 Peace talks suffer as the U.K. descends on Attiku's men and Nigerians want actions at Fenifera Slam's Bahari as terrorists release seven more passengers from the Kaduna Abuja train attack. This is Plus Politics. I am Mary Anacorn. There were indications on Monday that the reconciliation talks between Gov. Yusuf Wike of the River State and the presidential flag bearer of the People's Democratic Party, former Vice President Attiku Abuja had collapsed. It suffered a major setback as Wike again threatened to disappoint those underestimating his state. Things have not been rosy between Wike and Attiku following the former Vice President's decision to nominate Gov. Ifanyo Kowa of Delta State as his running mate, Wike and his associates were reported to have demanded the resignation of the national chairman of the party, Yocha Ayu as a condition for him to work for Attiku. However, some leaders in the party dismissed Wike's demand. The River State Governor, Yusuf Wike, has also defended his reasons for inviting members of the opposition political parties to commission projects in the state. The governor said he wants them to come and see what he has done and to take the message back home. What's running us to have this conversation is Dr. Chidi Lloyd, a former member of the River State House of Assembly, Abu-Nan Wuke, PDP Storwatt in River State, and Chief Isaac Abu-Bula, the immediate past chairman of the all-progressive Congress, Kertika Committee. Thank you so much, gentlemen, for being part of the conversation tonight. Thank you. Great. I'm going to start with you, Dr. Lloyd. You are a member of the People's Democratic Party. When this matter first became a news issue, we saw that the government of River State was tight-lipped. Nobody wanted to speak on the issue when many, the story broke that the governor of Delta State was picked as a preferred running mate for the former vice president, Attiku Abu-Buka. But then now we're hearing all kinds of things coming from the government. In fact, there was a group that put out a list of demands to the PDP asking for a one tenure for the PDP candidates. They also asked that Senator Iyacha Aiu also step down. And one would wonder how realistic are these demands and why is this hitting so hard on the River State governor? Because a lot of people would say that for him to be a party man, should this not slide. Dr. Lloyd, can you hear me? Dr. Lloyd, are you still there? Can you hear me? I don't think that you can hear me, Dr. Lloyd. I'm going to move, I'm going to toss this question to Chief Abu-Namuke. Would you like to join the conversation and tell me what your thoughts are? All right. Frankly, first we must accept that the presidential flag bearer does have responsibility to choose who would work with you. And nobody's going to question that. But perhaps the issue here is how the issue was handled. The presidential candidate in his wisdom decided that a set of party officials, higher ranking party officials, should help make a decision. And the information we have suggests that, yeah, and the level of the party focus and even at the end of music, there were clear decisions taken by a majority of party members. Now we're standing. The presidential flag bearer chose his own path. And perhaps the greatest challenge he left on the trail was its line of communication. And one would expect that the one who claims to be in fire, who believes in the notion of one Nigeria, who understands what and how the politics can be very, you know, would have picked his words and chosen his path. Clearly. And I think there will be no problems, I mean, from the choice, of course, choice of a candidate. Now, I think that those who are throwing or drawing attention to the fact that the governor of the state is angry over what has transferred are trying to miss the point and trying to mislead the public. What is at stake here is balancing the party. The fact that you have the presidential candidate from the north, the fact that you have the party chairman, national chairman from the north. And those who are arguing that these issues be treated right are correct. Because the PDP is such that they have made provisions for some balance of power and some power sharing. So to have a situation where we are moved away from a rotational principle that could replace the candidate of the PDP at this time in the south to the north and then provided an argument that power is not given. It's my mind attempt to write the constitution of the PDP. So let us be, as we open this conversation, be frank. It is not the decision taken by article and quote that has generated this kind of reaction that we are getting in the PDP right now. The fact is no one can justify injustice. And what we are dealing with in the PDP right now is an attitude, a cavalier attitude that suggests you don't care. An attitude that says you can go ahead and do anything you want and suggests that when we talk to you, that people who are doing this should go back to history. Not to the 2015 elections, the same problem erupted in the PDP, which led to the creation of the new PDP, the rest is history. PDP