Senator Makarfi

The National Caretaker Committee of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), has advised the disputed National Chairman of the party, Sen. Ali Modu Sheriff to tow the path of dialogue over Edo governorship election.

The chairman of the committee, Sen. Ahmed Makarfi, gave the advice on Monday in Abuja when he received the report of the PDP Edo governorship primaries.

“Once again, I called upon the former chairman of PDP, my colleague and friend Sheriff and those associating with him to follow the part of dialogue.

“They should not to do anything further that will cost PDP harm in Edo state,’’ Makarfi said.

He said that it was important for the party to work together as INEC had stated that it required 21 days notice to monitor any primary.

“This means validly and legally, no any primary can be conducted apart from the one which we conducted and monitored by INEC.

“If the intention is not to cause the PDP to fail the election, any talk towards conducting other primaries in Edo by anybody either within or outside the state is supposed to have ceased by this time.

“I will continue to plead that what you cannot achieve through peace or dialogue, you cannot achieve it through the opposite,’’ he added.

Makarfi commended members of the primaries committee for living above the board while carrying out the assignment given to them by the party.

He said that the committee had set a standard that needed to be emulated at all levels of the party’s primaries to make the election transparent.

The chairman of the primaries committee, Gov. Dave Umahi of Ebonyi while submitting the report, said that the primary was peaceful and successful.

Umehi urged party members to continue to believe in PDP as well as support the party’s candidate in the September 10 election.

He commended the maturity and respect Makarfi and his team accorded to Sheriff in handling the party leadership crisis.

He also called on leaders of the party to persuade Sheriff to discontinue the path he was going in order to have a united house in the PDP.

“Let me also appeal to Sheriff that no one can be greater than the party. He may have been wronged on moral ground, but by the reason of our party’s constitution, let him have a rethink,’’ he said.

Ali Modu Sheriff

Meanwhile,  State chairmen of PDP have urged Alhaji Ali Modu Sheriff, the chairman of a faction of the party, to accept the party’s decisions reached at the May 21 national convention in Port Harcourt.

The chairmen made the call after a meeting in Abuja on Monday.

Mr Yahaya Suleiman, Chairman, FCT chapter of the party, expressed the view of the group when they visited Alhaji Ahmed Makarfi, Chairman, National Caretaker Committee of the party. .

The meeting was attended by the party’s chairmen in 24 states where state congresses had been concluded and states executive councils formed.

The congresses have yet to be concluded in seven states.

Suleiman said that the chairmen were not comfortable with the current crisis in the party, particularly at the national level.

He said that the May 21 National Convention, which dissolved the Sheriff-led-National Working Committee (NWC), was approved by the National Executive Committee (NEC) presided over by Sheriff himself.

He said no court order restrained the party from holding the convention.

Suleiman explained that section 33 Sub-section 5 of the PDP constitution also empowered the national convention to dissolve the

Sheriff- led executive council and set up a national caretaker committee.

“In view of the above, we, as state chairmen. wish to aver that the decisions of the May 21 convention were sacrosanct.

“While we appreciate the enormous services and contributions of Sen. Ali Modu Sheriff during his tenure in office, we wish to appeal to him to accept the decisions of the Port Harcourt convention of May 21.

“Sheriff should accept the decision of the convention convened by the National Executive Committee (NEC) under his leadership, believing that other opportunities may arrive in the future for him to serve the party in an even greater capacity,’’ Suleiman said.

In his response, Makarfi described as “unfortunate”, what was happening in the party but added that the leadership crisis had also demonstrated that the party was alive.

He said that the crisis had also shown that the PDP was potentially a party people loved and therefore a government-in-waiting.

“If the PDP was not worth anything, nobody will struggle over it.‎

“We must not overstretch this fact for too long because this is injurious to the party.

“This crisis can affect the fortunes of the party in the long run, not only in our attempt to retain the states we have, but also winning the states we lost, as well as capturing power at the centre,’’ Makarfi said.

He said that the caretaker committee was not set up to carry out a witch-hunt.

“We also reject the insinuations that we are here for any political interest.

“We are only here to facilitate peaceful reconciliation and to create a level playing ground while organising a national convention,’’ he said. (NAN)