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 Port Harcourt 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 Minister 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.