was that election and account for some level of arrogance, demonstrated at that time. And this form of arrogance that we are seeing at this point in time is baffling. You have not won an election, you have been like your own one. I think it's terrible. All right. Let me go back to Dr Lloyd. I think he's back with us. Dr Lloyd, now Mr Wooke is saying here that it's not necessarily what's happened, it's how it's happened. So I'm tossing to you now, what should the article campaign team have done? What should the candidate have done that would have made it better, that would have, you know, one way or the other sat well with not just Governor Wooke, but of course members of his team? Well, first and foremost, I want to thank you for this opportunity and to stay clear that I've been sure Governor Ines of Wooke set out to contest for the office of the president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. And he did so under the premise of the constitution of the of the party, as narrated by my brother, Governor Wooke, such as several of the constitution of the PD group, provided that there will be among other things, rotation of power. And one thought that rightly, power should shift to the south. But I'm in issue. You had a sinister motive when he came in. And for the first time in the history of the PDP, rather than take a position, they put the tree open, the contents for the primaries. And of course, the primaries had come and gone. We now had a mess, even if we still fought the process of winning, because when candidates were given five minutes each to speak, there was no provision for another candidate to come back, to either want to step up or step down. But as a party man, Governor Ines of Wooke is, rather than begin to make issues out of what happened in the very of the primary. We took everything as an art of God, and we came back here to concentrate on governors. Then until we started hearing comments from persons who think they are close to article and I had, I had advised in the, in the, in the, in the media, more than on your own, that it is wanting to be a flag bearer of a political party. It is another thing to be the winner, which ultimately will make you president. And like, I want to, I want to align myself with the sentiments expressed by Wanda Wooke. What you say that people are, we are already behaving as if they have become president already, and carrying on as if you can do without the section of the country. When we, also, as associates of Antiqua Wubaka, like the former governor of Niger State, the former governor of Jigawa State, and all the others who are just living for positions in the Antiqua government begin to make statements that suggest as if Governor Wooke was a troublemonger. And even the candidate himself, while availing, availing his preferred choice, was also uncharitable with his comments on that day. You know, when you give the impression that you chose somebody who can be president, you leave it to all kinds of canons of interpretation, as in those who were not chosen, who do not have the capacity to be president. And we have also read General Lucian Kouab as well just books about the candidate of the Bikini. But, well, let us see how far they can go. We here in River State, we are firmly under the control and leadership of Governor Yesho Wooke, wherever he says we will go, we will go. Whatever he says we should do, we will do. We are like roots, roots talking to Western. Dr. Lyd, I'm sorry to talk over you, but let me come in here quickly because I want to make reference to a video that just surfaced by a member of, a former member of the House of Assembly, Lee Mi Ba, speaking about Governor Wooke's, you know, actions and inactions, you know, still surfacing as a result of this, you know, peace talks and the fact that he has broken down. But you also sound like the governor of River State, and again, people like you, his followers have already made up your mind as to walking against this government, this campaign that is yet to even start. Because you said, let's see how far they can go. You say they, as if then you're no longer members of the People's Democratic Party. What does that mean? Dr. Lyd, can you hear me? I think we lost your audio there. But let's go to that video credited to a YouTube channel. And that is not correct. You are muting the problem with this. Well, I'm just quoting what you just said now. You said let's see how far they can go. And I'm asking, I'm probing that question. I didn't say, I didn't say, I didn't say that we will not support Archipelago Makan. What I said is that the direction will come from the governor of River State, who is the leader of the People's Democratic Party here. I heard myself when I was talking when I... And so I'm probing you, the last statement which you just made, let's see how far they can go. What does that mean? You're a member of the PDP. No, I was quoting Topias Lee from the Bible. And I made reference to the pleadings filed by Ruth to her madame, where she said that Ruth, Estah's people shall be our people. And her God shall be... Estah's God shall be... I'm sure you