dubbed is holding at the instance of Governor Aminu Waziri Tambuwal, Governor of Sokoto State and present Chairman of the PDP Governors Forum.
Our sources say the remaining governors within the party who are driving efforts to restore sanity would attempt to find answers to several intractable issues that have snow – balled into a festering sour.
No one is sure if the Rivers governor, Governor Nyesom Wike who is at war with the National Chairman of the PDP, Prince Uche Secondus, would join his colleagues at the roundtable.
Wike who had shunned a high profile meeting summoned by the party the last time, but his body language suggests he still holds his colleagues at the governorship level in high esteem..
Anxious party men as well as his admirers across the country would be watching to see if the Governor of Rivers State would take his place among his colleagues.
Removing Uche Secondus who is considered a stumbling bloc to emergent forces that are determined to assume control of the party’s political apparatus has become quite an obsession for Wike and others like him who feel it is time for the National Chairman to go.
Wike has piled considerable pressure on his colleagues and the PDP establishment in an attempt to end the career of Secondus who has emerged as one of the longest serving party administrators in the history of the nation.
The infighting has further polarized the party, leading to the exit of certain high ranking members, including state governors from the party.
Already, Secondus is being accused of working to stall the effort of southern elements in the party to wrest power from the north.
Wike’s presence at a meeting of Southern Governors who called for power to flow from the North to the South hasn’t helped matters, particularly in the PDP where Northerners are hoping to grab the presidential ticket.
Some of the governors, according to what we have heard, have left their states to attend today’s meeting.
Insiders say the governors who have engaged in series of consultations in the last few weeks may propose a middle ground that would possibly encourage all those who are angry at this time to sheath their flaming swords.
The Panel headed by Senator David Mark is yet to break serious grounds in its effort to bring warring groups within the party to a point of agreement.
Mark is well respected within the party and many party members are still hoping that he would find a way of arresting the drift and restoring the peace through persuasion.
The Port Harcourt Telegraph has gathered that PDP governors may examine the extent of progress achieved through mediation by the Mark committee when they meet.
They would be expected to set templates which could help the leadership in building the necessary confidence on all sides which would pave the way for a broader meeting of party chieftains and open the door to reconciliation.
It is possible that the meeting would look at the possibility of the party conducting a National Convention in October, especially now that the Acting National Chairman has reversed most of what was left in place by the Secondus leadership.
We have similarly gathered that Tambuwal, a former Speaker of the 7th session of the House of Representatives is reportedly at the centre of deft political moves that are designed to put an end to the raging storm within the party.
According to a PDP source from the East, “His Excellency hasn’t rested in the last few weeks. He has been engaged in high level discussions in a bid to restore calm and reposition our party.
“It hasn’t been easy going forward, but the current situation within the party and the way he (Tambuwal) has gone about managing issues that are arising as the Chairman of the Governors Forum leaves us with the hope that we still have men who are dedicated in our midst.”
Today’s meeting which is set ahead of another crucial meeting of the PDP may thus be a make or mar one.
Said a Senator, “If the governors fail in their efforts to salvage the party, all would be lost. Going forward is as difficult as going backwards. The quest for power and control by some of us have brought us where we are.”
Nonetheless, Wike’s presence at the meeting might be an indication of what to expect as the PDP battles to stabilise and reenact itself.
Forum shopping has become an issue in judicial circles as PDP heavyweights slug it out in court, and there are strong indications that some judges may be penalised as a result.
Incidentally, nobody has linked the PDP directly to events that are playing out in court which have raised concerns across Nigeria.
But PDP sympathizers pray that obstacles militating against the survival of the party, including the cases in court would be removed.
Will Wike attend today’s meeting? Will he prove to be a team player? Will Tambuwal succeed in his bid to rescue the PDP?
These and many more questions would engage the minds of Nigerians most of the day as they watch the dance steps of key players within the main opposition party.
Architects of the third force who want the PDP to run into a stonewall will also be watching.
