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Tag: former President (Goodluck) Jonathan

  • Adeleke was a great philanthropist – Jonathan

    Adeleke was a great philanthropist – Jonathan

    Former President Goodluck Jonathan has extended his condolences to the family of late Senator Isiaka Adeleke as well as the government and people of Osun State over the death of the lawmaker and former Governor of the State.

    The ex-president’s condolence message was contained in a statement by his spokesperson, Ikechukwu Eze.

    He described the late Adeleke as a national icon and great philanthropist who was warm and lively.

    He said: “I received the news of the death of Senator Isiaka Adetunji Adeleke with a sense of great personal loss. It is hard to imagine that the very lively and warm
    ‘Serubawon’ has died.

    “Though I am saddened by his death, I give God the glory for his life of contribution to Osun state, where he was the first civilian governor and to Nigeria, where he was an icon and to humanity in general because he was a great philanthropist.

    “He will be greatly missed and the void his death has caused will be hard, if not impossible to fill. May his soul rest in peace and may he achieve al Janna firdaus.

    “I pray that God grant his family and supporters the fortitude to bear his loss. Adieu great Asiwaju of Ede,” he stated

     

  • Former PDP national secretary defects to APC

    Former PDP national secretary defects to APC

    A former national secretary of People’s Democratic Party (PDP) and indigene of Enugu State, Chief Rex Onyeabor, has defected to the All Progressive Congress (APC).

    He was also a member of the Board of Trustees (BOT) member of PDP.

    Notable members of the party in the state, including former Senate President, Ken Nnamani; former Governor of old Anambra State, Senator Jim Nwobodo, had earlier  defected to the APC.

    Onyeabor, who was also the former coordinator of former President Goodluck Jonathan’s campaign organization in Enugu state during the 2015 general elections, announced his defection at Ugboka, in Nkanu East LGA of Enugu state.

    He said one of the reasons for his defection was the fact that PDP was not likely to survive her current protracted crisis.

    “Apart from being former national secretary, I was BOT (Board of Trustee) member which is the highest advisory body in PDP and I attended a lot of meetings, virtually every meeting, reconciliation meeting.

    “There are some people who are still there attending meeting to reconcile; you see what they are doing now, Modu Sheriff and Makarfi and recently Jonathan and Seriake Dickson; it is not likely that an agreement will be reached very soon.

    “So I look at all the efforts we have made in the past trying to restructure the party, trying to bring the party out of the melancholy or depression of defeat, it has not worked; that’s why I decided to pick my bag and take a walk,” he said.

    He further stated that APC provides the best platform for changing Nigeria for now, noting that though APC might not be the best party in the world but that it was better than other
    parties in Nigeria today.

    Also Speaking at the event, the Enugu state chairman of the party, Dr. Ben Nwoye expressed happiness  over  the influx of political bigwigs into his party saying that they were joining not only to help win elections but to also organize the party as some of them are political
    technocrats and bureaucrats.

    “I’m excited and I’m honoured to be part of the political revolution in Enugu state. We have never had a strong opposition in Enugu state since 1999.

    The entire South East have had other parties as members of the State Assembly, Senate or Reps, but Enugu state remained under PDP completely. It took men like these to ensure that that happens.”

  • Makarfi chides Sheriff over attack on Jonathan, Wike

    Makarfi chides Sheriff over attack on Jonathan, Wike

    The Chairman of the Caretaker Committee of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), Senator Ahmed Makarfi has chided the National Chairman of the party, Alhaji Ali Modu Sheriff for attacking former President Goodluck Jonathan and the Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike.

    Sheriff had, at a media briefing in Abuja on Thursday, accused Jonathan of collecting N50 million from Wike to organise last week’s stakeholders meeting to reconcile warring factions in the PDP. Sheriff’s deputy, Dr. Cairo Ojougboh addressed the media briefing.

