President Goodluck Jonathan on Wednesday played host to a delegation of PDP leadership from South-West zone, led by Chief Olabode George at the Presidential Villa.
Addressing State House correspondents after the closed door meeting which lasted for over an hour, the PDP chieftain said that the party’s national convention slated for Aug. 31, would hold irrespective of “speculations’’
According to George, the crisis that had engulfed the party and rumours making the round, not withstanding, the national convention of the party will hold.
“The National Convention will go on, the speculation of what is going on in the party and so on not withstanding.
“You know big man big problem, the other little new parties that are coming on, to us, we have been there since 1998,
“They will have to come and learn how to manage Nigeria.
“They have been managing tribes, the tribal sectors, all over the places, but this time around, they are going to learn how to manage Nigerians and that is what the PDP has been doing.
“Remember also that the zoning concept in our own constitution is not in the national constitution.
“We are happy that it has sustained democracy since 1999 and we have concluded that there will be no shaking,’’ he said.
On the purpose of the meeting with the President, George said the delegation came to present the situation of the party in the zone to the party leader.
“We came to discuss with the leader of the party the situation in our zone.
“With all intent and purposes, we do not want to have any acrimony and that is why we have come to say that there is need to take a cursory look at the PDP South-West.
“This is because, the house that had been built, we cannot allow it to be destroyed because if termites enter your house, you don’t run out to go and be a tenant somewhere.
“You must fight it and so we make the presentation of a complete x-ray of the PDP situation in the South-West.
“I believe the meeting was very successful and I am happy that we are going to start looking at the same direction at the end of this time,’’ he said.
Other members of the delegation are, Chief Abiola Ogundokun, Chief Ebenezer Babatope, Senators Iyiola Omisore, Hosea Agboola, Lekan Balogun and Musiliu Obanikoro.
Others are Prof. Tunde Adeniran, Chief Adetokunbo Kayode and Elder Wole Oyelese.
The President had earlier received, in audience, Sokoto Governor, Aliyu Wamakko, also the Presidential Villa.
The governor, after the meeting said, “it is just a routine visit to the President.”
He reiterated that his visit to the President had nothing to do with the Party’s National Executive Council meeting coming up on Thursday.
On the crisis in the Governors’ Forum, he said consultation was still on-going and the issues would be resolved amicably at the end of the day.
The President had also scheduled to meet with the leadership of PDP from his home State, Bayelsa, later in the night.
