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Tag: PDP crisis

  • Jonathan backs Dickson’s peace committee

    Jonathan backs Dickson’s peace committee

    Former President Goodluck Jonathan on Saturday threw his weight behind the Governor Seriake Dickson-led Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Peace and Reconciliation Committee, insisting that a political solution remained the best option to resolving ongoing crisis in the party.

    Receiving the governor and members of the committee in his country home at Otuoke, Ogbia local government area of Bayelsa State, Jonathan urged the contending parties to embrace negotiations as a way out of the current party challenge.

    Jonathan, who made the remarks after receiving the report of the peace Committee, said party affairs should be treated like a family matter and settled out of court.

    He commended the Dickson-led committee immensely for its good work, saying members of the committee deserved encouragement.

    The former President particularly thanked the governor and his entourage for going round the country to meet with key stakeholders and leaders of the party to seek ways of returning peace to the PDP.

    Jonathan expressed reservation over the use of courts to settle political matters, stressing that a political solution would ensure a win-win outcome for the warring groups within the party.

    He said: “I believe a political solution remains the best means of resolving the crisis in the party and that’s why the Dickson committee must be commended.

    “No two parties go to court and come out smiling especially for a political party like the PDP that is in the opposition,” he said.

    Giving instances of people who went to court and at the end could not get the desired result, Jonathan insisted that courts should ordinarily have no business in deciding who should be the chairman of a political party.

    The ex- President urged the parties to submit themselves to a political solution and expressed hope that it would finally resolve the protracted crisis.

     

     

  • Sheriff, Makarfi agree to halt ‘media war’

    Sheriff, Makarfi agree to halt ‘media war’

    The National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Alhaji Ali Modu Sheriff and the party’s Caretaker Committee chairman, Senator Ahmed Makarfi, have agreed to halt their bitter media war.

    This followed the intervention of the Bayelsa State Governor, Mr. Seriake Dickson, who brought the warring factions to the conference table on Thursday.

    Dickson, who is the chairman of the party’s reconciliation committee, met with the two factions at his private residence in Maitama, Abuja, where the deal was consummated.

    However, both Sheriff and Makarfi were not physically present at the meeting.

    They were both represented by members of their teams.

    Prince Dayo Adeyeye led the Makarfi team, while Dr. Cairo Ojougboh stood in for Sheriff.

    A four-point agreement signed by Dickson and the parties directed the factions to halt the media war and verbal attacks that have been ongoing for about a year.

    The resolutions are:

    • That all actors of the parties should desist from making derogatory, inflammatory and divisive statements against party officials, stakeholders and members.
    • That the party should not dissipate energy amongst itself but to focus on how to unite and be a formidable opposition capable of taking over power from the APC led government.
    • That all key actors in the ongoing peace process should henceforth desist from making public press statements attacking each other and statements insinuating negative acts capable of dragging the party to the mud.
    • In conclusion, all key actors in the PDP have agreed to work together with National Reconciliation Committee led by Governor Seriake Dickson to engender peace and genuine reconciliation.

    Dickson and his committee members later met with the party’s Board of Trustees (BoT) where a copy of the four-point resolution was submitted to the chairman of the BoT, Senator Walid Jibrin

  • PDP crisis: Supreme Court to hears conflicting motions by Sheriff, Makarfi

    The Supreme Court will on Thursday hear two conflicting motions from warring factions in the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

    The Ahmed Makarfi-led faction has filed a motion seeking accelerated hearing of the appeal it filed on February 27 against the February 17 judgement of the Appeal Court, Port-Harcourt division, upholding the Ali Modu Sheriff-led committee as the authentic leadership organ of the party.

    On its part, the Sheriff faction has filed three processes including a motion and a “Form 19” for the discontinuance of the appeal, and a motion urging the court to strike out the appeal.

    The Makarfi faction, in its motion, wants the court to depart from its rules, abridge the time for the hearing of the appeal and allow accelerated hearing from the appeal.

    The group said it has compiled record of proceedings at the lower court and had it transmitted to the Supreme Court within a week.

    The Makarfi faction said it has also ensured that the appeal is entered in Supreme Court’s list and a number issued. The appeal is numbered: SC.133/2017.

    On its part, the Sheriff faction, in an affidavit supporting its motion for striking out the appeal, stated since it has applied to withdraw the appeal, being the authentic leaders of the party, the proper order to be made by the court was to strike it out.

    PDP’s Acting National Legal Adviser, Bashir Maidugu (belonging to the Sheriff faction), said the PDP did not authorise the appeal.