mean Naomi. I'm sure you mean Naomi. But let's go to that video. Naomi, thank you very much. Yes. Let's go to that video, gentlemen. And I'd like for you to quickly watch this video. And then I'll come back to you to find out your thoughts. Kinley, let's take a look at it. If you see any of us in River State to buy form, to campaign for the governorship of River State. He bought 14 of us from and won any of us, not to campaign. Anybody who tried to campaign, we care is ready to take on you. But I follow him to 20 something states, campaigning to delegates. We don't know who is a delegate in Rivers. The list of delegates were not published. Of course, why we do all that is to make sure we produce a governor of the center and not foolishness. So if we see anybody who want to stop us from producing that governor of the center, then the person need to know what is effective. But if you stop us from working What are you and give a party that is the party to the highest level? I start to be connected. And I'm telling you, depending who will say no party, you, this is the middle of our campaign. And you line up to the boost man. Okay. I'm not going to come in tomorrow. But the government is coming on Friday. Why do you line up to the boost man? Because after the commissioning, they go inside to talk. What is it telling them in the house? In the middle of a campaign, you are highlighting APC, you are highlighting Kinnibu above our own candidate. As you can see, that's honorable to me about talking about the governor's actions. Of course, we saw the video of the commissioning of that flyover in river state. And he's questioning the governor's motive. So I'm going to come back to you, Chief Muke, before I go to Isaac, I want to come back to you, Chief Muke. What do you think that Lee may be talking about here? He's saying, well, this is what's happened in the state. And now the governor, in his words, is stopping them from campaigning for artiku. And he's saying, you're also lining up members of the APC, who he called artikus men. And he's wondering, is this not anti-party? Chief Muke, can you hear me? You need to unmute yourself, Chief Muke, so we can hear you. Can you hear me now? Yes, we can. All right. I'm saying that it's amazing that Senator Lee may be this kind of comment. First, I want to remove this from the realm of propaganda, because Lee seems to make comments that are not on the street here in rivers. I speak as a person that I'm not aware that the governor of river state has asked anyone in river state not to, not to work for artiku That is not true. I am also aware that while those who wanted to be governor had their chance, there were people, some of them, people like Felix Ugoa, who hit the trail, who made news, who indicated that he wanted to be governor. Now, men like me remember, plainly, who wanted to be in dust. And if the idea was to get in dust, and we were not in dust, why are you angry? So it doesn't make sense. Now, the other one, let's go back to the commissioning. It will not be the first time that people who are not PDP members have come to reverse it to commission projects. At least in the immediate past, one can recall that Senator Rocha was among those who came to reverse it to commission projects, and Lee can testify to that. What we are talking about right now is not political party. People who are permanent Nigerians have been invited to reverse it to commission projects. Now, I think Samowo, for example, was a performing governor, and he is governor of Lagos State, and everyone agrees that stars don't prepare, stars are trapped. So if the state governor invited Baba Gide Samowo to commission a project, I don't see why anybody should impute politics into it. These people are members of the governor's forum. They are friends too. They are associates. So how can you claim that the mere invitation extended to brother governor to commission a project in reverse is political? I know that they have no commission to assembly quotas. The speaker of the House of Representatives has been invited to commission that. Let me ask you, would you respect my sister, who is better qualified in this country at this time to commission the accommodation of lawmakers? Who is likely to align properly when it comes to issues of legislation? So I think that a part of propaganda and incidentally who is my friend hasn't spoken the truth. I think that he is overreacting. Nobody is stopping him from supporting anything. And if he's going to have to support anything, let him go. I think that what is critical at this point is that the BDP is still trying to have conversations across board. And that's where men like Governor Yesumuki have invested their energy. There has to be some conversations. Everybody who understands how this is run, there must be some conversation. We understand the fact that in order for the team as a unit that issues that are dividing us at this time as party men must be addressed. So let me move back to Dr. Lloyd before I come to the APC man. Dr. Lloyd, Mr. Wookiee is saying that there is no aya talk truth and that he is a propagandist. I'm using that