Posted by Vanguard on
INDICATIONS have emerged that President Olusegun Obasanjo was working towards ensuring that the protracted political crisis in Anambra State was resolved by the end of the month.
INDICATIONS have emerged that President Olusegun Obasanjo was working towards ensuring that the protracted political crisis in Anambra State was resolved by the end of the month.
Presidency sources told Sunday Vanguard last Friday that Obasanjo has set January 31 as the deadline for the resolution of the crisis and has told the major parties in the problem in unmistak-able terms about his intention.
Before last Tuesday's meeting of the People's Democratic Party (PDP) National Executive Committee (NEC) which suspended the two principal actors in the crisis - Governor Chris Ngige and Chief Chris Ubah - and set up the Oyinlola committee to probe the problem, the president was said to have spoken to Ngige and informed him about his plan.
The sources said Obasanjo was apparently reacting to the allegation that he had done nothing to end the logjam which peaked with the ruling party chairman, Chief Audu Ogbeh, and the president publicly trading blames on the matter.
According to the sources, the president's conversation with Ngige took place few days to Christmas during which Obasanjo reportedly said the Anambra crisis must end by January 31.
The sources quoted the president as telling Ngige that in ending the impasse, somebody must vacate office by that day which the sources interpreted to mean that the governor must leave office.
Obasanjo had consistently said Ngige's governorship posed a moral problem, going by the confession by Ubah that the election that brought the governor to office was rigged.
Sunday Vanguard learnt that the two-week deadline given last Tuesday to the Governor Olagunsoye Oyinlola Committee by the PDP NEC to end its probe of the Anambra saga and turn in a report may have been influenced by the President's resolve to end the crisis within the time frame fixed by him
Incidentally, the suspension clamped on Ngige and Ubah by the PDP NEC also lapses by month end . Oyinlola Committee's mandate include collaborat-ing with the police to ensure that the investigation of the Anambra crisis was thorough and far-reaching.
The Inspector-General of Police, Mr. Tafa Balogun, told Sunday Vanguard at the weekend that the police had a monumental report on the Anambra impasse but explained that they would wait until the Oyinlola panel completes its job before swinging into action. Balogun stated that the police had done a lot of work on the crisis, saying this may have led the PDP NEC into raising its own probe panel to give it first hand information