PRESIDENT SHELVES ADAMAWA TRIP OVER MOOD OF THE NATION

President Goodluck Jonathan's visit to Adamawa State for the Peoples Democratic Party’s Unity Rally scheduled for next week Tuesday has been shelved owing to what sources within the party described as the “mood of the country.”
The lingering abduction saga in Borno State in which over 200 schoolgirls were kidnapped by suspected members of the terrorists Boko Haram sect was said to have greatly influenced the decision to shelve the Adamawa PDP Unity Rally.
14 of the students were able to escape when one of the trucks in which they were being carted away broke down; while 16 others had earlier escaped during the night of the attack in the school. 13 others have also regained their freedom.
Calls made last night to the National Publicity Secretary of the party, Olisa Metuh, and two presidetial aides – Rueben Abati and Doyin Okupe – to get official statement on the aborted Unity Rally were not fruitful. Sources said Metuh had travelled out of the country due to the postponement of the rally.
“The President does not want to be seen acting as insensitive to the plight of the Chibok schoolgirls. We can’t afford a repeat of what happened in Kano after the Abuja blast. That was why the trip was shelved,” the source said.
However, another source in Adamawa State said the rally was shelved because the party did not want “some disgruntled elements to use the President's visit to launch a terrorist attack aimed at dragging the name of the president into the mud and justifying Governor Murtala Nyako's earlier attacks on the President.”
In a related development, former military administrator of Lagos State, Brigadier- General Buba Marwa (rtd) has donated N3 million to Adamawa chapter of the PDP.
Announcing the donation at the party secretariat in Yola, Marwa, who recently defected to PDP from APC said he was confident that the present PDP leadership in the state would be fair to all members.
He said he returned to PDP with no conditions and would contribute his quota towards ensuring the party’s success at all levels of the next elections.
He urged party supporters to show understanding about the suspension of President Jonathan’s visit to the state for the rally because of the present security challenges in the country, ‘particularly, the abduction of students of GGSS Chibok in Borno State.”
Reacting, the state chairman of PDP, Chief Joel Madaki, expressed satisfaction with the return of Marwa and other prominent politicians from APC to PDP.
Madaki assured all returnees of fair treatment, adding that any party member that wanted to contest election must be ready to test his popularity as there would be no imposition of candidates.
Source: Thisday