    But at another media briefing in Abuja on Friday, Makarfi said it’s uncharitable for Sheriff and his camp to concoct deliberate falsehood aimed at impugning the character and public perception of the former president.

    In the text of the address read by the spokesman of the Caretaker Committee, Prince Dayo Adeyeye, the faction said it’s the height of lunacy for Sheriff and Ojougboh to allege that a person of Jonathan’s standing could be induced by anyone to organise a meeting.

    Makarfi said, “These people are pigs in the mud and they have no qualms in dragging decent people into the pit.

    “Our first reaction after reading the concoction put together by Cairo Ojugboh was to ignore him since he is not an officer of the PDP.

    “But ignoring him may send wrong signal to the unsuspecting members of the public and members of our party, hence the need for this clarification.

    “Mr. Ojugboh in recent times has been making series of unfounded and unsubstantiated allegations against major stakeholders of the PDP, especially those people his renegade group believes are seriously against the evil intention of Ali Modu Sheriff to destroy the only main opposition voice in the country, the PDP.

    “However, we are not surprised that Mr. Cairo would hallucinate and found pleasure in castigating Governors Nyesom Wike and Ayodele Fayose of Rivers and Ekiti states at every turn but has never been able to utter a single word of criticism against their paymaster, the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) despite its gross ineptitude and maladministration.

    “For the record, the last stakeholders meeting convened and chaired by former President Jonathan, was not sponsored or organised by Governor Wike or Fayose as alleged by Mr. Cairo Ojugboh”.

    According to Makarfi, the need for the meeting was agreed upon at the residence of a former National Security Adviser (NSA), Gen. Aliyu Gusau in the presence of Senator Ali Modu Sheriff, Professor Wale Oladipo, Senator David Mark, Senator Ahmed Makarfi and Senator Ben Obi

    “Gen. Gusau and Senator Mark were mandated in that meeting to approach the former President to convene an all-inclusive meeting of stakeholders in order to chart a way forward for a lasting peace in the party”, Makarfi added.

    The Caretaker Committee expressed dismay at Sheriff’s penchant for blackmailing every available public institution in the country just to mislead the unsuspecting public.

    Makarfi continued, “Again, we wish to take serious exception to the baseless allegation made by Ojougboh that Governor Wike bribed the Judiciary to get justice in the Rivers State governorship election at the Supreme Court.

    “This is another high point of rascality by the Sheriff renegade group and we have been reliably informed that the latest accusation against the Judiciary is part of their calculated and clandestine plot to blackmail the Justices of the Supreme Court.

    “They did the same to the Justices of the Special Appeal panels during the Ondo State governorship election case when the panel, led by Justice Sankey was falsely accused of collecting over N200 million from former Gov. Olusegun Mimiko in November 2016.

    “We believe the Judiciary and indeed all Nigerians are taking note of the antecedents of Senator Ali Modu Sheriff and Co. as we urge the Judiciary not to ignore such weighty allegations by this irritant group”.

    The Makarfi camp expressed satisfaction that the ongoing campaign by Sheriff to infiltrate the ranks of party members in the South East and South-South was being spurned by key stakeholders.

    He stated that the PDP is not organising any campaign or rally in any part of the country at the moment and urge members to remain steadfast and continue to ignore any meeting called by Sheriff and his “doomsday naysayers”.

    According to him, there will be no elective national convention of the PDP as announced by Sheriff until the appeal pending before the Supreme Court is decided. Him advised state chapters to ignore any directive from Sheriff regarding the convention.

    He also enjoined stakeholders to ignore the request made by Sheriff for state chapters to submit their lists of delegates on or before the April 27 and his call for the National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting on May 3.

    The PDP, he said, will announce meetings of the various organs of the party at the appropriate time after due consultation with all stakeholders.

    “For the umpteenth time, we wish to re-iterate that Senator Sheriff and co. are in defiance of the Court of Appeal order of status quo ante May 21, 2016 with self-appointed officers like Cairo Ojugboh.