     

  • Sheriff to Makarfi: Watch your tongue

    Sheriff to Makarfi: Watch your tongue

    The court backed National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Alhaji Ali Modu Sheriff, on Wednesday warned the chairman of the party’s Caretaker Committee, Senator Ahmed Makarfi, to watch his tongue.

    Sheriff issued the warning in Abuja while receiving party supporters from Zamfara State who came pledge their support and loyalty to him.

    Sheriff, on Tuesday, said God would decide his presidential ambition in the 2019 general election, a statement Makarfi claimed revealed Sheriff’s scheming for the PDP presidential ticket.

    Reacting to the statement, Makarfi had accused Sheriff of scheming to manipulate his cronies into strategic party offices at the planned convention, so that they could rubber stamp him as the presidential candidate.

    But taking exception to the accusation by the caretaker committee chairman, Sheriff said “Makarfi should behave himself and stop taking about me all the time.”

    According to Sheriff, Makarfi became governor of Kaduna State through the will of God and not because he was better than any other person.

    He said, “I am not an ambitious person like some of my friends. One of the newspapers said Sheriff wants to do convention because he wants to become president. President of Nigeria is decided by God and the people.

    “Whenever people lack confidence in themselves, they don’t believe in the will of God. I have called him (Makarfi) this morning. It is the will of God. I want to sincerely request Makarfi to watch his words. I don’t believe that anyone of us here have the powers of God.

    “I am here to prepare PDP and give it to the grassroots. I am here to conduct credible convention. For God sake I don’t fear anybody.

    “The only thing I fear is Allah. I am mindful of whatever I do. I have fulfilled my obligation to Allah. I want to tell him today that he should behave. Myself and Makarfi are two different persons. Sheriff and Makarfi can never be the same person.

    “Face your business and stop mentioning the name of Sheriff every time. Go and appeal to Nigerians for what you want. If they accept, fine and good.”

    Speaking earlier, the leader of the Zamfara delegation, Alhaji Ibrahim Shehu Gusau, said they came to show their happiness with Sheriff as chairman of the party.

     

     

  • PDP state chairmen clash over Sheriff, Makarfi

    Two factions of state chairmen of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) on Wednesday clashed in Abuja over the party’s court backed National Chairman, Alhaji Ali Modu Sheriff and the chairman of the Caretaker Committee, Senator Ahmed Makarfi.

    While one faction comprising 22 members declared support for Sheriff, the other faction from 26 states, affirmed support for Makarfi.

    The pro-Makarfi faction led by the Akwa Ibom State chapter chairman, Mr. Paul Ekpo, described the pro-Sheriff faction as impostors, saying its members used their names and forged their signatures in communicating with the public.

    At a media conference attended by 26 state chairmen, Ekpo accused the pro- Sheriff faction of convening an illegal meeting of the forum of state chairmen without the authentic members in attendance.

    “The Forum takes serious objection to the way and manner a few of our colleagues, without authority used the names of the Forum to convene purported meeting of the Forum of PDP Chairmen on March 17, 2017.

    “The Forum is not happy that many chapter chairmen of the party had their names, telephone numbers written as attendees and their signatures forged.

    “The Forum is aware that the affected chairmen have since denounced the fraudulent use of their names. We therefore support whatever appropriate action these chairmen may deem fit and proper to take to protect their good names,” Ekpo stated.

    The pro- Makarfi faction protested the appointment into vacant positions in the party’s National Working Committee (NWC) by Sheriff.

    According to Ekpo, the action ran contrary to the party’s constitution and the February 17 judgment of the Court of Appeal that affirmed Sheriff as national chairman.

    The Ekpo group also endorsed the report of Bayelsa State Governor, Seriake Dickson’s reconciliation committee, but urged the governor to submit the report to all the organs of the party and the caretaker committee for their input.

  • PDP crisis: My committee report not sacrosanct – Dickson

    PDP crisis: My committee report not sacrosanct – Dickson

    The Bayelsa State Governor, Seriake Dickson, has said the report of his reconciliation committee is not sacrosanct.

    Dickson stated this in Abuja on Wednesday while presenting a copy of the report to the Caretaker Committee of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

    The report, which contained recommendations for the conduct of the party’s national convention, was last week, presented to the court backed National Chairman of the PDP, Alhaji Ali Modu Sheriff.

    The governor said the report was not tailored to favour any group or individual, contrary to insinuations in some quarters, adding that the document is open to amendment.

    He said, “It’s just a proposal that the committee came up with. It is not cast in stone so it is not sacrosanct. We are still consulting with key organs and stakeholders in the party. So it is still subject to amendment.

    “Anyone with superior ideas and views on the document would be given the opportunity to make contributions because we made the proposal in good faith.”

    The governor said he came to submit the report to the caretaker committee to enable its members make contributions in form of amendment or additional suggestions on the way forward.

