BEVERLY HILLS, June 02, (THEWILL) – The Board of Trustees, BoT, of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, says it has taken over the running of the party pending the resolution of the internal leadership tussle which has seen former governors, Ali Modu Sheriff and Ahmed Makarfi laying claim to the party’s national chairmanship.
Addressing members of staff of the party at its National Secretariat in Abuja, Chairman of the Board, Walid Jibrin declared that both the Sheriff led National Working Committee, NWC, and the Interim National Caretaker Committee led by Makarfi had been sacked.
He explained that the action of the BoT became imperative in order not to allow vacuum in the party’s operations as well as to resolve the leadership crisis within the party.
According to Jibrin, “Today, the BOT remains the only legal body now in the whole set up and that is why we are here to play our role.
“We are not here to take over the secretariat. We are here to perform our duties as enshrined in the constitution, hoping that our problems will be resolved soon.
“We, the BoT have taken it upon ourselves to ensure we play a great role in resolving the problems.
“We have gone very far in resolving them. We have made some contacts and consultations.
“We are not here to cast blame on anybody. If it means to go to anybody to solve the problem, we will do so.’’
Noting that the Board had been receiving great cooperation from elders and leaders of PDP for it to do its job, Jibrin said the BoT would play its role without fair or favour, promising that normalcy will be returned to the party.
Jibrin, who stressed that PDP will continue to rule as the party has come to stay, declared that “We are only on sabbatical leave and once the sabbatical is over, we are going to take over our leadership because it is our own. We are going back in 2019. But we can only do that if we cooperate and unite.’’
He however commended the Nigeria Police for securing the party’s secretariat by barricading access into it.
“At this critical moment, what we need is to secure our property, to safeguard your lives, and to allow members of staff of the party to work under a very good atmosphere.
“We, the BOT are entrusted under the constitution of our party to be in charge of the assets and liability of PDP.”
The BoT Chairman expressed optimism that the party would meet the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, deadline on submission of the party candidate’s nomination form on the forthcoming Edo state governorship election.
According to him, “We are putting our heads together with our lawyers.
“We are rest assured that everything would be in order very soon, with the reconciliation that is going on which will not last long.”
