The Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Alhaji Adamu Mu’azu, along with 12 governors of the party and their colleagues in the Labour Party (LP) and All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) from Ondo and Anambra States, were yesterday guests of the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon. Aminu Tambuwal and his deputy, Emeka Ihedioha, at a caucus meeting with 173 members of the House.
On his arrival at about 8:48p.m., Mu’azu spent about 10 minutes socialising and exchanging banters with the leadership of the House and the legislators.
At about 8:58p.m., the meeting got underway after the national anthem.
After House Leader, Mulikat Adeola-Akande, finished delivering her welcome address, the chairman of the PDP Governors’ Forum, Chief Godswill Akpabio, came in.
Addressing the gathering, Mu’azu pledged to look into the yearnings of the legislators for automatic tickets but urged them to be strictly loyal to the party as “loyalty pays.”
According to him, “This is the dawn of a new era completely. You are lucky you have got a younger chairman that is as vibrant as you are. It is a pity that things have gone the way they have gone, that there are no linkages between the House and the party.,” Mu’azu observed and promised to close the gap.
“I’ll tell you a lot of things that you don’t know and I’ll guide you. I want you to appreciate our party, because it is the largest. A lot of you don’t know how critical it was for us,” he noted tracing a brief history of the party’s birth 16 years ago.
He added: “The party is a big house. It gave you a platform to be here; and you owe it a duty to be loyal.”
In his address, Akpabio said his entrance with Obi and Mimiko, both of whom are not PDP members was a sign that “PDP is not alone.”
He assured the lawmakers that the resolutions of the meeting, which shall be dubbed ‘Abuja Accord’ would guide future relationships between governors and legislators from their states, who he observed are detached from their states and governors.
Adeola-Akande, in her welcome address, acknowledged the recent crises in the party but attributed them to human frailty.
She called on members to be loyal while they expect the executive arm and the party in particular to grant them automatic ticket in the forthcoming election. First to arrive at the meeting was Governor Emmanuel Uduaghan of Delta State.
Subsequently, his other counterparts from Katsina, Kebbi and Kaduna, Ibrahim Shema Usman Nasamu Dakingari and Mukhtar Ramalan Yero, respectively made their entries.
Also at the meeting were Governors of Theodore Orji (Abia), Babangida Aliyu (Niger), Liyel Imoke (Cross River) and Garba Umar, the acting governor of Taraba State. The governors of Jigawa and Kogi States were represented by their deputies.
As at the time of filing this report, the meeting had gone into a closed door session.
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