    Rueing the leadership crisis in the party, Governor Dickson sought the cooperation and contribution of the Makarfi group in finding political solution to the crisis.

    He added: “Now the party has challenges, the institutions are intact. The organs of the party are intact, they are not affected by the crisis and as such, they can play their role and their leaders are known.

    “We have them certainly as committee and we have said the convention committee can handle even the zoning and we should be able to confide in the judgement and wisdom of the leaders of the party.”

  • Only Supreme Court can end PDP crisis, says Bode George

    Only Supreme Court can end PDP crisis, says Bode George

    Former Deputy National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Chief Olabode George yesterday said it is the Supreme Court that can settle the crisis in the party.
    At a news conference in Lagos, he said the political solution being proposed by the Beyelsa State Governor Seriake Dickson-led PDP Reconciliation Committee would not end the crisis.
    He said from the way the committee was going about its assignments, it would not achieve the desired results that could stand the test of time.
    George noted that the party was between survival and extinction, adding that the best way out of the logjam was to adhere to the party’s constitution.
    He said: “We must make a stand to confront the many maladies now confronting our party. We must be counted to be on the righteous and the redeeming side of history. We must take the hard and the most enduring choice.
    “We have derailed in a mournful way from the guidance, the nuance and the formative directions of our founding fathers. We have upturned and distort the normal building blocks and the structures of an orderly organisation.
    “The issue at stake now is: who is the rightful, legitimate and validly entrusted entity that the constitution of our party recognises to lead the party presently?
    “Ordinarily, there should not be a dispute on this matter if we are all correctly attuned to the constitutional guidance and the stipulations that are etched in our collective norms, in our practices and traditions.”
    He said that Senator Ali Modu Sheriff’s appointment in an interim capacity to carry on with the business of party administration, was to act as a stop-gap until a formal convention was organised.
    George added that Sherriff jettisoned the constitution and actively took part in the electoral process without recourse to due process.
    ” Our acting – chairman Senator, Sheriff came out to contest for the chairmanship position. He collected the nomination form, paid for the form, filled the form and submitted it to the appropriate election committee.
    “According to our electoral guidelines, Sheriff as an acting chairman was deemed to have vacated his seat as soon as he submitted himself for the nomination process at least seven days before the convention.
    “Had he been a substantive chairman, the guidelines stipulate 30 clear days for him to leave the position before the convention.
    “It would have been virtually unfair, indecent, crude and primitive for an incumbent chairman or any office holder for that matter who wishes to contest for an office to now sit in arbitrating supervision over the process of his own election! We can be sure of what the outcome of such illegitimate process would be.”
    The PDP chieftain explained that the Appeal Court pronouncement did not help the situation, noting that whatever the Supreme Court come out with would settle the matter.
    “The Appeal Court in Port Harcourt in a split decision has muddled the issue by ruling in favour of Sheriff.
    “There is indeed a lot about this ruling which ridicules rationality, which distorts and negates the norms and the fundamental articles of voluntary association.
    “The judges in their wisdom appear to be dictating, remolding and recasting the spirit, the tenets and the foundational principles that are the very structural pivot of party identity.
    “The judiciary is a very powerful tool in the stability and in the endurance of a democracy. It is the neutral arbiter that ensures the faithful interpretation of laws, resolved and established on principled purity that compels fairness, impartiality and strict adherence to the principles of equity,” George said.

  • Why Sheriff cannot be trusted with PDP convention – Makarfi

    Why Sheriff cannot be trusted with PDP convention – Makarfi

    The Ahmed Makarfi-led Caretaker Committee of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has warned that the party’s court backed National Chairman, Alhaji Ali Modu Sheriff, cannot be trusted to conduct convention for the party.

    At a news conference in Abuja on Tuesday, spokesman for the Makarfi camp, Prince Dayo Adeyeye, said if allowed to conduct the convention, Sheriff would plant his cronies in strategic positions for his selfish ends.

    According to him, the team of officers to be so planted by Sheriff would ensure that they rubber-stamp his candidacy for the party’s 2019 presidential ticket.

    At a media briefing on Monday, Sheriff, in response to a question about his presidential ambition, had stated that he would leave his presidential ambition to God to decide.

    Adeyeye said, “We have seen the handwriting on the wall. What Sheriff is doing is geared towards one goal; and that is to hijack the presidential ticket of the PDP come 2019.

    “The former Borno State Governor has clearly stated that he is interested in contesting the 2019 presidential election using the platform of our party, the PDP.

    “We said it earlier, but most non- party members, as well as some members of the party who could not see beyond the curtains didn’t believe it.