    “Only three officers are with him and therefore, such NWC is non-existent. As for the deputy officers who shamelessly assumed offices as NWC members on false claim of purported resignation of the substantive officers, their comic action against the party speaks volume”.

    The Makarfi camp called on all organs and key stakeholders in the party nationwide to continue supporting the Caretaker Committee in moving the party forward.

    According to him, the only interest of the Caretaker Committee is the survival of the PDP against the “suffocating influence” of the ruling APC.

     

  • Sheriff: Wike gave Jonathan N50m for PDP stakeholders meeting

    Sheriff: Wike gave Jonathan N50m for PDP stakeholders meeting

    The court backed National Chairman of People’s Democratic (PDP), Alhaji Ali Modu Sheriff has alleged that the Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike gave former President Goodluck Jonathan N50 million to organise the recent stakeholders meeting in Abuja.

    But Dr. Jonathan has denied the allegation, saying that he took it upon himself to convene the meeting out of his genuine concern for peace to reign in the party.

    Also reacting to the allegation, the Ekiti State Governor, Ayo Fayose said Sheriff has taking his desperation too far by accusing the former president of taking bribe.

    Fayose, in an SMS message by his media aide, Lere Olayinka, stated, “If Sheriff has taken his desperation to serve his paymasters in the APC to the level of accusing Jonathan of being bribed to organise peace meeting for the PDP, there is no reason for any sane mind to continue to respond to the continuous advertisement of his political insanity”.

    But Sheriff who spoke through his deputy, Dr. Cairo Ojougboh at a news conference at the party’s secretariat on Thursday, said Governors Wike and Fayose recruited the Jonathan into a fake peace effort pre-determined to scuttle ongoing peace initiative in the party.

    “The result is that President Jonathan was lured into committing a serious breach of protocol that led ‎to the failure of the exercise which was the intended outcome”, Sheriff said.

    According to him, Wike and the media mogul, Chief Raymond Dokpesi have already established their own political party, adding that their mission was to tie the PDP down with undue controversies.

    He further stated that the party was worried that the amount of money Wike was spending on the crisis could smear the image of the PDP

    “This money belongs to the people of Rivers State and it should not be misappropriated at the expense of the people to whom it rightfully belonged.

    “We therefore call on party leaders and Nigerians to refrain from accepting these monies from Governor Wike in line with the spirit of our founding fathers”, Sheriff added.

    The party chairman restated his determination to go ahead with the plans to organise a convention for the party, saying preparations for a free and fair convention were in top gear.

    Sheriff directed state chapter chairmen of the PDP to forward to the party secretariat the lists of all statutory delegates to the convention on or before April 27.

    He added that the National Executive Committee (NEC) of the party would hold on May 3.

    Dr. Jonathan who spoke through his media aide, Ikechukwu Eze, dismissed Sheriff’s allegation that he collected N50 million from Wike.

    According to him, he intervened in the crisis because of his genuine commitment to bring about peace in the party that made him president.

    “I don’t think anybody will believe that Jonathan collected money from anybody to organise the meeting. It was out of his genuine concern to bring peace to the party.

    “He has been meeting with members of the party; he met with Sheriff severally, he also met with Makarfi severally. He met with the governors.

    “I don’t see any reason for anybody to say that Jonathan collected money from anybody to organise the stakeholders conference”, Eze said.

     

  • PDP youths give Sheriff seven-day ultimatum to apologise to Jonathan

    PDP youths give Sheriff seven-day ultimatum to apologise to Jonathan

    A group of youths in the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has demanded that the National Chairman of party Alhaji Ali Modu Sheriff must apologise to former President Goodluck Jonathan for walking out on him and other PDP leaders at the party’s stakeholders meeting in Abuja last week Thursday.

    The youths, under the aegis of the Almagamated PDP Youth Leaders Nationwide, said that it was an embarrassment for Sheriff to have walked out on the former President who they described as leader of the party.

