Former President Goodluck Jonathan has refuted claims that he is involved in the intractable crisis rocking the soul of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
Jonathan broke silence in a statement signed by his Media Adviser, Ikechukwu Eze as he denied having anything to do with the crisis rocking the party.
According to him, reports claiming that he is behind the aggrieved G-5 governors in the party are untrue and malicious.
The New Diplomat had reported that five governors are currently at loggerhead with the party’s presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, and are insisting on the removal of the PDP Chairman, Iyorchia Ayu.
Since the crisis broke out, there have been unsuccessful moves by the party chieftains to bring the warring parties to the negotiation table as governors Nyesom Wike, Seyi Makinde, Okezie Ikpeazu, Samuel Ortom and Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi of Rivers, Oyo, Abia, Benue and Enugu states, respectively, remained firm on the demand for the resignation of Ayu in bid to balance the structural balance of the party.
Following the situation in the party, reports emerged that the G-5 governors are doing the will of Jonathan and that the former President was behind the crisis in the PDP.
Reacting to reports, the former President in a statement titled, ‘Re: Aggrieved PDP governors loyal to Jonathan’, said “Our attention has been drawn to news media and social media reports linking former President Dr Goodluck Jonathan’s name to the current troubles in the Peoples Democratic Party with a false claim that the aggrieved PDP governors are demonstrating their loyalty to him.
“We would have ignored the strange tale since it is obviously baseless. However, we are offering this clarification because we have been reached by many Nigerians, who are concerned that such fabrication with a vague and suspicious attribution could be given undeserved prominence on the front pages of some national dailies.
“We are also not unmindful of the fact that, this being an electioneering season, bizarre tales are often contrived, propagated and weaponised to either smear others or deliver cheap political advantage to the purveyors.
“First, we would like to make the point that it is not out of place if there were crises in a political party like the PDP and a former President, who served under the party’s platform, is called upon to intervene. That being the case, we initially did not see anything wrong with the headlines in some papers, indicating that the former President was being persuaded to help resolve the issues in the party.
“However, we are dismayed that the seemingly purpose-minded headlines were only cast to mask the mischief of the sponsors of the story and hoodwink the unsuspecting populace. Our attention was called to provocative and insulting statements in separate but similar versions of the story in different news media, either claiming that ‘the whole thing we are seeing in the PDP…is orchestrated for President Jonathan’, or that ‘he (Jonathan) is encouraging governors Nyesom Wike, Makinde, Ikpeazu, Ugwuanyi and Ortom to behave the way they are doing’, knowing that ‘these five governors are fighting his cause’.
“We believe that such duplicitous statements could not have emanated from the camps of those who truly wish the party well. It simply shows that the so-called ‘sources’ of the story are not disposed to the peace and unity they pretend to be seeking in the PDP.”
The former President also dismissed claims that he was nursing a grudge against the party’s flag bearer, Atiku.
Eze said, “How could anybody turn around in 2022 to accuse Jonathan of bearing a grudge against the PDP when the former President had campaigned vigorously for the party and its presidential candidate during the 2019 elections?”
