Atiku said it expressly that he couldn’t leave, while Jonathan encouraged him to “reconsider and consult widely” before taking a final position. SaharaReporters confirmed that when Daniel made the decision public on Saturday, Jonathan called again to make a last-ditch attempt to change his mind, saying specifically that “PDP still needs his participation in the party”.
Former President
Goodluck Jonathan leads an array of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP)
leaders to have called Otunba Gbenga Daniel, former Governor of Ogun
State, to convince him to rescind his decision to leave the party.Daniel
announced his exit from the PDP and from partisan politics on Saturday,
saying he wanted take on “new challenges”, which include rejuvenating
his charity-based organisation, the Gateway Front Foundation (GFF), and
resuscitating the “non-partisan Political Leadership Academy (POLA)”,
which was “established some years ago as a platform of political
education to our citizens”.However, notable PDP leaders, including Jonathan have been calling him to have a rethink.
Having
earlier reported the real reason’s behind his exit, SaharaReporters
understands that Daniel informed Atiku Abubakar, whom he served as
Director-General of his presidential campaign orgnisation, as well as
Jonathan, before publicly announcing his decision.Atiku said it
expressly that he couldn’t leave, while Jonathan encouraged him to
“reconsider and consult widely” before taking a final position.SaharaReporters
confirmed that when Daniel made the decision public on Saturday,
Jonathan called again to make a last-ditch attempt to change his mind,
saying specifically that “PDP still needs his participation in the
party”.SaharaReporters has also been told PDP stakeholders,
particularly from the North, have been rejecting Daniel’s resignation
from the party.“Calls across the country have been coming; the
major stakeholders in PDP have been telling him not to leave, but he has
been insisting he has not taken a position for now,” a source close to
Jonathan told SaharaReporters on Tuesday.“PDP stakeholders across the North, governors and former governors mainly from the North, they’ve all reached out to him.”
Oyo State governor-elect Seyi Makinde, described as Daniel’s “very good friend”, has also reached out.
Also,
a Lagos PDP source told SaharaReporters that Daniel’s exit will further
deplete a party serious struggling to hold some influence in the
South-West.“If he leaves, the PDP in the South-West will be left without a leader,” he said.
“Fayose
has been unable to hold the PDP in the South-West since leaving office
as Governor of Ekiti State. Lagos PDP is boiling with issues. You can
imagine a party chieftain, Segun Adewale, locking up the PDP secretariat
and declaring himself the authentic Lagos PDP chairman in place
Adegbola Dominic, who was attending a meeting in Ibadan. There have also
been complaints of the siphoning of campaign funds in Lagos.“So,
PDP is in crisis in Lagos. In Ogun, it is non-existent. The only place
it exists is Oyo State. Fayose is fighting in Ekiti with Abiodun
Olujimi. So, PDP leaders feel they still need Daniel’s leadership to
hold the South-West together.”The PDP has not yet formally taken
a stand on Daniel’s resignation; however, this could happen at an
emergency meeting of its National Executive Committee (NEC) scheduled
for Tuesday.
Source:- Saharareporters
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