The meeting, which was chaired by the Acting National Chairman, Umar Damagum, listed 183 chieftains from across the six geopolitical zones for attendance.

Damagum canvassed the need to reconcile aggrieved members and to strengthen the party for future challenges.

He said: “We have had series of meetings with the members of the national ex officio, state chairmen, Board of Trustees members as well as members of the National Assembly.

“This is a continuation of the discussions on what happened during the previous meetings. The whole idea is to unite the party.

“Initially, the meeting was supposed to be for only the founding fathers of this party. But we realised that after over twenty years of the existence of this party, a lot of people have also graduated to be founding fathers.

“From our first set of governors who may not really be the founding fathers, we have had leaders who have contributed their own quota to be recognised as members of this great party and leaders in their own right”.

The party chairman urged stakeholders to be mindful of their utterances while voicing their grievances, saying that PDP remains one family regardless of individual grievances.

The PDP National Organising Secretary, Umar Bature, gave a breakdown of the party’s performance at the last general election.

Bature said: “In the State Houses of Assembly, we have 342 members. We have 116 members in the House of Representatives. In the Senate, we have 36 members, and we have 13 Governors. We believe strongly that the ongoing tribunal cases in Kaduna, Nasarawa, Ogun, Kaduna and Sokoto States will be in our favour”.

Chairman of the PDP Board of Trustees (BoT), Senator Adolphus Wabara cautioned members on their public statements regarding proceedings in the ongoing election petition cases.

Those who attended the meeting included a former Senate President, Bukola Saraki; immediate past Governor of Akwa Ibom State, Udom Emmanuel; and PDP Deputy National Chairman (South), Taofeek Arapaja

Others are Chief Olabode George, Chief Tom Ikimi, Alhaji Adamu Maina Waziri, Dr Babangida Aliyu among others.

However, three members of the G-5 who were invited to the meeting did not show up. They are former Governors Nyesom Wike (Rivers), Okezie Ikpeazu (Abia) and Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi (Enugu).

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The duo made the call on Sunday when they visited the former military President Gen. Ibrahim Badamosi Babangida in Minna.

An appeal court in Port Harcourt last week recognised the Ali Modu Sheriff faction of the Peoples Democratic Party, while declaring the convention that established the Ahmed Makarfi’s caretaker committee as illegal.

Sheriff said that the court ruling was a victory for the Party and not him.

“My victory is a victory for PDP all over Nigeria. There is no loser; it is just a misunderstanding within a family.

“We are calling on everybody to come together so that the party can be a formidable one once again.

Babangida commended Sheriff for the manner he handled his victory at the Appeal court.

“I am very happy with your statement after the court ruling; it shows that there is room for reconciliation and unity.

“There is need to bring everybody back together to make the party a formidable opposition party, Babangida said.

On the purpose of his visit after two-hour meeting with Babangida, Sheriff said “IBB is our father’.

“IBB congratulated me and advised me to continue that way so that I can bring everybody back together to make the party a formidable opposition party.

“What we want to do now is how to put the party back to shape so that everyone that is aggrieved is brought back as one united family once again. This is because united will stand, divided will fall,’ he said.

On Ahmed Makarfi, leader of another PDP faction, Sheriff said he has extended his hand of fellowship to him.

“I have called Makarfi himself, and everybody to come back so that we can work together.

Similarly, Dr Babangida Aliyu, former Niger governor, said:

“Now that we have a legal decision supporting the position, we are okay. Though some people are talking of taking the matter the Supreme Court others are saying no.

“We should start widening the solution so that we don’t waste time in terms of legality.

“That is why for the moment, Ali Modu Sheriff is the Chairman of the Party until anybody is able to go higher to set aside this decision of the court. Those of us who love to see solution to this party will continue to find solution. I think we should all bury our ambitions; you can have an ambition without a platform.

“We need to have a platform first of all and we are in the opposition, and we need time to organise and reorganise and go back to the people with plausible real solution to their problems.

“If we don’t get these solutions, then what do we have? I appeal to all PDP lovers and members to look at the issues objectively, we need to have a platform that we can call a party which can win elections and not a fragmented party.’’

