….. Allegations not true – Jonathan
National Chairman, Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Ali Modu Sheriff has accused Rivers State Governor Nyesom Wike of recruiting former President Goodluck Jonathan to organise a failed N50million peace meeting.
The National Chairman insisted that apart from Wike and Ekiti State governor, Ayo Fayose all other eight PDP governors are with him.
But the former President described the allegations as untrue, saying his intervention to resolve the crisis in the party was borne out of genuine desire.
Recall that Jonathan had last week convened a peace meeting in Abuja to resolve the party’s lingering leadership crisis, which witnessed a walk out by Sheriff due to ‘breach of protocol’.
The main opposition party has been enmeshed in leadership crisis between Ahmed Makarfi and Sheriff after the botched May 21, 2016 National Convention in Port Harcourt.
Addressing a press conference on Thursday, Acting Deputy National Chairman of the party, Cairo Ojuogboh, invited state chairmen to submit the list of all statutory delegates to the convention on or before the 27th of April 2017.
He announced that the National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting of the Party will hold on the 3rd of May 2017.
“Governor Wike and Governor Fayose recruited the Former President Goodluck Jonathan into a “Fake” peace effort predetermined to scuttle Governor Dickson’s efforts.
“The allegation that Governor Wike spent a whooping N50million to host the last failed meeting with President Goodluck Jonathan is neither palatable nor is it acceptable. It is said that Governor Wike paid USD1million for legal fees to Markarfi’s Attorneys in the ongoing Supreme Court matter and has disbursed USD 5million to unknown persons in relation to the Supreme Court,” Ojuogboh alleged.
In a swift reaction, Ikechukwu Eze, media aide to the ex-President dismissed the statement as untrue.
According to him, the former President intervened in the leadership crisis because of his genuine commitment to bring about peace in the party.
“I don’t think anybody will believe that he (President) collected money from anybody to organise the meeting. It is out of his genuine concern to bring peace in the party. He has been meeting with members of the party; he met with Sheriff severally, he also met with Makarfi severally. He met with the governors. I don’t see any reason for anybody to say that Jonathan collected money from anybody to organise the stakeholders conference,” he stated.
The former ruling party which lost the 2015 general elections to the All Progressives Congress (APC), currently controls 10 states of the federation namely: Ekiti, Delta, Cross River, Rivers, Gombe, Taraba, Enugu, Ebonyi, Abia and Akwa Ibom states.
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