ACN, others oppose Jonathan at fuel subsidy meeting

Leaders of the major political parties in the country on Monday night told President Goodluck Jonathan that his administrations planned deregulation of the downstream sector of the petroleum industry was not the nations priority for now.Rather, they said more efforts should be geared towards tackling unemployment and security challenges facing the country.The Peoples Democratic Party was however behind the president on the move.Our correspondents learnt that these were the highlights of a closed-door meeting the President had with leaders of the major political parties at the Presidential Villa, Abuja on Monday night.It was learnt that the political leaders had frank discussions with the president in the meeting that extended beyond midnight.A source at the meeting said the President laboured hard to convince the political leaders on the need for their members in the National Assembly and indeed all Nigerians to support the planned removal of fuel subsidy.The source added that despite the presidents lengthy explanation, the meeting did not take any position on the issue.Another source however said the political leaders told the President that he must work harder on communicating the benefits he claimed were inherent in the plan to the larger society.It was further learnt that the Chairman of the Action Congress of Nigeria, Chief Bisi Akande, presented a prepared memorandum to the President at the meeting.Akande was quoted as saying that the document contained the position of his party on the controversial issue and other issues of national importance.The Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Dr. Reuben Abati, told one of our correspondents on the telephone on Tuesday that the meeting was cordial.Abati said only leaders of the Congress for Progressive Change were absent at the meeting.But the spokesman for the CPC, Mr. Rotimi Fashakin, justified his partys boycott of the parley, saying the invitation was received very late.Apart from the late receipt of the invitation, however, Fashakin said the party would still have boycotted the meeting because it did not recognise Jonathan as the president since the CPC was still contesting his election in the court.Fashakin said, When we are still in court, we will not accept any invitation from either the President or the Presidency.Until the Supreme Court decides our case, we will not be at a meeting; we will not be seen to be attending a meeting or contemplating being at a meeting with the PDP-led Federal Government.
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