I think ASUU leadership should better take a cue from nPDP and merge with APC!

Let those who wish to remain in PDP in this context should say so now or forever keep quiet.

And there you have it. (BA)

'Diran

----

On Wednesday, November 27, 2013 4:39 AM, Mobolaji Aluko <alukome@gmail.com> wrote:

THIS CORRECTED DOCUMENT RE-ISSUED: APC, NOT ACN! Apologies..Freudian slip, not being a politician.....

My People:

This re-alignment is an interesting case of the uncertain - and ever-entertaining - political arithmetic in our country. An American political scientist (and keen Nigerian watcher) once remarked that the Nigerian Constitution has been tested in just one decade in many ways that the American Constitution has been tested in as long as one century.

The story continues...2014 will be interesting, and 2015 even more so.

And there you have it.

Bolaji Aluko

APPENDIX:

Some Notes : Source - Modified from Wikipedia

The current party affiliations of the 36 state governors are:

· 16 People's Democratic Part (PDP) [18, if we don't exclude Niger's Aliyu and Jigawa's Lamido]

· 18 All Progressives Congress (APC) [16, if we include Niger's Aliyu and Jigawa's Lamido]

· 1 All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA)

· 1 Labour Party

State	Current Governor	Party	Elected/Took office	Some details
Abia State	Theodore Orji	PDP	26 April 2011	Reelected
Adamawa State	Murtala Nyako	PDP ->APC	29 April 2008	Elected after April 2007 election was nullified
Akwa Ibom State	Godswill Akpabio	PDP	26 April 2011	Reelected
Anambra State	Peter Obi	APGA	6 February 2010	Second term
Bauchi State	Isa Yuguda	PDP	28 April 2011	Reelected
Bayelsa State	Seriake Dickson	PDP	2011 24 May 2008	Reelected after nullification of April 2007 election
Benue State	Gabriel Suswam	PDP	26 April 2011	Reelected
Borno State	Kashim Shettima	ANPP->APC	26 April 2011	First term
Cross River State	Liyel Imoke	PDP	2011 23 August 2008	Reelected after nullification of April 2007 election
Delta State	Emmanuel Ewetan Uduaghan	PDP	26 April 2011	Reelected
Ebonyi State	Martin Elechi	PDP	26 April 2011	Reelected
Edo State	Adams Oshiomhole	APC	12 November 2008	Assumed office after winning appeal of April 2007 election
Ekiti State	Kayode Fayemi	APC	15 October 2010	Assumed office after winning appeal of April 2007 election
Enugu State	Sullivan Chime	PDP	26 April 2011	Reelected
Gombe State	Ibrahim Hassan Dankwambo	PDP	26 April 2011	First term
Imo State	Owelle Rochas Okorocha	APGA ->APC	6 May 2011	First term
Jigawa State	Sule Lamido	PDP->APC???	26 April 2011	Reelected
Kaduna State	Mukhtar Ramalan Yero	PDP	26 April 2011	Patrick Ibrahim Yakowa appointed governor on 20 May 2010 when Namadi Sambo became Vice President; when he died, he was replaced by incumbent Yero
Kano State	Mohammed Rabiu Kwankwaso	PDP ->APC	26 April 2011	Reelected
Katsina State	Ibrahim Shehu Shema	PDP	28 April 2011	Reelected
Kebbi State	Usman Saidu Nasamu Dakingari	PDP	26 April 2011	Reelected
Kogi State	Idris Wada	PDP	2011 29 March 2008	Elected after April 2007 election declared invalid
Kwara State	Abdulfatah Ahmed	PDP ->APC	26 April 2011	First term
Lagos State	Babatunde Fashola	APC	26 April 2011	Reelected
Nasarawa State	Umaru Tanko Al-Makura	CPC->APC	26 April 2011	First term
Niger State	Mu'azu Babangida Aliyu	PDP> APC???	26 April 2011	Reelected
Ogun State	Ibikunle Oyelaja Amosun	APC	26 April 2011	Reelected
Ondo State	Olusegun Mimiko	LP	2013 24 February 2009	Assumed office after election of Olusegun Agagu was nullified
Osun State	Rauf Aregbesola	APC	26 November 2010	Assumed office after election of Olagunsoye Oyinlola was nullified
Oyo State	Isiaka Abiola Ajimobi	APC	26 April 2011	First term
Plateau State	Jonah Jang	PDP	26 April 2011	Reelected
Rivers State	Rotimi Amaechi	PDP ->APC	26 April 2011	Reelected
Sokoto State	Aliyu Magatakarda Wamakko	PDP ->APC	28 May 2008	Reelected after April 2007 election annulled
Taraba State	Danbaba Suntai	PDP	26 April 2011	Re-elected
Yobe State	Ibrahim Geidam	ANPP->APC	26 April 2011	Reelected
Zamfara State	Abdul-Aziz Yari Abubakar	ANPP->APC	26 April 2011	First term