word loosely because he's saying that there's no aya talk truth in what she's saying. But why would a member of your political party who's claimed to work with your governor within the state for this long want to all of a sudden try to make the governor look bad at a critical time as this being that the party should be trying to band together in preparation for the campaign in itself? Why? Now, Mayor, by his own showing, by the showing of Leto-Go, Mayor By, it is much of frustration and I refer to all he has said as the natural, the natural model of negativism. Leto-Go was following Governor Wookiee everywhere according to him so that he would be crowned governor of River State. But he's not showing. Now, when that didn't happen, he ran to Abuja and he's now selling the kind of narratives that he's selling. Leto-Go has told the world that he's not qualified to be governor. When a man who waits on to rule his people is told by another man walking on two legs, not to buy food and he agrees. The man tells you, don't complain. He agrees. But yeah. But isn't the governor of your state, the leader of the party in the state, isn't he the one that leads the community? So if the governor were to say that, shouldn't he heed to it if the governor were to give that order? I'm just saying as a party man. Okay. Now, how does it work? How do you get elected? You want to be governor of River State. Somebody tells you, don't buy food. Don't come out in the morning. You say yes sir. Don't wake up. You say yes sir. Is it the governor that is telling you the interviews he's running in that hotel room in Abuja? Is it the governor giving the script he's reciting? These are the narratives they are selling to Antiquity. They feel they don't have a place here again in Bukharkot, in River State. So they must sell these narratives to Antiquity and Abu Bakar so that they will have space. It's so unfortunate. Leto-Go member, I'm reluctant to address him as a senator. If leto-Go does not know that Speaker Bajabia is the head of all the speakers of state assemblies because in the event that any state assembly is shot down, it is the half of representatives that will make legislation on behalf of that assembly. So you can see the quality of people we send out. It's unfortunate that a man spends eight years in a red chamber and work on the good events of legislation. You see the state we are in and this fellow had the effort to leave food and spare to want to become another man there. So we thank God for the for the delegates who saw through the lives of leto-Go and refused to vote him. So out of frustration he has moved to Abu Dhabi to not leave him. Well the senator is not here to defend him either. So I would not allow for you to speak down on his personality. That the chairman of the board of trustee of BDP is from the north. That the candidate himself is from the north. That the national chairman himself is from the north. Leto-Go has no business. All right let me go to the APC gentleman who's been quietly waiting and listening to this conversation. Let's talk about what happened in the states in the last 24 hours where members of your party governors, APC governors were in your state as guests of the governor of River State. These has gotten a lot of tongues wagging and speaking about anti-party activity. Now you're an APC man. You obviously are watching from the sidelines as to what's happening. I know that the APC does have its fair share of trials within the state but what are your thoughts? Can you hear me? Yes I can. Okay thank you. Thank you very much and when you introduce me you will start to be as a chief. I am not a chief. The one who is a chief amongst us here is a chief of the Naukei. I am a lawyer. I am a minister. Thank you. Okay. And let me introduce all that has been talked about so far between you the moderator, Dr. Chidi Lloyd and Chief of Naukei. Both are on the internal affairs of SPDP and I'm not sure that I would like to delve into the internal affairs of SPDP. Well I'm asking you about the allegations of anti-party against the governor. Many are saying that the governor is tilting towards the APC and you could you could see as you saw in the video where Lee Mayba was saying that bringing or lining up in his words, Tina Boozman was turning back to anti-party. Is Governor Wike, are your doors open to welcome Governor Wike if there be a chance ever? Okay, the political party is there to win the elections. That's the bottom line for the political party and for us, interestingly, we will be watching what is going on in the PDP and see how at any point we can we can we can better our chances of winning elections in the state and the bottom line. Would Governor Wike better your chances? Would Governor Wike, if there if there were to be a chance, if Governor Wike or members of the PDP especially those who seem to be aggrieved right now within the state, were to look in your direction, would your doors be open to them and why? That's why you allow me to finish talking. I'm saying that I've started by saying that that's the bottom line for the political platform is to win elections and APC