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In a statement signed by Aliyu’s Chief Press Secretary, Israel Ebije, the governor said he was saddened that some members of the National Conference described the north as leeches while debating the issue of resource control.

Aliyu who spoke Tuesday night while breaking his fast with a group advocating religious harmony, led by Solomon Dalung, in his residence in Minna, said no section of the country could be separated from one another as they were all inter-dependent.

“Only a few days ago, I hosted some members of the National Conference and I was saddened to hear that some members of the conference are calling the Northern states leeches on account of the ongoing debate on resource control.

“For someone to call a section of the country leech is a matter that can cause trouble and that does not need religion or level of education to make it go out of control. Oil is not something that anyone owns and it is sad if some people want to change that law now.”

He also noted that religion was not really the problem of Nigeria but politically and economically influenced negative comments, attitude and actions.

Earlier, the leader of the delegation, Dalung had said they were in Minna to solicit the support of the NSGF through the chairman to key into their vision for peace to reign in the region.

“We are not in the wrong place. The Chief Servant is the chairman of NSGF and we are sure that he will help us to convey our message of peace to his colleagues. We have visited the Sultan and now you. We have spoken with the spiritual leader and now we are speaking with the political leader of the north.”

He, however, shared Aliyu’s opinion on the problems confronting the country, adding that politicisation of religion had made peace elude the country.

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The governors who met with key investors in Abuja on Saturday at an Economic Investment Forum aimed at “creating opportunities for economic prosperity and security in the northern states and the nation in a period of unprecedented insecurity challenges,” said that this was the only way the battered economy of the region could be rebuilt.

Chairman of the Forum and Governor of Niger State, Dr. Babangida Aliyu, who spoke on behalf of his colleagues at the event, said the task of rebuilding the economy of states in the North would not be an easy task given the security challenges facing the region.

“Boko Haram should be eliminated at the maximum of three months. That is the expectation of the Northern States from the Federal government and the international community.

“The current challenges facing our country demonstrates the importance of working together across geo-political zones, political party lines, and ethnic-religious affinities to defeat our common enemies – poverty and corruption, which unfortunately continue to undermine our efforts in taking our rightful place as the giant of Africa. We can no longer remain the sleeping giant. And the time for a paradigm shift is certainly now.

“We are under no illusions that achieving this will be easy, especially in a fast changing information age. We also believe that progress in any form comes with a price.”

Meanwhile, President Goodluck Jonathan on Saturday said he had received assurances from the President of INTERPOL, Mireille Ballestrazzi, that the organisation would search the whole world for the schoolgirls that were abducted on April 14 from Government Girls Secondary School, Chibok, Borno State.

Jonathan spoke in Oporoza, in Gbaramatu Kingdom of Delta State for the ground-breaking ceremony of the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency’s Shipyard and Dockyard at Okerenkoko and Nigeria Maritime University, Kurutie.

The President said, “The international community is angry with the whole thing. We have support from other countries; we promise the world that we must get the girls out.

“I am very pleased with the support coming from the United States, the United Kingdom, France, the Republic of China, Israel, Spain and others.

“I just had a communication with the President of INTERPOL who said they are ready to join the Nigerian government to search the whole world. Wherever these girls are, we must get them.”

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The Chairman of the forum and Niger State Governor, Dr. Babangida Aliyu, who stated this in Minna on Monday, said that the NGF, had received Nyako’s memo.

Nyako, in a letter to the forum, dated April 16, 2014, had alleged that the President Goodluck Jonathan administration was committing genocide against the North.

“The administration is bent on bringing wars in the North between Muslims and Christians and within them and between one ethnic group and another or others in various communities in the region,” Nyako had stated.

Nyako added that kidnappers of schoolgirls in Borno State must have the backing of the Federal Government “for them to move about freely with abducted children.”

But the Presidency, in a statement by the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Public Affairs, Dr. Doyin Okupe, on Saturday said that Nyako’s letter was a sad betrayal of trust by a major beneficiary of the Nigerian nation.

