The Chairman of the National Caretaker Committee of the Peoples Democratic Party, Senator Ahmed Makarfi, has accused the Bayelsa State Governor, Seriake Dickson, of harbouring an evil agenda against the party.
Makarfi said Dickson’s unilateral decision to pull out of the unanimous proposal drafted at a meeting of the 11 PDP governors with former president Goodluck Jonathan, and his submission of a personal proposal to the Senator Ali Modu Sheriff’s group amounted to a mischief that would not do the embattled opposition party any good.
Makarfi, who is also a former governor of Kaduna State, said this when he paid a visit to the secretariat of the Correspondents Chapel of the Kaduna State Council of the Nigeria Union of Journalists, which was gutted by fire last Monday.
He said, “Just a week before Governor Dickson submitted his report to Ali 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, out of the 11 PDP governors, he (Dickson) pulled out and made a proposal, which he presented to Sheriff. Well, for us, the issues in the PDP are not just about conducting convention, it is about more fundamental issues. 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; out 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 president Jonathan and the other governors to discuss and review the responses from us, from BOT, from Modu Sheriff and see if there is going to be any modification to the proposal; not for one single governor under whatever name, who was a party to the unanimous proposal, to now come out with a personal proposal.
“But, he spoke with me informally and said he was bringing his proposal, which I never saw. He called the president and they were to meet on Wednesday, then he also called 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 convention. And that is what Sheriff has been looking for. Now, he has 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 judgement, 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 recognised.”
Makarfi further claimed that the Sheriff group had not complied with the Court of Appeal judgment, as he (Sheriff) continued to parade with party officials he single-handedly appointed after 21st May, 2016, when the court ordered that the status quo before 21st May should be maintained.
He, however, stated that the only way out of the PDP crisis was for all national officials to resign their positions, sign indemnity not to contest such resignation in court, then form a committee, consisting of members from his and Sheriff’s groups to organise a transparent convention, where there would be a level playing field for all the groups.
The PDP national caretaker committee chairman further noted that the current crisis in the party would not determine its fate and fortunes in the 2019 general elections, stressing that even the ruling All Progressives Congress and the main opposition party were not likely to remain the same till 2019.
He said, “Just a week before Governor Dickson submitted his report to Ali 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, out of the 11 PDP governors, he (Dickson) pulled out and made a proposal, which he presented to Sheriff. Well, for us, the issues in the PDP are not just about conducting convention, it is about more fundamental issues. 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; out 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 president Jonathan and the other governors to discuss and review the responses from us, from BOT, from Modu Sheriff and see if there is going to be any modification to the proposal; not for one single governor under whatever name, who was a party to the unanimous proposal, to now come out with a personal proposal.
“But, he spoke with me informally and said he was bringing his proposal, which I never saw. He called the president and they were to meet on Wednesday, then he also called 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 convention. And that is what Sheriff has been looking for. Now, he has 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 judgement, 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 recognised.”
Makarfi further claimed that the Sheriff group had not complied with the Court of Appeal judgment, as he (Sheriff) continued to parade with party officials he single-handedly appointed after 21st May, 2016, when the court ordered that the status quo before 21st May should be maintained.
He, however, stated that the only way out of the PDP crisis was for all national officials to resign their positions, sign indemnity not to contest such resignation in court, then form a committee, consisting of members from his and Sheriff’s groups to organise a transparent convention, where there would be a level playing field for all the groups.
The PDP national caretaker committee chairman further noted that the current crisis in the party would not determine its fate and fortunes in the 2019 general elections, stressing that even the ruling All Progressives Congress and the main opposition party were not likely to remain the same till 2019.
He said that inspite of the crisis, the PDP had perfected its strategies, which he said the party would not unfold until the period for the governorship elections in Ekiti, Anambra and Osun states later in the year.