VANGUArD

Amaechi, 4 other PDP govs, nPDP join APC

on November 27, 2013 / in Headlines 12:00 am / Comments

By Soni Daniel, Regional Editor, North
ABUJA—The lingering crisis of confidence between the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, leadership and seven of its estranged governors reached a climax, yesterday, with the aggrieved governors formally defecting to the All Progressives Congress, APC.

But it was not all rosy for the G-7 governors as two of the governors — Babangida Aliyu of NigerState and his Jigawa counterpart, Sule Lamido— disagreed with the other five on timing of the defection.

While Lamido stayed away from the meeting, Aliyu only showed up at the venue, met briefly with his counterparts and hurried out of the Kano Governor's Lodge, the venue of the meeting, before the communiqué announcing the merger of nPDP with APC, was read to the media.

nPDP MergeS with APC: From left, former nPDP Chairman Abubakar Kawu Baraje, former Nasarawa State Governor, Senator Abdulahi Adamu, APC Leader Bola Tinubu, APC Leader Ogbonnaya Onu; Rivers State Governor, Rotimi Amaechi and others shortly after merger of nPDP with APC in Abuja, yesterday. Photo: Gbemiga Olamikan.

In attendance at the meeting with the APC leaders, were the governors of Niger, Rivers, Kwara, Adamawa and a representative of the Jigawa Governor.

Governor Aliyu Wamakko of Sokoto State is said to have taken permission of the G-7 to travel outside the country and had assured them of his unflinching support to the group even though he was not physically present at the venue of the event.

The strategic meeting had in attendance, former Head of State and chieftain of the APC, General Muhammadu Buhari (rtd.); former Lagos governor, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu; APC National Chairman, Chief Bisi Akande; nPDP chairman, Alhaji Abubakar Kawu Baraje; former Osun State Governor and PDP Secretary, Olagunsoye Oyinlola; former Kwara State Governor, Bukola Saraki, and the former Nasarawa State Governor, Senator Adamu Abdullahi.

Others present were former Bayelsa State Governor, Timipre Sylva, and former ANPP chairman and APC chieftain, Dr. Ogbonnaya Onu.

The merger communique

The terse but history-making communiqué, which was jointly signed by the Chairman of APC, Chief Bisi Akande and nPDP Chairman, Alhaji Abubakar Kawu Baraje read:

"A meeting of the leadership of the All Progressives Congress, APC, and the new PDP met this morning at the residence of the Kano State Governor, Dr. Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso, in Abuja.

"After exhaustive deliberations, the two parties agreed to merge in order to rescue our fledgling democracy and the nation," the communiqué said.

Addressing journalists after the defection, the nPDP Chairman, Baraje, explained that the decision to merge with the APC meant that they had fused into the latter and agreed to work together in the overall interest of the nation.

"We are merging," Baraje said, adding, all these are implications of merging. What we are telling you is that we have merged and we have agreed to merge."

The formal signing of the merger Memorandum of Understanding, MOU, will take place next Tuesday.

Baraje denied any split in the ranks of the G-7, insisting that the Niger State Governor, Aliyu Babangida and his Kwara counterpart, Ahmed Abdulfatah, who went out before the end of the meeting, took permission to travel and were duly permitted to leave.

The nPDP chairman said: "You have observed that some of our members took permission to go out of the meeting; they did not walk out. You have seen the governor of Kwara, you have seen the governor of Niger; they all took permission to travel.

APC leader and former Lagos State Governor, Ahmed Tinubu, who was beaming with broad smiles after witnessing the defection of the governors to his party, described the development as a good omen for Nigeria's democracy.