    Addressing journalists in Abuja on Wednesday, the Chairman of the group, Segun Aderemi said that Sheriff disrespected the party by walking out on Jonathan and other party leaders during the  stakeholders meeting.

    Adeyemi added that while the youths would not want anyone to disrespect Sheriff, as a leader in the party he would not be allowed to disrespect other PDP leaders.

    The group gave the party chairman seven days within which to tender apology to Jonathan and other party leaders, for embarrassing them through his conduct last Thursday.

    “We witnessed what happened that day, when he walked out on the former President. Would Sheriff be happy if any member of the party embarrassed him the way he embarrassed Jonathan that day?

    “He has to tender an unreserved apology to the former President, the Board of Trustees (BoT) and other leaders of the party.

    “We insist he should tender unreserved apology.  We strongly believe that he is going to do the needful”, Aderemi stated.

    He said the youths don’t against have any issues with Sheriff or the chairman of the Caretaker Committee, Senator Ahmed Makarfi, stressing that the goal was to ensure timely resolution of the leadership crisis in the party.

    Aderemi explained that the Almagamated PDP Youth Leaders are made up of youths from Both the Sheriff and Makarfi camps.

     

  • Jonathan denies receiving $200 million Malabu’s oil deal

    Jonathan denies receiving $200 million Malabu’s oil deal

    The media office of the former President on Tuesday denied the allegations that former President Goodluck Jonathan received $200 million as proceeds from the Malabu Oil deal.

    The allegations were published on a gossip news site, Buzzfeed, and republished by a few other newspapers.

    A statement by the Media Adviser to Dr. Goodluck Jonathan, Ikechukwu Eze, said that the allegation is false and is one more in the series of fake news sponsored by those threatened by Dr. Jonathan’s continuously rising profile in the international community.

    Common sense, he said, should have shown the purveyors of the slander that the Malabu oil deal far predated the Jonathan regime and it would only make sense for him to be bribed if he had a time machine to go back in time to when the deal was struck.

    He said that the report relied on hearsay evidence from a man of questionable character who provided no substance to back up his false claim.

    The statement reads “The man quoted by the report said he ‘assumed’ that Dr. Jonathan would
    be bribed. Since when has the assumption of a crook been enough to smear the reputation of a patriot and international statesman like Dr. Goodluck Jonathan?

    “The report also wrongly claimed that “Jonathan and Etete had known each other for years, according to Shell staff, when Jonathan served as a tutor to Etete’s children while he was a minister.” This claim is clearly ridiculous and nothing can be further from the truth.

    “In the first place, the former President couldn’t have been a ‘tutor’ to Etete’s children without first establishing contact with the family. This is because Jonathan met Etete who served as the Petroleum Minister in Gen. Abacha’s military regime for the first time under the succeeding civilian administration, when he was already the deputy Governor of Bayelsa State. Even then, the fact remains that ex-President Jonathan has never met any of Etete’s children.

    “Besides, Jonathan couldn’t have been anybody’s private tutor during that period, because he was already in the directorate cadre in Oil Mineral Producing Areas Development Commission, OMPADEC (now NDDC), having already left the academia, at the time Etete was a serving
    minister.

    “This story, coming so soon after the fake news that Dr. Goodluck Jonathan refused British help in rescuing the Chibok Girls (a story that the British Government debunked) and that he plans to contest the 2019 elections (another lie), proves that these fallacious stories are deliberately contrived for reasons that are yet to be publicly disclosed.

    “It is instructive that this same old fable apparently intended to rubbish Jonathan’s name locally and internationally, is being recycled with more lies added to garnish the narrative, at a time the
    ex-President is making efforts to resolve the issues in the People’s Democratic Party (PDP).

    “Again, let us point out for clarity and for the umpteenth time that while he was in office and now that he is out of office, former President Jonathan did not open and does not own any bank account, aircraft or real estate outside Nigeria. Anyone with contrary information is challenged to publicly publish same,” he said

    The former President appealed to the media to report facts rather than innuendo and gossip.

