BY EMMANUEL AZIKEN, POLITICAL EDITOR, HENRY UMORU & MITAIRE IKPEN
PRESIDENT Goodluck Jonathan was last night forced into a meeting with governors of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party, PDP following reports that some of the governors retracted on an early agreement to support his choice of Alhaji Bamanga Tukur as national chairman of the party at today’s convention of the party.

The president’s meeting with the governors was only one of several meetings around Abuja on the eve of the national convention of the PDP where a new set of national officers are to be elected.

An estimated 5,000 delegates are to vote for the new officers who would pilot the affairs of the party for the next four years. Ahead of the convention, hotels, guest houses and other commercial boarding houses in the federal capital were fully taken up by delegates and other stakeholders, who are in town for the decisive exercise.

PDP Chairmanship candidates

Aside Tukur, there were still issues clouding the prospects of former Osun State Governor, Prince Olagunsoye Oyinola becoming the national secretary of the party following muttering that he did not submit an application form for the job.

Chairman of the Convention Planning Committee, Chief Ojo Maduekwe, was, however, non-committal yesterday on the issue when asked by journalist at a ceremony to unfold the committee’s plans for the convention.

Eleven candidates including Tukur are bidding for the position of national chairman today. Others include the outgoing National Publicity Secretary of the party, Prof. Rufai Alkali; former governor of Bauchi State, Adamu Muazu; ex-Minister of Defence, Dr. Shettima Mustafa; former Minister of Commerce, Ambassador Adamu Idris Waziri; former Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Mallam Adamu Bello; former Special Assistant to the President on National Assembly Matters, Senator Mohammed Abba-Aji; Barrister Ibrahim Shehu Birma; Arc. Ibrahim Bunu and Alhaji Gambo Lawan.

Part of the earlier agreement between the governors and the president, it was learnt, was that the president would produce the national chairman and give the governors the latitude to produce the deputy national chairman and national secretary of the party.

At the crucial meeting
of Thursday night between the president and some of the governors after the humiliating defeat of Tukur by stakeholders in his native Northeast zone on Wednesday, the governors it was learnt, had agreed to kowtow to the President on the choice of a national chairman. That decision, Saturday Vanguard gathered, was based on the pre-eminence of the president as the leader of the party in the country.

However, by the following morning, some of the governors had second thoughts following a meeting arranged by two governors from the North-East and some of their counterparts from other sections of the North. The two North-East governors were believed to be arrowheads of the campaign against Tukur.

Renewed moves to stop Tukur

Following the meeting among the northern governors yesterday, mobilization again resurfaced against Tukur as stakeholders sought for an alternative consensus candidate among the 10 remaining candidates. A number of the PDP governors it was learnt met at the Rivers State Governor’s lodge in Asokoro, Abuja yesterday afternoon where a consensus on the issue was seemingly not reached.

Central to the opposition and support for Tukur yesterday were calculations by interested stakeholders on the 2015 presidential contest. A number of the northern governors were divided in their position on Tukur based on their own calculations on how Tukur’s emergence would either boost their own aspirations for ascendancy.

By yesterday evening, the crusade against Tukur had sufficiently reached a point of anxiety for the presidency to necessitate another meeting with the governors. That meeting which commenced at about 4.00 p.m. in the Presidential Villa was ongoing as of press time.

Besides the rebellion by some of the governors, the Tukur camp was also anxious over the allegiance of delegates from states without PDP governors. It was learnt yesterday that the anti-Tukur camp had been taking advantage of the absence of PDP governors in states controlled by opposition parties to woo both statutory and elected delegates to the convention.

Committee won’t be tele-guided –  Maduekwe

All the 11 chairmanship candidates went through the screening yesterday.

Addressing journalists yesterday in Abuja at the PDP Presidential Campaign Office in Maitama, Abuja Chief Maduekwe, Chairman of the 2012 National Convention Planning Committee pledged that all genuine complaints and grievances would be looked into and promised that no aspirant who meets the PDP guidelines would be disenfranchised.

He also vowed that the Planning Committee which he claimed is made up of men and women of integrity would not be controlled by the leadership of the party.

While pledging to respect the party’s principle of zoning he, nevertheless, assured that zoning will not be used to stop any aspirant from contesting today.

He further said that zones that have adopted a consensus list of candidates would still have their list subjected to voting to conform with the dictates of the law.

‘’While we respect the principle of zoning we are determined that zoning would not be used to neutralize or disenfranchise anybody. All those eligible would be on the ballot. Even where consensus candidates had been arrived at, the votes would still be counted. This is because the constituency for this convention is the entire nation,” Maduekwe, himself a former national scribe of the party said.

Maduekwe said
the failure of opposition parties in the country has assisted the PDP in raising the bar in enthroning democratic principles in the conduct of party affairs, just as he commended members of the outgoing National Working Committee (NWC) for their commitment to free, fair and transparent election at the convention.

‘This would be the most credible, peaceful and hitch-free convention not only in the history of the party, but in Nigeria,’ he added.

Police deploys 10,000 men, diverts traffic from Eagle Square

To ensure a hitch-free exercise, the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, Abuja Police Command yesterday announced elaborate security arrangements including the deployment 10,000 security personnel.

The Command also
started diverting traffic yesterday at eight different locations around the city, warning that it would not tolerate any act capable of causing breach of public peace before, during and after the convention by any individual or group, no matter how highly placed. FCT Police boss, Assistant Inspector General  Michael Zuokumor, said the personnel had been given strict instructions to be firm in the discharge of their duties, while also exhibiting high level of professionalism.

He said the personnel drawn from various units of the police force including the Police Mobile Force, Police Anti Terrorist Squad, conventional police detachments, Police Bomb Disposal Squad as well as the Medical and Ambulance Department have been deployed around the Eagle Square venue of the convention and other strategic locations throughout the FCT.

In addition, Zuokumor said specially trained dogs, horses and high definition cameras and other modern equipment will be strategically deployed to ensure safety, orderliness and protection of all participants at the convention.

He however, warned persons who are not accredited delegates and officials of the PDP to steer clear of the Eagle Square and other venues of the event in their own interest. According to him, “the full weight of the law will be applied on miscreants, hoodlums, mischief makers and those who may embark on conduct contrary to the law.

Traffic diversion

As part of the security measures, Zuokumor also announced traffic diversion from all routes leading to the Eagles square just as he appealed to commuters and motorists to make use of alternative routes.

He said the diversions were temporary measures that would be lifted latest by Sunday morning, after the convention.

Helisted the diversion points as follows:

•Bullet Junction, near the Force Headquarters along Shehu Shagari Way

•Opposite Federal Secretariat by Millennium Park Flyover, where traffic will be diverted to the right towards NICON Hotel

•Diversion near Finance House junction where all vehicles will be directed to the left towards Bolingo Hotel

•White House near Bayelsa Liaison House

•Junction at Kur Mohammed Road by Benue Plaza, where traffic will be diverted and directed to towards Sheraton Hotel

•Diversion at the overhead Bridge near the National Mosque

•NNPC Towers diversion point, where all vehicles are directed to avoid unauthorized vehicles being driven into the Eagle Square through Federal Secretariat. All vehicles along the NNPC Secretariat diversion point will be diverted towards Hotel Le-Meridian from where they will navigate to their destinations.