Speaker of the House of Representatives, Dimeji Bankole will meet the Governor of Ogun State Otunba Gbenga Daniel today, as part of efforts to resolve the intractable crises in the Ogun State chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
The meeting, according to sources, is at the instance of the Presidency and the leadership of the PDP. It was learnt that the Presidency was desirous of ensuring that PDP continued to rule Ogun State after the next general elections as well as facilitating votes of delegates for the Goodluck Jonathan/Sambo ticket in the forthcoming primaries.
Sources close to the Presidency said the meeting was a follow up to series of separate meetings between the duo and Vice President Namadi Sambo and President Jonathan.
The two high ranking government officials, it was gathered, belonged to the Goodluck Jonathan/Namadi Sambo Campaign Organisation, therefore, the presidency and PDP leadership had mandated them to resolve their differences in the interest of the party in the state and especially for the success of Jonathan at the party level and in the presidential election.
Presidency had to order the two gladiators to meet and find a lasting solution to the rift to forestall any ugly fallout as the party picks its delegates this week. However, the venue of the meeting could not be immediately ascertained but the sources said the parley, which would likely to be one-on-one would hold in Ogun State as previous meetings were held in Abuja. Daily Sun investigations further revealed that some stakeholders in Ogun State were already jittery about the proposed meeting, which might negatively affect their political calculations both within PDP and other parties in the state.
“Any compromise between the two gladiators to work together will certainly unruffle many feathers in the political calculations of Ogun State. Indeed, many in Abeokuta South and Ogun East Senatorial District as well as the major opposition party, Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) are unhappy about the meeting,” a source said. The cooperation of Bankole and Daniel towards the success of the Goodluck/Sambo ticket is very critical in Ogun State in general. “There is no way we can do well there if this their dog fight continues.”
Bankole and Daniel have been at loggerheads on a lot of issues affecting Ogun State with the most recent being the altercations at the commissioning of Ota Bridge.
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