    He reminded the media that he signed the Freedom of Information Act into law and that it is only fair to use it to investigate allegations in order to establish the truth.

    The statement also noted that Dr. Jonathan cannot stop criminals from ‘assuming’, but that he can and he will stop them from getting away with blatant lies.

     

  • ‘Ekiti governor’s utterances on PDP’ve exposed him’

    ‘Ekiti governor’s utterances on PDP’ve exposed him’

    The Senator representing Ogun East, Buruji Kashamu, has faulted Ekiti State Governor Ayodele Fayose’s position on the crisis rocking the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

    Kashamu, in an advertorial in this newspaper, said the Ekiti State governor was plotting to kill the party before defecting.

    The senator said: “I had always known that Fayose has an agenda and alerted our leaders and elders to his agenda of either having his way or destroying the PDP before he leaves for God knows where.

    “Now that he is letting the cat out of the bag, I can only say that Fayose has exposed himself. He has shown that he is the real agent of destabilisation. He is one of those who want to kill the PDP before he defects.

    “However, it should be clearly pointed out that PDP was not founded because of Fayose or any of us. Whether anyone leaves or not, the party will remain. It will not die. The party is like a barracks, where soldiers come and go, and the barracks remains.

    “The truth of the matter is that the leadership crisis in the PDP was designed and orchestrated because of the inordinate ambition of some people, especially those who are exiting office next year.”

    Kashamu picked holes in the reconciliation move of former President Goodluck Jonathan.

    “I am honestly shocked and surprised that the former President could preside over a meeting, where the judgment of the Court of Appeal was being disregarded as irrelevant. This cannot be the face of a party that is desirous of seeking a break with the past.

    “Going by the accounts of what I have heard happened at the meeting, I think it was a needless gathering that has reopened healing wounds and further exacerbated the crisis. I say this because any PDP meeting that fails to recognise what our laws and the courts have said about the leadership crisis is on a wrong footing and premise, and it will breed more chaos and confusion such as we have seen.

    “Senator Ali Modu Sheriff is the National Chairman of the PDP as of today based on the Court of Appeal judgment and everybody is bound to abide by that whether we like it or not.

    “You cannot call a shareholders or Board of Directors meeting and say the chairman of the board cannot participate or preside over the meeting. Worst still, some persons said Senator Sheriff must not be recognised as such even when an appellate court has established that Senator Sheriff is the party’s national chairman,” he said.

    He said Sheriff did not disrespect Jonathan by walking out of the meeting.

    “Senator Sheriff was out of the country when he was called by the former President and told of the meeting and he had to cut short his trip to attend the meeting.

    “That is a sign of respect. Even when he arrived in the country, I understand that he went straight to the former President and they met over the modalities for the meeting, and it was agreed that four of them will address the meeting. That is, former President Jonathan, Senator Sheriff, the BoT Chairman and then Senator Makarfi.

    “However, when he got there, he was not recognised as the party’s national chairman whereas others were recognised with their titles, including those who were no longer in office.”

  • Jonathan debunks certificate scandal allegations 

    Jonathan debunks certificate scandal allegations 

    The office of former President Goodluck Jonathan has debunked recent newspaper report which included the ex-President as one of the prominent Nigerians that had been linked to certificate scandal.

    A statement issued on Monday by Jonathan’s media adviser Ikechukwu Eze dismissed the claim as lies.

    He stressed that the ex-President had “never been linked to any doubt, scandal or controversy concerning his academic qualifications.

    The statement reads “Our attention has been drawn to a story in the Punch newspaper of Sunday 26 March where former President Dr. Goodluck Jonathan was mentioned as one of the ‘prominent Nigerians with certificate scandals.

    “We really don’t know where this is coming from, but we wish to remain unambiguous in our assertion that this is obvious falsehood, since the former President has never been linked to any doubt, scandal or controversy concerning his academic qualifications.