is for the next section. And winning elections is about number and influence on the number of persons that it can bring to the table to help you win elections. So at any point, any member of the society, whether it's the government of river states or any other person, the case interest in joining the APC, it does that usually open for for more persons to join the party to join the election. We don't have a problem, not sure that I'm speaking to myself, I don't have a problem with that. And with all that that's been happening in river states, especially for the fact that you within your party, you've lost certain persons, especially I think the Senator, Senator Magnus Abbey recently left and moved to the SDP because of, according to his group, issues that he had with the Minister of Transportation. How well do you think that a governor weekend and the minister, former minister of transportation would work together in building the party? Will that ever be able to happen anytime in the future? Well, for us, at any point, any person, any member of the society decides to join the political party? Well, the person with the member of the political party, we can have the ball rights with any other person who has been a member of the party. If that happens, of course, every party will work together towards the different APC in the state and in the country. That shouldn't be a problem. I'm not sure that the Minister of Transportation, we are fast to be any member of the society joining who is not a member of the party joining the party. At any point, it was in the election. The bottom line for us is to win elections in the robust states. I'm really pressing who comes on board to help us do that. Yes, why not? But you and I know that Governor Wicke is just not any member of society. He's the number one man in the state as we speak. I mean, at least until next year. So you seem not to want to answer that question, but I'll ask again. Well, if it's actually the governor of robust states, if it gets to that point where the economic problem of what it decides to join APC. Fair and good. We're welcome in open hands. I'm not sure that we have difficulties in doing that. Why should it even arise? I mean, you may welcome developments as far as I'm concerned. And then that means it's going to enhance the chances of the party winning elections in the state books and perhaps in the country. All right. Finally, a question to Dr. Lloyd before we wrap this up in one sentence, Dr. Lloyd. If at this point in the election season, the PDP seems to be having this kind of an issue, knowing also that river state does hold its grounds when it comes to numbers, the numbers that it adds to the election. Because again, this is a game of numbers. If the PDP is unable to deal with this issue at this time, what's the guarantee that the PDP can even win the elections or even stand a chance against the opposition? And of course the emerging parties. And what needs to be done quickly? Well, Mary and I do not want to clear the place of monstrosity. But what I want to tell you, I can tell you for free. Even my brother knows that there is no other political party in river state other than the People's and Congratulate Party. What we are waiting for is just for the time to come and we swear in our new governor who will ask him to lie. The ones of the governor opt in now. I'm sorry. Elections have not happened. But what, what, what, what, what governor? That's still working. Dr. Lloyd, elections are yet to happen. What governor are you talking about? That's what I'm telling you. We are familiar here. I can tell you that. I love the All Progressive Congress for the PDP. But that decision solely lies with the people of river state. It's not to you. You have one vote, sir. You cannot deter them. I am chairman of them. But you have one vote. You do have one vote. We are here to, we are in this state. There is no political party here. Every day, people leave the All Progressive Congress in droves, writing all kinds of letters from discreetly consent to narrative and all that. We are here. If I'm chairman of an NTA, I can tell you for free what goes on here. People are poised more than ever before to return. Of course, these things have always been the PDP state. So whatever is happening at the national level, I'm sure that the candidates are back now. We're doing a lot to see how the vote has come together and make peace. One advice for him is that the candidates should stay clear of the lives of lay people. Okay, we have to go. Thank you so much. We want to say thank you to Dr. Chidi Lloyd. We want to say thank you, Chief Obunamuke and of course, and we also want to say thank you to Baista Isaac Obubula. Thank you so much, gentlemen, for being part of the conversation. It's my pleasure. Thank you. Thank you, gentlemen. And we'll take a quick break. Thank you all for being part of this conversation. When we come back, we'll be talking about the security of Nigeria and the state of the nation. More people from the train attacks have been released. But what more can we do to keep Nigeria safe? Stay tuned. We'll be right back.