PDP will reconcile before 2019,Sen Makarfi

Former National Caretaker Committee Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Senator Ahmed Makarfi spoke with WALE AJETUNMOBI in Lagos on the party’s post-convention reconciliation and preparations for next year’s elections.

Do you think the PDP is now back on its feet, following its national convention?

Well, not many people gave us a chance before the convention. Many thought that the party was going to scatter, but that didn’t happen. That was not to say that there were no fallouts. After any political party’s convention, you have issues arising from the conduct of such convention. So, the PDP is not different. The party has some minor issues after the convention, but it is gladdening that the party remains solid, united and stand as one entity. Before we conducted the convention, we anticipated that issues may arise. That was why we set up the reconciliation committee which set to work immediately after the convention. Apart from the committee which we set, the current leadership set up two other committees, one made up of essentially former national chairmen and former presiding officers of the National Assembly and another committee headed by one of the governors. All to reach out to the aggrieved and to bring them back on board, with the objecting to providing a united front and to provide a strong and viral opposition to the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC). We have covered a lot of grounds. That is not to say there are no outstanding issues, but I am not in the position to know the details of those outstanding issues, because I am not the national chairman of the party. I have continued to advise the party leadership where I know I have found it necessary to give advice. I will continue to handle issues I could handle on my own to bring unity to the party without necessarily having recourse to the current leadership. So, the current leadership has been meeting relevant organs of the party – the governor, the National Assembly members, former governors and former ministers – to do statutory meetings to consider the way forward. So, I’m sure the party is set and working hard to be an effective opposition party.

How prepared is the PDP to dislodge the APC at the centre?

No meaningful opposition party will want to remain in opposition. The aim of any opposition party is to take over power and that is what we are setting our eyes on. I want to thank the APC and its government for actually making our job easier. I pray that they continue to make our job easier. I know that Nigerians will continue to suffer under the APC. I believe Nigerians will make the right choice by voting out the party in power. As to our preparations, we are doing all that is legally and politically doable to achieve our objectives. But, it will be inappropriate for me to give hints of what we are doing or what we are planning. It would amount to publishing your own plans before going to a battlefront. So, you can as well commit suicide at home and not care to travel faraway. We will keep our plans to ourselves. Be rest assured we are used to the politicking and we shall leave no stone unturned.

The outcome of the PDP’s last convention gave rise to issues, which made some to conclude that there was a deliberate decision by the party to sidelines the Southwest. Is this true?

First, there was no deliberate decision by the party to throw away the Southwest or any part of the country. By the time we went to convention, there was no political arrangement from the South in respect of where the national chairman should come from. After our botched convention in May, we scheduled another convention in Port-Harcourt in August. The party chairmanship, being zoned to the South, made members met in Port Harcourt and micro-zoned the position to the Southwest. When we went to Port Harcourt; that election could not take place because of interference from government, and our tenure was extended. When we were approaching the December convention

Makarfi you lied about the South West producing the National Chairman.... You and your Caretaker Committee Sabotaged the Region because they can't produce the same money that the Power Blocks in the South South provided for your team.... But the SW will pay you back in February...