Crisis looms in the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, over a possible joint ticket between Vice-President Namadi Sambo and Rivers State Governor Rotimi Amaechi in the 2015 presidential election.
Presently, the National Working Committee, NWC, of the party is sharply divided between the supporters of President Goodluck Jonathan and pro-Sambo members. Leading the pack for the pro-Sambo camp is the National Organising Secretary of the party, Abubakar Mustapha, a special nominee of the vice-president.
It is also believed that the National Secretary, Prince Olagunsoye Oyinlola; the Deputy National Chairman, Dr. Sam Jaja and the National Treasurer, Bala Kaoje, had sympathy for the group. Mustapha is a loyalist of Sambo while Jaja is an ally of Amaechi.
On the side of President Jonathan are the National Chairman, Dr. Bamanga Tukur; the National Woman Leader, Kema Chikwe; the National Youth Leader, Garba Chiza and a few others.
The pro-Sambo group also reportedly has the tacit support of some members of the National Assembly.
In what appeared like a decoy a fortnight ago, some members of this group reportedly met in Johannesburg, South Africa, to fine-tune their plans to effect changes in government under the cover of attending the election of Hon. Bethel Amadi as the Speaker of the African Parliament.
National Mirror gathered that the meeting, held at a five-star hotel in Johannesburg, was attended by notable supporters of Sambo, including three members of the PDP’s NWC, aides of the vice-president, members of the National Assembly and some state governors, including Amaechi.
The Johannesburg meeting, however, leaked to the Presidency two days earlier, a development that made the Presidency to direct the South African High Commission to furnish it with names of the attendees.
President Jonathan also immediately mandated Bayelsa State Governor Henry Dickson to gatecrash into the meeting.
National Mirror also learnt that with the presence of the Bayelsa State governor at the meeting, very little was discussed, but members of the group used the opportunity to create some bond amongst themselves and promised to meet at a later date.
The meeting in South Africa has generated a serious division within the rank of the party and distrust between President Jonathan and Sambo, whose desire to clinch the top office is no longer hidden