Okupe said that Nyako’s letter was divisive, adding that it was meant to incite one section of the country against the other but the Adamawa State governor hit back at the Presidency on Monday, saying that it was confused and incompetent.

Aliyu, who spoke through his Chief Press Secretary, Danladi Ndayebo, said that the forum would meet on the memo in Abuja on Thursday

He stated that “The forum is now in receipt of Nyako’s memo and would look at the concerns raised by Admiral Nyako.

“With a view to addressing the issues, the forum will discuss the memorandum submitted to it by Governor Murtala Nyako of Adamawa State, where he raised several concerns about the insurgency in the North”.

Aliyu added that the meeting, which is aimed at finding lasting solutions to the incessant crises between herdsmen and farmers in the region, would be attended by the Miyetti Allah Fulani Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria.

The governor said members of the forum and leaders of the Miyetti Allah Fulani Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria would fashion out strategies to address the disturbing state of insecurity in the region.

“I am enthusiastic that the interface between northern governors and Miyetti Allah would engender the restoration of the most desired peaceful co-existence, unity and development to the region.

“The forum intends to work closely with leaders of Miyetti Allah to unmask criminals who masquerade as cattle breeders to inflict mayhem on innocent citizens”.

The decision to meet with Miyetti Allah was taken at the last meeting of the National Economic Council during which governors of the 36 states of the federation constituted a panel headed by Nyako.

The panel is to work out ways to end incessant clashes between herdsmen and farmers in the troubled region.

It is expected that the meeting will push for a national policy to settle nomads and provide adequate grazing reserves and cattle routes.

The meeting is also expected to make a case for proper demarcation of grazing fields for herdsmen and the adoption of a comprehensive pastoral development programme to reduce constant friction between farmers and herdsmen especially in the Northern part of the country.

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The Chairman of the Forum and Governor of Niger State, Dr. Babangida Aliyu, made this known in Minna in a message he sent to the National Association of Niger State Students  award ceremony to distinguished Nigerians, at the Idris Legbo Kutigi International Conference Centre.

The governor added that the Forum agreed to re-introduce the Grade II teachers training programme abolished across the country several years back as one of the ways to improve the standard of teaching in schools in the region.

Governor Aliyu, who was represented by the state Commissioner for Tertiary Education, Dr. Muhammad Nuhu, said the forum had decided to close the educational gap between male and female students in the region.

He described education as the bedrock of any development, adding that the governors had also resolved to establish schools of preliminary studies to prepare students for admission into tertiary institutions not only in the region but in the country.

Three of such institutions, governor Aliyu said, had already taken off in Agaie, Ibeto and Tegina towns all in Niger State.

Aliyu explained that an education summit, aimed at addressing all the problems associated with the growth and development of education in the region especially the problem of almajiri and falling standard of education, would be held at an unnamed state very soon.

The NSGF chairman said his government  had computerised the payment of scholarship to students in tertiary institutions and introduced the scratch card to all beneficiaries as a way of blocking areas of wastage, saying so far, the administration had paid about N1.8bn in scholarship and other allowances.

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The forum’s Chairman and Governor of Niger, Dr Babangida Aliyu, stated this on Sunday in Minna, noting that members of the forum were seriously concerned at the renewed attacks, which have killed 18 persons around Maiduguri.

“The forum is particularly alarmed that the shooting to dead of 18 persons in Njaba, Mude, Kwaljiri and Kaya villages in Borno followed the same pattern as previous midnight attacks on towns and villages in the region,” he said.

According to a statement signed by the governor’s Chief Press Secretary, Danladi Ndayebo, Aliyu described the fresh attacks as horrendous, callous and inhuman.

He also called on security agencies to halt the incessant clashes between Fulani herdsmen and farmers in the region.

The governor commiserated with the families of the victims and prayed Almighty God to grant eternal rest to the deceased and quick recovery to those who sustained injuries during the attacks.

Aliyu called on security agencies to do more to protect the lives and properties of citizens, and also ensure that those perpetrating violence in the region were brought to justice.

He reiterated the pledge of the forum to continue to work with other tiers of government to bring an end to security challenges confronting the nation.

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