- Why only northern leaders can reconcile PDP
The efforts by leaders of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to restore peace was frustrated last Thursday at the meeting of the party in Abuja. National Daily gathered that Senator Ali Modu Sheriff, embattled PDP Chairman, stormed out of a peace meeting summoned by former President Goodluck Jonathan.
Meanwhile, some stakeholders are of the view that PDP collapsed completely in the North in the 2015 general elections. They contended that only northern leaders can, therefore, rebuild the party in their region and, then, convened a broad meeting to align with the South.
More so, the current crisis in the party has been dominated by northern leaders.
National Daily gathered that Sheriff had arrived the Yar ‘Adua Centre, Abuja, very late after Jonathan, PDP governors and other party leaders had taken their seats. This was said to have generated relative confusion over arrangement of sitting positions, which was said to have been hurriedly rearranged to secure a place for Sherriff to sit close to Jonathan.
The meeting was thrown into disarray when Sheriff said that such a meeting ought to have been convened by him as the most senior member of the PDP. The pandemonium exacerbated when Jonathan did not approve Sherriff speak at the meeting in his capacity as the National Chairman.
Sheriff had further insisted that Makarfi, who was expected to speak, based on the programme of events, would not speak since his committee had been dissolved by the Court of Appeal, Port Harcourt Division.
Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers State was said to have vehemently maintained that Makarfi should also be allowed to speak if Sheriff would speak. This degenerated into altercation to the point that Sheriff and Wike stood up pointing fingers at each other while Sheriff stormed out moments later.
Sheriff had opposed any arrangement that deviates from the recommendation of the Dickson committee, insisting that the meeting was at variance with the recommendations made by the committee.
“We were here for PDP stakeholders meeting and the PDP has only one National Chairman, which is Ali Modu-Sheriff. There is no PDP meeting that will take place under whatever arrangement that I will not open the session as National Chairman. Today, I am the most senior member of this party,” he said.
“I think Governor Dickson made a proposal for reconciliation. And we have accepted. Some people want to deviate from this programme, to bring agenda which was not part of it.
“And as national chairman of the party, what I told you people in my office when Dickson brought the report is the only thing that we have agreed at this moment. And I will not be party for anybody using me to do another programme. I’m not going to be part of it.
“Well, I respect Jonathan for the meeting. He is a former president. But as of today, I am the most senior member of the party. Therefore, if I respect him, the respect must be reciprocated.
“You can’t call me for a meeting of PDP and say I cannot address the meeting as national chairman of the party.
“As the National Chairman, we move on. We have a programme initiated by Dickson. And we are continuing with that. Anything outside that, I am not a party to it.”
Jonathan speaking on the exit of Sheriff and his team, lamented that the altercations were unfortunate but said the meeting would go ahead with the hope of ending the crisis in the party.
The former President revealed that he would set up of a 40-member committee, which he said he would head but revealed that in his absence, either his former Deputy, Namadi Sambo, or Mark would stand in for him to lead the meeting.
At the meeting, which was chaired by Jonathan, were some of the party’s governors, Ayo Fayose (Ekiti), Nyesom Wike (Rivers) and Darius Ishaku (Taraba) while the Deputy Governors of Gombe and Ebonyi states were also there.
Deputy President of the Senate, Senator Ike Ekweremadu; a former President of the Senate, Senator David Mark; the Chairman of the Board of Trustees (BoT), Senator Walid Jibrin; Chairman of the party’s Caretaker Committee, Senator Ahmed Makarfi; some PDP chieftains such as Prince Uche Secondus, Olisa Metuh, among others, were also in attendance.