    “We are not aware of any probe, allegation or litigation relating to his very well-known academic qualifications. For the avoidance of doubt, we wish to restate that former President Jonathan’s educational records can easily be traced to St Michael’s Primary School, Oloibiri and Mater Dei High School, lmiringi where he obtained his first school leaving certificate (FSLC) and General Certificate of Education (GCE) Ordinary Level respectively, as well as the University of Port Harcourt, where he received his Bachelor of Science, Master’s and Doctorate degrees.

    “Luckily, many of former President Jonathan’s classmates from primary school through the university are still alive and are traceable.

    “It is therefore obvious that there is no justification for this abstruse association, as there is nothing linking the former President to the story.

    “Again, we advise media organisations to always cross-check their facts in order to avoid falling for the convenient choice of publishing false information.” he said.

     

  • PDP crisis: Sheriff frustrating peace process, says Makarfi

    PDP crisis: Sheriff frustrating peace process, says Makarfi

    The chairman of the caretaker committee of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), Senator Ahmed Makarfi has accused the party’s national chairman, Alhaji Ali Modu Sheriff of frustrating the party’s peace process.

    Makarfi, who made the accusation in Abuja on Wednesday while meeting some Northern leaders of the PDP, said Sheriff reneged on a proposal by former President Goodluck Jonathan.

    He told the gathering that Sheriff refused to abide by an arrangement where both of them would resign their positions. He also blamed the Bayelsa State Governor, Seriake Dickson for presenting a convention report to Sheriff without consultation.

    Said he, “When Dickson came to meet me on his committee’s report, I told him, you are one of the governors that met with former president Goodluck Jonathan and he spelt out the proposal of peace plan which he communicated to the National Assembly caucus, communicated to us (caretaker committee) and other organs of the party.

    “And I asked him, are you now removing yourself from that? Why didn’t you table what you have before your colleagues? I also asked him whether he had taken pains to read the Port Harcourt Appeal Court judgement and he said no.

    “That judgement is based on two premises which we did not accept. The first premise, which we did not accept in our appeal to the Supreme Court, that the tenure of three members of the NWC will expire in august this year and 18 will expire in July 2018.

    “If you now propose to hold convention in June, what are you going to achieve? How will the June convention is different from last year’s in Portharcourt and he said he didn’t think about that.

    “And if he didn’t think about it, he shouldn’t do anything that will go against court of appeal judgment. What that judgement stipulates is a return to a status quo ante. What the court means is that all the national officers before May 21 must return to office. What Sheriff is doing is against the judgement, all his actions run foul against the judgement.

    “The proposal on the way forward is to revert to the status quo as pronounced by the court of appeal. This is what I told Dickson, that he should go back to his colleagues governors and other organs of the party to clear the issue. As far as we are concerned, the caretaker committee has no position other than what the organs of the party.

    “President Jonathan, after meeting with the governors, at about 1 am, called me and told me about the resolution they have reached, which he said will be forwarded to the NASS causus and other organs of the party as part of political solution. Some of the resolution is that the judgement of appeal court must be respected to prevent anybody from coming tomorrow to rubbish the party with litigation.

    “Again, having reverted to the status quo, everybody will now formally resign. If everybody will resign, then the solicitors of the organs of the party will now sit down and look at all the legal issues involved and then draw up a MoU that will serve as settlement of parties. This will be deposited at the Supreme Court as the settlement of the crisis.

    “Even if this is not provided in the constitution of the party, INEC is going to accept it and no one is going to rubbish PDP on that.

    “In response, I told the former president that the caretaker committee has nothing against his proposal but that it will be presented before the organs and if accepted, the caretaker committee will stand by it.

    “Former President Jonathan said he told Sheriff to go and consult and after his reply, he will get back to him. Uptill now he has not gotten back to him. What it means is that perhaps, he did not get positive response from Sheriff.”

