The opposition Peoples Democratic Party ( PDP ) was at the weekend moving to fortify plans for its scheduled national convention billed to hold next month after indications emerged that the December get together meant to elect a new national leadership for the party may have come under threats owing to emerging conflicts allegedly being fuelled by the rumoured presidential ambition of chairman of the party’s Caretaker Committee, Senator Ahmed Makarfi and the recent defection of former Vice President Abubakar Atiku from the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).
Hours after Atiku announced his decision to dump the ruling APC amidst widespread speculation that he is headed into the PDP, a close aide of Makarfi confirmed the national chairman’s interest in the presidential ticket of the party in 2019.
Without mincing words, former national deputy publicity secretary of the PDP, Abdullahi Ibrahim Jalo, said Makarfi will seek the presidential ticket of the PDP in 2019.
This surprise revelation by Jalo, who is also an adviser (Hausa Media Services) to Makarfi, while speaking with journalists in Gombe, appears to confirm earlier speculations within the party that Makarfi maybe eyeing the presidency. Jalo’s closeness to the former Kaduna State governor, coupled with the fact that no disclaimer has been issued by Makarfi or the PDP hours after the revelation, gave credence to his claims.
Following the revelation, The Nation learnt that a group of prominent chieftains within the party may have resolved that the December convention will not hold unless Makarfi and his team quit the stage. It was gathered that a fierce campaign to call for the resignation of the caretaker committee ahead of the national convention will be mounted in the days to come.
The moves to see out the Makarfi-led committee, reliable party sources claim, were in response to emerging fears within the party that the December convention is being tele-guided to produce a pre-determined set of national executive committee members, who will in turn, do the biddings of some current party leaders and subsequently deliver the presidential ticket of the party to a clique within the party in 2019.
One of those repeatedly mentioned to be part of the plot to influence the outcome of the December Convention is Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers State. Party sources claim he is working for the emergence of a PDP leadership that will “play ball with him and his clique” in determining who gets the presidential ticket of the party.
“The events of the past few days have shed more light on what is happening within our party as we prepare for the national convention. It is now clearer that the unending manipulations the process of the convention has been subjected to are not without reasons. If somebody as close to Makarfi as Jalo said he is interested in the presidency and Makarfi has not denied that, then the truth has been told.
“And if it is true that Makarfi is harbouring such plans, then it is important that we take another look at his role in the process that will lead to the emergence of those who will superintend over the
process of deciding who gets the party tickets in a matter of months. Simply put, previous allegations that he is tinkering with the process are appearing to be very correct and we are determined to put a stop to all that,” a member of the PDP’s Board of Trustees (BoT) from Osun told The Nation.
It was learnt that at an impromptu meeting of PDP chieftains in the Southwest, it was resolved that a formal demand for the resignation of the caretaker committee be made as soon as possible with an additional position that the region will boycott the convention and take alternative lines of action if their demand is not met before the December date.
Speaking at the weekend, a former Minister of Transport, Chief Ebenezer Babatope, said Jalo’s revelation has shown that Makarfi and the caretaker committee were already compromised, and as such, should not be arbiters in the processes that will midwife a new leadership for the party. He urged them to resign and not wait to be pushed out.
“The game plan is for the caretaker committee to simply handover the party administration to Nyesom Wike, the governor of Rivers State through his planted agent and acolyte Uche Secondus. In this grand scheme to compromise the national convention, Secondus and Wike will equally do a pay back by rigging the presidential primary to favour Makarfi.
“The only way out now is for Makarfi and his entire Caretaker Committee members to resign immediately. They cannot be trusted. Once the head is rotten, the whole body is subsequently vitiated, corrupted and dishonoured. We are absolutely clear in our demand. We are absolutely resolved in our position. We will not stand idle and fold our hands while all kinds of machinations are being hatched to destroy the collective interest of the Yoruba people,” Babatope vowed.
“We strongly advise Senator Makarfi to resign his position forthwith because he has been severely compromised. He can no longer play the role of a neutral arbiter who stands far above the fray. He is already tarred and soiled in the muddy waters of partisan prejudice. Makarfi should now do the most honourable thing by walking away and face his ambition squarely.”
Another BoT member, Alhaji Ibrahim Aliu, while supporting the call on Makarfi to resign, said “Apparently spurred by personal ambition of contesting for the Presidential office in 2019, Makarfi is brazenly allying with a particular aspirant in the South-South to deliberately distort the process, muddle equity and invariably destroy the democratic process for transient personal gains.”
“Everywhere you look, he is planting his agents to stage manage warped and skewed congresses in an undisguised mockery of all the normative patterns of our founding fathers whose enduring forte about equity, justice and fairness is now being flung into the gutter. In a way, Makarfi is evidently resolved to repeat the farcical malady that characterized the debacle in Port Harcourt last year. We have equally resolved that we will not be led along this ruinous path again.”
The Nation also gathered that strong belief that Atiku will be joining the PDP formally before the convention is causing anxiety over the planned convention. Inside sources claim the coming of the former Vice President, earlier than was previously expected, was orchestrated by a group of PDP governors and chieftains who saw a need to stop Makarfi and Governor Wike from freely taking over the party structure at the convention.
“Atiku has actually been expected to join the PDP, but not this early. His coming at this time followed a division within the leadership of the party over the way the process that will lead to the convention was being handled. It became clear that there is need for a new rallying point for those who disagree with Makarfi, Wike and Governor Ayodele Fayose.
“Some Governors too, especially in the northeast, were not comfortable with the turn of events and so reached out to Atiku to hasten his coming and provide much needed leadership for a large crowd of disatisfied party chieftains ahead of the convention. If this convention will still hold, the terms would have to be redefined and agreed upon by all and sundry.
“Atiku is not coming to the PDP alone. He is returning to the party with heavyweights some of whom were in the PDP before many of those claiming leadership today. So, his coming will balance the power equation within the party and help us to be able to question the allegations of sinister plots and manipulations currently going on as we plan for the December convention,” a party chieftain said.
The Nation learnt that a letter of protest may be submitted at the national secretariat of the PDP early this week by a group of concerned chieftains, to officially call on Makarfi and his team to resign. “One of our demands is that the BoT be allowed to work with the Convention committee in organizing the convention while the caretaker committee should take a bow. Our group is made up of Governors, Senators, BoT members and other prominent party stakeholders,” our source claimed.
Efforts to speak with Makarfi yesterday proved abortive as he failed to pick his call and did not reply texts messages send to him. Also his aide did not pick his calls nor reply texts messages.
