PDP Senators to Meet Govs, Seek Out-of-Court Settlement on Party’s Crisis
This came as the National Caretaker Committee (NCC) of the party has rejected the template for the proposed national unity convention of the party submitted last Tuesday by the Chairman of the PDP Standing Committee on Reconciliation, Governor Seriake Dickson.
The senators’ resolution was the aftermath of a meeting of PDP caucus in the Senate to consider the invitation sent to it by Sheriff, for a meeting with them.
Briefing journalists after the meeting, Senate Minority Leader, Godswill Akpabio, said PDP senators felt the need to first visit the governors before honouring Sheriff’s invitation. According to him, meeting the governors first was aimed at assuaging the minds of the people of wrong feelings that a meeting with Sheriff may generate.
He added that meeting the governors first would provide the platform for the senators to inform the governors about Sheriff’s invitation and as well give the needed opportunity for both the senators and the governors to mull out-of-court settlement option for peaceful resolution of the crisis.
“We held this meeting because there was a letter from Sheriff to the caucus, and so we had to meet first to know whether this is the right time; whether the meeting is right or not and what we agreed is that let the leadership of the party know first. Thereafter, we will meet with the Sheriff group, then the (Ahmed) Makarfi group and after that, the Board of Trustees (BoT). We are taking these steps to avoid being seen as taking side.
“We also said if it is possible that while the judicial processes are on, that as a caucus, we should also pursue the alternative platform of having out-of-court settlement and this can only start with us meeting with our governors and thereafter meet with leadership of the party, the two groups and all the other strata of the party, that is the BoT, former governors, the National Assembly members and of course, the National Caretaker Committee, and the recently pronounced party chairman by the Court of Appeal so that we can spearhead a major political turn-around that will involve the whole stakeholders and bring holistic peace to the party.
“If we succeed in doing so, this could even be a major way out instead of continuous processes in court. We will pursue that option without prejudice to the ongoing court processes until we can arrive at a solution where we could at the end of the day use what we have with the totality of all agreeing as consent judgment,” Akpabio said.
The senator, however, said defections from the caucus notwithstanding, the party still remained strong, promising that there would be no defection from the party any longer.
“I don’t see any defection happening in PDP on the floor of the Senate again. I only see interest playing out. PDP in the Senate is still very strong and very robust. We started with 49 senators and we are still well over 44 and we are still going to get more,” he boasted.
Meanwhile, National Working Committee (NWC) of the party led by the National Chairman, Senator Ali Modu Sheriff, has said it will go ahead and hold congresses in five states where the exercise did not take place prior to the intra party crisis.
The fives states are Oyo, Kwara, Sokoto, Lagos and Anambra.
Meanwhile, the Chairman of PDP NCC, Senator Ahmed Makarfi, yesterday said it was wrong for Dickson to have placed the committee’s recommendation on the public domain when the organs of the party have not yet considered it.
He stated that as far as the caretaker committee is concerned, a lot work remained to be done to refine the peace plan to make it acceptable to most stakeholders.
The PDP factional leader said implementing the template the way it is at the moment, would go against the judgment of the Court of Appeal that ordered the feuding parties in the leadership crisis to revert to the status quo ante before the botched May 21, 2016, national convention.
THISDAY gathered that the Bayelsa State governor had presented his committee’s report on the proposed unity convention to both Makarfi and the National Chairman of the party, Sheriff, last Tuesday.
However, while Sheriff accepted to present the report to his NWC, Makarfi said Dickson was supposed to have come back to members of his committee to rectify areas that were potentially in conflict with the court judgment but he failed to do so.
The former Kaduna State governor said: “I’m shocked and disappointed that Dickson made public presentation of a purported report approved or endorsed by us and other stakeholders as reported.
“He met me yesterday (Tuesday) and I pointed out the problems with his proposals that it will go against even the Court of Appeal judgment.
