Exposed: How Jonathan's Letter Forced G7 Govs To Dump PDP

Fresh facts emerged at the weekend on the role a letter reportedly
sent from Aso Rock Presidential Villa mid last month fuelled the
unmitigated angst of the seven aggrieved state governors of the
Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, otherwise known as G-7, leading to
five of them dumping the party and joining the APC.
In fact, whereas the state governors were expecting a reply to their
admonition that President Jonathan should fix a date for the
continuation of exploratory talks with a view to resolving the crisis
rocking the party at the national level, what they got was a big
shocker. See all the revelations below...
According to a Vanguard report, it was an opportunity and they
grabbed it with both hands.
The aggrieved governors of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, (G-7)
wanted a reason to dump their party and they were handed one by no
other person than President Goodluck Jonathan himself.
And although some of the seven governors explained that they all
knew that Jonathan was not prepared to meet with them and resolve
the issues that gave rise to the crisis, given his body language and
the sustained acts of impunity arising from the party leadership, they
waited for the appropriate time.
LETTER-IN-CHIEF FROM COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF
In fact, one of the governors confided in Sunday Vanguard that the
impression they got from the President’s body language suggested a
“great deal that we were being taken for a ride”.
The meeting that was supposed to have been held on October 7, 2013
but which was postponed because some members of the G-7 had
gone for the Hajj, appeared to have been permanently kept in
abeyance.
Vanguard was made to understand that whereas the Hajj had been
concluded and another meeting expected to be scheduled and held,
nothing of the sort was in the horizon.
“It got to a point that we all decided to write a reminder to Mr.
President”, one of the governors disclosed.
The content of the letter was simply to “remind Mr. President of the
importance of time and the fact that he needed to meet with us”.
Rather than a quick response to their letter, the governors did not get
any from the Villa.
Corroborating this, another governor revealed to that what they got
was a belated response, the content of which was “not only
uncomplimentary, it showed clearly that some people were deceiving
President Jonathan about their sense of self importance”.
The response jolted the governors.
“We were surprised to see a belated letter from the Presidency which
should have read something like ‘based on earlier talks’ or ‘based on
earlier exploratory talks with a view to achieving peace for our great
party’, what we got was a letter telling us that ‘ in response to our
request for a peace meeting, the President has decided to meet with
us.'
“The impression the tone of the letter conveyed was that we were
the ones seeking to make peace with President Jonathan.
“Meanwhile, we staged an open walkout on him at Eagle Square
during that sham described as a national convention; the leaders of
the party called a meeting and we decided to honour our leaders and
elders by attending the meeting; a committee was set up and we also
accorded the committee some level of due regard and respect, only to
be slapped with such a letter that can best be described as impudent.
“From the tone and contents of the letter from the Villa, it became
clear to all of us that the President was not interested in resolving the
contentious issues and we decided to leave the party for them and go
over to the APC”.
Even the last opportunity to avert the defection was bungled last
Sunday.
Although the seven governors had waited for him to meet with them
in Abuja, as scheduled, the President surreptitiously called off the
peace parley, claiming that he was tired after returning from the
meeting of the Honorary International Investors Council, HIIC, in
London. Jonathan shot himself on the foot by calling off the meeting
when all the governors had already settled down in Asokoro waiting
for his arrival for the final push to salvage the party from the brink.
“The President wanted to give the whole world the erroneous
impression that it was the seven of us, who actually sought for peace,
forgetting that he had intervened before and asked us to sheath our
sword and we respected him and still waited,” the governor explained.
“As far as we are concerned, we are gone to the APC for good and
there is no turning back. Any of the governors, who wants to still
remain in PDP can do so; but for me, it is over and forever,” the
governor said.