    “But we were sure that Senator Sheriff was holding the party to ransom because he wants to hijack the party and use it for his selfish interest.”

    According to Makarfi’s group, with Sheriff as a presidential candidate of any party, the 2019 elections would be a mere walk-over for the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).

    “Having Sheriff as presidential candidate would be a death sentence for the PDP,” Adeyeye said.

    The two camps also traded accusations on Tuesday over moves to influence the outcome of the appeal filed at the Supreme Court by the Makarfi camp.

    Addressing journalists earlier in the day, Sheriff’s deputy, Dr. Cairo Ojougboh, accused the Makarfi camp of making clandestine moves to influence the justices of the apex court handling the case.

     

     

  • PDP crisis embarrassing to Nigeria, says APC

    PDP crisis embarrassing to Nigeria, says APC

    THE All Progressives Congress (APC) has described the crisis rocking the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) as embarrassing, adding that the bickering was not in the interest of democracy.
    The party also said that the recent release of the 2019 general elections timetable by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) was a good innovation.
    The party said that it is in full support of the electoral umpire’s action.
    APC National Publicity Secretary Bolaji Abdullahi spoke in Ilorin, the Kwara State capital at a forum organised the Council of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ).
    He said: “I think we should separate APC from the government of the day. I have been emphasizing that. The government is not the same thing as the party. The government and the party are related almost biologically.
    “The party is the father of the government. They are two individual entities. And it is our failure to make this distinction that led to a very tragic situation where one party that was in existence for 16 years and only one election it suffered defeat the party collapsed. It is so embarrassing to the country. There is no political party in the world that ruled for 16 years and collapsed because of one electoral defeat. It is because we continue to conflate party and government.
    “The government President Muhammadu Buhari is doing what it promised to do for the people, the people with APC are quarrelling with one another but that is the nature of party politics. Political party is the management and absorption of individual interest.
    “The bickering within the APC members is the nature of party politics. Party politics progresses by this stuff of bickering; that is when negotiations are made; that is when questions are settled. If you find a party that is 100 percent peaceful then there is a problem somewhere. Don’t let us confuse government with party.”
    On the INEC timetable, Abdullahi said that “INEC has just carried its constitutional duty. Whey we are a bit apprehensive is that we are not used to that kind of advanced planning. How many of us know that Donald Trump had already filled papers for his second term in office? What INEC is trying to do is to create an open space for people to prepare. We are used to this last minute thing; that is why people think it is an aberration for INEC to release the timetable for 2019 at this time. We as a political party, are absolutely in support of it.”
    The former sports minister also commented on the 2015 general elections.
    He said: “What we experienced in the 2015 general elections was probably not like anything we experienced in the political annals of Nigeria. In 2015, the electoral contest became almost a war that we have not recovered from up till today. And you know in war the first casualty is the truth.
    “Both the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and APC employed all forms of propaganda. It was either you lose or you die. Up till today, people’s relationship is affected by the 2015 elections. The Nigerian youth population is almost the most affected in the 2015 elections.
    “The people who did the elections have moved on; they have reviewed their relationship and are already positioning themselves for the next election. But those of us who follow them are still fighting one another till today. It was not one sided. Both sides saw an opportunity and utilized it well.”

  • Makarfi accuses Dickson of taking sides in PDP crisis

    Makarfi accuses Dickson of taking sides in PDP crisis

    The chairman of the Caretaker Committee of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Senator Ahmed Makarfi, has accused the Bayelsa State Governor, Seriake Dickson, of taking sides in the party’s leadership crisis.

    Dickson, who led the PDP reconciliation committee, has called on Makarfi to resign and allow the party’s court backed chairman, Ali Modu Sheriff, to conduct a convention.

    Makarfi, in a statement issued on Monday by the spokesman of the Caretaker Committee, Prince Dayo Adeyeye, said for Dickson to accomplish the task of reconciliation, he must remain honest and impartial.

    “We are worried that Governor Dickson has seriously undermined the work of his committee by taking sides with Sheriff. We are even more concerned about his open declaration of war on the caretaker committee. Rather than reconciling, the party is being further pulled apart.

    “We are not amused by the urge for us to surrender the destiny of the party to Sheriff who brazenly and without any remorse, destroyed our chances in the Edo and Ondo State governorship elections.

    “Governor Dickson will recall all the efforts made by former Governor Olusegun Mimiko of Ondo State and his good self to persuade Sheriff and his cohorts not to destroy the Ondo elections. Everything ended in futility. Those are the same people he wants us to trust with our destiny,” Makarfi said.

    Describing the call by Dickson on Makarfi and his team to resign as shocking and embarrassing, the statement said the caretaker committee enjoys the support of 80 percent of PDP members.