    Some of those present at the meeting were chairman former minister of police affairs, Adamu Maina Waziri; former minister of information, Prof Jerry gana; Aminu Wali; former PDP youth leader, Abdullahi Maibasira; Sen Saidu Kumo; Sen Aruwa; chairman of former ministers, Kabiru Turaki; former governor of Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Bala Mohammed; former governor of Adamawa Boni Haruna.

    Former governor of Kano State Ibrahim Shekarau; Hon Tukur; Gen. David Jeribewon; former governor of Sokoto State, Attahiru   Bafarawa; former governor of Niger State, Dr Babangida Aliyu; former deputy national publicity secretary of PDP, Abdullahi Jalo; former deputy governor of Sokoto, Murtahr Shagari; former women minister, Hajiya Inua Ciroma; former governor of Plateau, Sen Jonah Jang; Sen Abubakar Gada; Sen. Solomon Ewuga among others.

     

  • PDP crisis: I won’t step down, says Sheriff

    PDP crisis: I won’t step down, says Sheriff

    . . .Insists on convention

     

    The National Chairman of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), Alhaji All Modu Sheriff has ruled out stepping down as one of the options in the search for political solution to the party’s leadership crisis.

    Key stakeholders in the party have been harping on a vague concept of “political solution” without being explicit on details of the concept.

    Sheriff was reacting to a media report indicating that former President Goodluck Jonathan had asked him and the rival Caretaker Committee chairman, Senator Ahmed Makarfi to step down and allow the party’s governors to nominate another chairman.

    In a statement Thursday signed on his behalf by his appointed party spokesman, Mr. Bernard Mikko, Sheriff said the issue of resignation did not come up during his meeting with former President Goodluck Jonathan last week.

    The statement said, “The general public, PDP members and the media are hereby informed that the issue of the National Chairman’s resignation as the political solution has never been discussed nor was it put up for discussion with the former President and other stakeholders.

    “The general public, PDP members nationwide and the media are hereby informed that shortly before the Court of Appeal judgement of 17th February, 2017; all parties and stakeholders agreed that on the receipt of the Court of Appeal judgement, whichever way it goes; members will be prevailed upon and urged to support the judgement and orders of the Court of Appeal and rally round the successful party to conduct; as soon as possible a national unity convention for the election of officers; the modalities of which shall be worked out by all stakeholders of the party.

    “As law abiding citizen and advocate of the rule of law, the National Chairman, Senator Ali Modu Sheriff hereby calls on all stakeholders including but not limited to PDP governors; national and state assembly members; Board of Trustee members to make themselves available and give their input on how we can; as quickly as possible conduct a national unity convention where our national officers will be elected. The National Chairman has promised and undertaken not to contest”.

    Efforts by our correspondent to get the reaction of the Makarfi camp did not yield results. Repeated telephone calls and SMS messages to the spokesman of the Caretaker Committee, Prince Dayo Adeyeye were left unanswered.

    Also Thursday, another reconciliation committee of the party, headed by Governor Seriake Dickson of Bayelsa State, met with some party leaders and some PDP National Assembly members in Abuja.

    A statement signed by Dickson after the meeting also harped on the need to find a political solution to the crisis, describing it as the best option.

    The Dickson committee endorsed the resolution reached by Jonathan and the governors, “without prejudice to the ongoing judicial processes”.

    The statement said, “As part of this process, it is imperative that an early convention within the second quarter of 2017 should be held in Abuja, which therefore should be all inclusive and where new national officials of the party will be freely, fairly and transparently elected.

    “In furtherance of this, the reconciliation committee shall embark on extensive consultations with all stakeholders with a view to building confidence and necessary consensus toward the unity convention”.

    “The committee, however, appeals to all party leaders and members of PDP to exercise restraint and focus on the loyalty to and the overall interest of the party”.

    Meanwhile, Sheriff Thursday announced Dr. Ahmed Gulak, a former Political Adviser to former President Jonathan as his Chief of Staff, with the appointment taking immediate effect.