Former National Deputy Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Chief Olabode George has urged the embattled former National Chairman Senator Ali Modu Sheriff to sheathe his sword and assist the caretaker committee chaired by Senator Ahmed Makarfi to reposition the party.
The party chieftain from Lagos State said the crisis in the opposition party is over, following the decision to end Sheriff’s tenure at the aborted convention in Port-Harcourt, capital of Rivers State.
He told reporters in Lagos that only zoning can bring peace to the party, adding that, since the next presidential candidate will come from the North, the South is expected to produce the chairman.
George, a former military governor of Ondo State, said: “The worst is over. The PDP has been pulled back from the precipice. We have to restrategise to be able to position the party as a credible and formidable platform. I appeal to Sheriff; if he is really committed to the stability of the party and believes in building the party, as he once told us, he should go and withdraw his case.”
The former deputy chairman said the PDP can only survive, if zoning is upheld, adding that “it should be turn by turn, if equity, justice and fairness are to be promoted.”
George listed the qualities expected from the next PDP national Chairman, stressing that he should be intellectually sound and ready to weather the storm.
He said: “He should know his onions. He should be responsible, respectable, not money conscious, and he must have networks. Look at the APC chairman, Oyegun, a former federal permanent secretary and governor. He is known in the country. The PDP must look for somebody who will be at par with Oyegun or somebody who is above him.”
George also spoke on the state fof the nation, urging President Muhammadu Buhari to dialogue with militants disturbing the peace of the Niger Delta. He said warfare should pnly be employed as a last resort.
Urging the President to implement the report of the National Conference, he said: “The report was unanimously adopted by all delegates, not a one-sided report. I support the restructuring of the country.”