SAN FRANCISCO, March 13, (THEWILL) – Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Caretaker Committee Senator Ahmed Makarfi, has rejected the proposal on the crisis rocking the party by the PDP Reconciliation Committee led by Bayelsa State Governor, Seriake Dickson, describing it as “selfish”.
Makarfi made this known when he visited the secretariat of the State Correspondents Chapel of the Nigerian Union of Journalists (NUJ), Kaduna state, revealing that Dickson took a unilateral decision against the unanimous proposal drafted at a meeting of 11 PDP governors with former President Goodluck Jonathan.
The former Kaduna State Governor declared that Dickson’s proposal, which was submitted to the party Chairman, Senator Ali Modu Sheriff, is a mischievous act that does not bode well for the party.
“Just a week before Governor Dickson submitted his report to Modu Sheriff, the 11 PDP governors including himself; met with former President Goodluck Jonathan and came out with a unanimous proposal on the way out of the crisis in the party. Then, he pulled out and made a proposal, which he presented to Modu Sheriff,” he said.
“Well, for us the issues in the PDP are not just about conducting convention, they are fundamental. How do you go for convention if you don’t address these fundamental issues and achieve reconciliation? You have not talked about the problems, you have not sorted them out and you are more concerned about a committee to organise convention. That means you will go and do convention while the crisis is still on.
“Governor Dickson was at the meeting of the governors and the former President where they came out with a unanimous proposal, so, how can he pull himself out a week after and make his own proposal? If he had anything contrary to what they agreed on, why didn’t he suggest it at that meeting? It didn’t make sense. Of 11 governors, you pulled yourself out and you made a separate proposal and presented to Modu Sheriff.
“The proposal by the former President and the 11 governors was presented to us, to the BOT Chairman and to Modu Sheriff. If anything is going to change, they should go back to former President Jonathan and the other governors to discuss and review the responses from us, from BOT, from Modu Sheriff.
“But, he spoke with me informally and said he was bringing his proposal, which I never saw. He called the former President and they were to meet on Wednesday, then he also called the BOT Chairman, who gave him appointment for Wednesday, only for him to go and submit his proposal to Modu Sheriff to go ahead and conduct the convention. And that is what Sheriff has been looking for. Now, he got somebody asking him to go ahead and conduct convention.
“So, what is Governor Dickson up to? I don’t know, but it is definitely an agenda not good for the PDP. His proposal is even a breach of the Court of Appeal judgment, because he is suggesting going for convention in June. Court of Appeal said you cannot hold convention until August this year based on the tenure it recognized.”
Makarfi complained that Sheriff and his group are not complying with the Court of Appeal judgment, as he is still parading himself around with party officials he single-handedly appointed when the court ordered that the status quo before 21st May should be reverted to.
