By Chukwu David and Onyekachi Eze


.......Makarfi, Sheriff differ on Dickson’s C’ttee’s recommendations


The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Senate Caucus, yesterday, said that it would pursue out-of-court settlement of the current crisis rocking the national leadership of the party.

The chairman of the caucus and Senate Minority Leader, Godswill Akpabio, stated this while briefing journalists shortly after a closed-door meeting of the caucus.

Akpabio said that the PDP lawmakers met to consider the March 6th letter of the national chairman of the party, Senator Ali Modu Sheriff, requesting for a meeting with the caucus.

He explained that while the caucus would continue to push for an out-of-court settlement regarding the current leadership tussle, the meeting of all major stakeholders would be a better option.

His words: “We held this meeting because there was a letter from Senator Ali Modu Sheriff to the caucus and 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 the leadership meets first, thereafter we meet with the Sheriff group, the Makarfi group and the Board of Trustees (BoT).

“When this happens, we will then see whether all can come to a consensus and not just the caucus running to the party office to meet him. That will look like sectionalism.” He pointed out that if the PDP was not strong enough to provide strong opposition to the ruling party, the country might slide to a one-party state.

“As a caucus, we believe strongly in peace and we believe in the unity of the PDP so that Nigeria can have a robust democracy. We believe that without the PDP being strong and united, Nigeria may slide into a one-party state and democracy may be in peril,” he said.

Akpabio pointed out that for the party to succeed with any alternative to court processes, it was pertinent to meet all major stakeholders, including governors and National Caretaker Committee.

“If we succeed in doing so, it 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.

We will do that 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 judgement,” he said.
He noted that the caucus used the opportunity to pray and wish President Muhammadu Buhari quick recovery.

Meanwhile, Chairman of the National Caretaker Committee of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Senator Ahmed Makarfi and the National Chairman, Senator Ali Modu Sheriff have disagreed over the recommendations of Governor Seriake Dicksonled National Reconciliation Committee.

The Bayelsa State governor had, on Tuesday, submitted the report to the Appeal Court-reinstated chairman, Sheriff. The committee had recommended that the party’s national convention should hold not later than June 30, while Sheriff should be allowed to preside.

But Makarfi, in a statement yesterday, said he was shocked that Governor Dickson made public presentation of the report approved. Said Makarfi: “He met me yesterday (Tuesday) and I pointed out the problems with his proposals, that it will go against even the Court of Appeal judgement. “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.”

Makarfi, who said the caretaker committee would meet over the report, added that he referred the governor back to the organs of the party as well as the Goodluck Jonathan committee.

The former president has been pursuing political solution to resolve the leadership crisis. But the PDP National Working Committee (NWC), after its meeting yesterday, commended the Chairman of the Committee on Reconciliation and his members “for a very thorough job after the receipt and deliberations of the committee report.”

In a communiqué issued at the end of the meeting and signed by the National Secretary, Prof. Wale Oladipo, the NWC “noted with delight that most of the recommendations of the reconciliation committee are in line with the thinking of the NWC.” It announced that with recommendation No. 6 of the Reconciliation Committee, “the NWC has mandated the office of National Organising Secretary to quickly come up with the timetable for the conduct of congresses in the states of Oyo, Kwara, Sokoto, Lagos and Anambra, where congresses did not take place.”

However, Makarfi has denied reaching any agreement with Sheriff. In a statement by his media aide, Mukhtar Zubairu Sirajo, Sheriff said there is no truth in the media that he had accepted offers made to him by Sheriff as a precursor to the reconciliation process.

“Senator Ahmed Makarfi wishes to state categorically that even though his commitment to reconciliation in the party as well as that of the caretaker committee over which he has the honour to preside are total and unwavering, neither he nor the committee has given or accepted any terms to or from anybody,” the statement noted.

Makarfi had repeatedly assured that he and the caretaker committee were ready to abide by any decision(s) the organs of the party might decide to take at any time.

“And for the avoidance of doubt, the caretaker committee is amenable to a reconciliation that is comprehensive and one that creates a level playing field for all, legally watertight and acceptable to all organs of the party,” the statement added.

Also, Sheriff has called on PDP members to join him in rebuilding the party. Sheriff, who spoke when he received PDP members from Kaduna State, reminded party members that politics needs unity.

“I want to make it clear that in the Appeal Court judgement, there is no winner and no loser. Politics needs unity. I pledge to carry everybody along and I am willing to work with everybody. I call on other members of the party to join me in building the party to a greater height,” he stated.

The group, in an address read by David Kajid, called on party supporters and aggrieved members to respect the rule of law. They appealed to PDP NWC to explore dialogue in resolving the leadership crisis.

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