Tinubu noted that the action of the governors was a right step towards rescuing Nigeria and strengthening democracy.

Tinubu said: "What happened today is good for our democracy and nation. We are on a rescue mission and it is good for our country; what we are doing is a must for the country. The step we are taking is very necessary and we are happy about that.

"We are happy with the development, we have commitment to rescue our country from drifting and we act as a group to promote the interest of this country. Patriotism is defined as not being about oneself or personal goal, but that of the society, the nation or corporate entity. That is what we are putting forward," the APC leader said.

But one of the governors explained to Vanguard that the decision by Governors Aliyu and Sule Lamido to ask for more time to join the APC in January 2014 was understandable.

The governor said that the decision by the duo to wait till January had brought about a sharp division among the other governors, who reasoned that there was no need to continue to wait in the drifting PDP when the APC was consolidating and preparing for its National Congress in January.

It was learnt that while the Chief Servant had pleaded for time to be able to sort out his political interest with those of two former heads of states — Generals Ibrahim Babangida and Abdulsalami Abubakar.

I can't leave house I built – Lamido

Lamido, yesterday, said he would not leave the house he built, being one of the nine founding fathers of the PDP.

However, it is believed in some quarters that Lamido also needed to get a soft-landing for his two sons, who had been arrested by the EFCC for alleged money laundering amounting to N10 billion. The governor is reported to have argued strongly that the group should heed Chief Obasanjo's advice not to move into the APC until early next year so as to get his own blessing and that of a former head of state from the North.

The two former leaders are said to have given the seven governors their tacit support to move over to the APC only in January 2014 and pledged to stay in PDP and support their political aspiration in the new party.

In fact, the two former leaders were expected to issue a formal statement condemning the crisis in the PDP and urge the defecting governors to go ahead with their rescue mission for Nigeria.

It was, however, not clear as at yesterday, what the leaders' reaction would be to the early migration of the governors to the APC without a clear signal from them.

But afraid that their decision might not go down well with Lamido, a high powered delegation led by the APC chairman left Abuja yesterday for Dutse to plead for the governor's understanding and support to remain with them.

A governor said: "The sharp disagreement between the two governors and the other five was responsible for the extensive and inconclusive meeting of the G-7 throughout Monday night in Abuja and we decided to take a concrete decision today to put the issue behind us."

Vanguard learnt that the disagreement was also responsible for the change in the wording of the communiqué read to journalists at the end of the meeting. Initially, the communiqué said that 'both parties had agreed to work together' but the phrase was later changed to 'merger' following pressure from five of the governors present.

It was also gathered that the last minute decision by President Jonathan not to meet with the aggrieved governors reportedly angered them and quickened their resolve not to hold any further peace meeting with the Presidency and the leadership of the PDP.

A source said that while the governors were ready to meet with Jonathan last Sunday, they were shocked to receive a communication from the President suggesting that he could not attend to them until sometime later in the week.

"We just felt that the President was not serious about meeting with us having given the impression that it was the governors, who requested in their letter to have a meeting with him.

"Again, we did not feel happy that he made us write and remind him of the need to meet after the October 7 meeting had been put off due to the fact that many of our members went on religious pilgrimage," the source explained.

I've not moved - Aliyu

Meanwhile, Governor Babangida Aliyu of NigerState speaking through his Chief Press Secretary, Mr. Danladi Ndayebo, on Channels Television yesterday, said: "Media reports purporting that Governor Muazu Babangida Aliyu has moved to the All Progressives Congress is not true. It is false, it is unfounded."

"We are aware that talks are ongoing with the president and until the talks are exhausted, Governor Babangida Aliyu remains a member of the PDP."

"Let me also add that we are shocked at the announcement of the merger even before a final decision is taken on the matter."

Following him, Governor Lamido, one of the original nine founders of the PDP also dissociated himself from the merger. Governor Lamido speaking through the Director of Press, JigawaState, Mallam Umar Kyari said:

"We remain in PDP, Governor Lamido is going nowhere, he is not leaving a house that he built. He was among the first nine persons that conceived the PDP, that is the G9, which transformed to G18 and then to G34. So, he cannot leave the house that he founded and will make sure that justice is done in PDP."

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