The Peoples Democratic Party Governors Forum met in Abuja on Tuesday night to strategise on how best to counter the threat posed by the candidature of Maj. Gen. Muhammadu Buhari (retd.) of the All Progressives Congress, APC, for the 2015 elections.
Buhari was elected as presidential candidate of the opposition party last week Thursday and he has chosen a former Lagos Attorney General and Professor of Law, Yemi Osinbajo (SAN) as his running mate to face President Goodluck Jonathan and Vice President Namadi Sambo in the 2015 presidential poll.
The meeting, which was held at the Akwa Ibom State Governor’s Lodge in Asokoro, Abuja started at about 8.30pm and ended at about 10.45pm.
Speaking with journalists after the meeting, the Chairman of the forum and Governor of Akwa Ibom State, Godswill Akpabio, said issues of mutual interest topped discussions.
He, however, refused to answer questions about the crisis emanating from the just-concluded primaries of the party across the states, insisting that it was an issue which the party leadership was already looking into.
Akpabio said, “We met to discuss the state of our party, and of course, it was a strategic meeting because of the period we are in. We looked at what the situation is today and we are very confident that with the strategies that have been drawn, the PDP remains the party to beat.
“We feel strongly that at the end of the day, their (APC) propaganda will fail and Nigerians will know that the only truly national party that can provide answers to their aspirations is the PDP.
“We discussed issues state by state and we are quite confident that by the year 2015, victory will be for the PDP”.
Fifteen governors attended the meeting. They include, Liyel Imoke (Cross River); Olusegun Mimiko (Ondo); Babangida Aliyu (Niger); Isa Yuguda (Bauchi); Jonah Jang (Plateau); Saidu Dakingari (Kebbi); Siriake Dickson (Bayelsa); and Theodore Orji (Abia).
However, three of the PDP governors said to be unhappy with the outcome of the just concluded primaries, Martins Elechi (Ebonyi), Emmanuel Uduaghan (Delta) and Sullivan Chime (Enugu), were conspicuously absent from the meeting.
Defending their absence, Akpabio explained that it was due to the unfavourable weather condition, which made flights from their states difficult.