At the end, I told him, as caretaker committee, whatever is approved by the organs of the party that we represent, we will work with, and advised him to revert back to his colleagues and other organs. But this is what we are seeing,” Markafi said.
In its report, the reconciliation committee recommended the formation of a national convention committee that would conduct a national unity convention latest June 30.
According to the template, Sheriff is expected to select, in consultation with party stakeholders, 12 members of the national convention planning committee.
The Standing Committee had also urged the national convention planning committee to consider appointing into the planning committee, seven state governors, seven senators, including the deputy Senate president, 12 members of the House of Representatives and six members of the Board of Trustees (BoT).
Others being considered for membership of the convention planning committee, according to Dickson, are national vice chairmen (one per zone), three state chairmen per zone, six serving speakers of the state Houses of Assembly and six former governors.
The report also suggested for the inclusion of six former Presiding Officers of the National Assembly (who are still members of the party), six prominent Women Leaders, six Youth Leaders of the party and six former Ministers of the party
However, the NWC of the Sheriff-led faction of the party has said it would go ahead and hold congresses in five states where the exercise did not take place prior to the intra party crisis.
The move came just as the National Caretaker Committee went into deliberation yesterday night to consider the report of the reconciliation committee.
According to the spokesman of the Senator Ahmed Makarfi-led committee, the meeting would come up with a position of the Dickson’s report as well the way forward.
This followed the acceptance of the report of the Standing Committee on Reconciliation led by Bayelsa State Governor, Hon. Sirieka Dickson, by the Sheriff-led NWC yesterday.
At its meeting held yesterday, the NWC said it deliberated on various issues concerning the party among which is the report of the reconciliation committee.
In a statement issued by the National Secretary, Prof. Wale Oladipo, the leadership pleaded with governors of the party to redouble their reunification efforts in order to enable the party prepare for its national convention.
The statement said: “That in line with recommendation No. 6 of the reconciliation committee, the NWC has mandated the Office of National Organising Secretary to quickly come up with the time table for the conduct of congresses in Oyo, Kwara, Sokoto, Lagos and Anambra States, where congresses did not take place and so captured in the last National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting.”
While accepting the report of the Dickson reconciliation committee, the Sheriff-led NWC said most of the recommendations of the committee are in line with its thinking.
Meanwhile, some stakeholders of the party from Kaduna State yesterday stormed the party’s national secretariat, Wadata House, in Abuja, urging leaders to end the crisis and unite to rebuild the party.
The Kaduna PDP, under the aegis of Zone III of the PDP Solidarity Group, expressed their loyalty to the leadership of Sheriff.
Speaking during a meeting with Sheriff, the leader of the group, David Kajid, said the Sheriff-led NWC has demonstrated an uncommon respect for the rule of law, without which the party would have been in greater jeopardy.
Kajid appealed to the leadership of the party to explore dialogue and peaceful resolution of the crisis in the party and to also intensify confidence building measures that will return the party to the pre-2015 position.
Kajid further stated that the allegation that the Sheriff-led NWC is out to undermine the PDP is baseless stating that those who desire to sabotage the party and abandon it deserve more of the accusation.
“We are not unaware that ever since your victory at the temple of justice, there has been surreptitious moves to further divide us into compartments through the guise of a new political outfit.”
The Kaduna PDP called on all supporters and aggrieved members to respect the rule of law and also appealed to NWC led by Sheriff to explore dialogue and peaceful resolution of the issues confronting the party.
“We are law abiding party supporters; we respect and uphold the judgment of the Court of Appeal which reaffirmed your leadership of the party and we disassociate ourselves from any insinuation to the contrary. We do so in the firm believe that where there is no law, anarchy prevails and society is the worst for it. We do not desire such for our people nor for our party.”
Responding, Sheriff appealed to all members of the party to join him in rebuilding PDP, adding that the party needs unity to survive.
He said he did not consider the Appeal Court triumph as a personal victory but an opportunity for all sides to embrace dialogue to resolve the dispute.
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