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| Ali Modu Sheriff |
The crisis within the Peoples Democratic
Party appears not to be abating as the faction under the leadership of
Senator Ali Modu Sheriff has accused the Senator Ahmed Makarfi group of
wooing aggrieved stalwarts of the All Progressives Congress to form a
new political party.
It said the plan of the Makarfi-led
National Caretaker Committee was to dump the PDP after ensuring that it
had gained sufficient confidence of those who appeared to have lost out
in the APC.
A member of the National Working
Committee of the party under Sheriff, who spoke on condition of
anonymity, wondered why the Makarfi camp would set up what he described
as “inter-party committee” instead of “intra-party” committee to
reposition the former ruling party ahead of 2019.
The source added, “They (members of the
Makarfi group) have been meeting clandestinely with some disgruntled
members of the APC with a view to forming a new party ahead of 2019.
“They are also talking with those who
have corruption cases against them by either the Economic and Financial
Crimes Commission, the Independent Corrupt Practices and other related
offences Commission, the Police or the Code of Conduct Tribunal.
He said, “They are looking for people of
questionable character and all those who are not happy with President
Muhammadu Buhari in the APC are their target.
“How do you set up an inter-party committee when the problem is with us, the PDP alone?
“Why would they be scouting for people
who have corruption cases against them, and those who are being tried
for one criminal case or the other?
“For us, we will take the party to the
people who own it and we won’t allow just one governor to lord it over
the people of his state at all times.”
It was also learnt that the Sheriff
faction had concluded plan to set up a rival committee on how to
rejuvenate the troubled party.
Membership of the proposed committee,
which will be named before Monday, was debated by the faction at its
meeting in Abuja on Wednesday.
The committee would perform the function as the one set up by the camp of
the National Caretaker of the party, led by Senator Ahmed Makarfi in
Abuja on Monday.
While Makarfi’s committee is to
interface with some aggrieved members of the party and its former
members, who have defected to other political parties, the Sheriff
committee, it was gathered, would discuss how to re-position the PDP
alone.
Makarfi’s committee, known as the Strategy Review and Inter-Party Affairs, has more than 115 members.
Among its terms of reference are how to
explore strategies to engage “all possible allies” with a view to
building positive relationship in the overall interest and in
furtherance of democracy in Nigeria and also consider and recommend
strategies to reposition the party.
The committee is also saddled with the responsibility of recommending necessary amendment to the constitution of the party.
Speaking on the proposed committee, the
Acting National Publicity Secretary of the Sheriff faction, Mr. Bernard
Mikko, said the committee members would be unveiled soon.
He said, “Recall that the party was in
dire need of reorganisation and rejuvenation due to the blatant impunity
that led to our defeat at the 2015 presidential election, and the
subsequent leadership crisis that has threatened the unity and cohesion
of the party.
“Also recall that feuding camps agreed
to reconcile, diminish tendencies of impunity and strengthen the party
based on the principles of rule of law.
“The discussions following the signing
of a Memorandum of Understanding suffered a setback due to extraneous
forces within the Makarfi camp.
“However, the NWC, under the leadership
of Senator Ali Modu Sheriff, is determined to put reconciliation back on
track in the face of impending inclination of the Makarfi camp to
forming a new political movement or exploring ways of leaving the PDP.
“We believe the name is not the problem,
but these vested interests that led us to defeat at the last
presidential election and bent on perpetuating themselves in public
service at all costs.
“The PDP, under the leadership of
Sheriff, will reposition the party and appeals to all stakeholders not
to succumb to the antics of the nomadic forces behind the leadership
crisis.”
The Makarfi group, however, said the committee was free to discuss with anyone within the PDP and outside the party.
It stated that the committee didn’t have the instruction or mandate to discuss the change of name of the PDP for now.
The PDP faction nevertheless added that
the report of the committee would be exhaustively discussed at a higher
level before a final decision was taken on the matter.
Spokesperson for the party, Mr. Dayo Adeyeye, claimed that more than 75 per cent of APC senators wanted to return to the PDP.
He said, “More than three quarter of the
senators are already discussing the possibility of being in our party
and form an alliance with us.
“You know how the APC came into being.
We are already discussing with them and individually, the senators and
other are already discussing the possibility of forming an alliance with
us.
“We don’t want solo discussion and this is the reason why we have to form a committee to handle such discussions.”
Adeyeye, a former Minister of State for
Works during the regime of former President Goodluck Jonathan, said the
question on the possibility of changing the name of the PDP would be
discussed at a higher quarters.
“We want to regain power democratically in 2019. We are doing everything possible to get it,” he added.
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