….Vows not to leave ruling party
SAN FRANCISCO, September 17, (THEWILL) – Fresh from their annual vacation, President of the Senate, David Mark, on Tuesday, told the factional chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party ( PDP), Alhaji Kawu Baraje, and his members that he will never leave the mainstream PDP, but would stand for justice, fairness and equity.
He also asked them to be honest and lay their cards on the table objectively.
The group, along with some Senators sympathetic to them, was at the Senate to solicit the intervention of Mark in the lingering crisis in the party.
He minced no words as he told them to come together to build a united and strong PDP instead of allowing the party to fall.
“Even if you have a knife in my head, I will stand for justice, fairness and equity, ” Mark told the Baraje faction as he urged them to come together and uphold a strong and united party.
He said he will remain in the PDP and would not live to see a fallen party just as he pleaded with party faithful that whatever happens, they must not abandon the ship.
“We are stronger and better as one big, strong and united party. We need to work together and make our democracy sustainable,” he added.
In finding solution to the crisis rocking the ruling party, he counseled the opposing groups to lay their cards on the table honestly and objectively.
In the National Assembly, Senator Mark stated that the lawmakers elected on the platform of the ruling party will remain united and cohesive, saying what is good for the nation and her citizens would be their watchword.
He maintained that the leadership of the National Assembly had no intention to declare any seat of the Senators or House of Representatives members vacant on account of the crisis, hoping that the issues would be resolved amicably soon.
Earlier, Baraje demanded, among other things, the recall of Governor Rotimi Amaechi of Rivers State from suspension as well as his recognition as the elected chairman of the Nigeria Governors Forum (NGF).
The group also demanded the reversal of the dissolution of the party executives in Rivers and Adamawa States, removal of Alhaji Bamaga Tukur as National Chairman of the party, strict adherence to party constitution and total objection to third term for President oodluck Jonathan from the back door.
The G-7 governors include Babangida Aliyu of Niger State, Sule Lamido of Jigawa, Murtala Nyako of Adamawa, Rotimi Amaechi of Rivers, AbduFatai Ahmed of Kwara, Rabiu Musa Kwakwanso of Kano and Aliyu Wamakko of Sokoto State.
Observers of the development said the visit of the Baraje group to the National Assembly suggests that there is no end in sight to the crisis and that there was nothing to show that the parties have reconciled contrary to the communiqué read by Governor Babangida Aliyu of Niger State at the end of their parley with the Presidency last Sunday.
BY EMMA UCHE, ABUJA
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