Dark clouds over PDP convention as reconciliation stalls
Sen Ahmed Makarfi, Senator Ali Modu Sheriff
Dark clouds are hanging over the possibility of an all-inclusive national convention of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), slated for Port Harcourt, Rivers State this Wednesday. There is palpable tension considering the level of reconciliation among party leaders which is yet to yield total fruition.
Analysts say the party may be heading to another constitutional crisis, if the Wednesday convention does not hold, considering that the National Caretaker Committee constituted by the August 21 non-elective convention of the party in Port Harcourt, was allotted only three months within which to organize an elective convention.
A high-powered reconciliation committee headed by a former minister of information, Professor Jerry Gana, constituted and inaugurated by the Senator Walid Jibrin-led Board of Trustees (BoT) has met with Sheriff to deliberate on the contentious issues bothering on the party’s leadership.
But as the reconciliation continuous, sources say Sheriff remained adamant that the convention be held in Abuja; a decision that didn’t go down well with other party leaders. It was learnt that as the convention holds reconciliation would continue.
At a Northern caucus meeting of the party held at the Ajuju Hotel, yesterday, in Abuja, which Sheriff and his loyalists were conspicuously absent, party leaders resolved that the convention must hold on the 17th and in Port Harcourt.
The meeting also constituted a 16-man screening committee to obtain the names of those who bought the expression of interest and nomination forms to contest the various offices, screen them and submit a report on Tuesday, to the leadership of the Northern Caucus in order to ensure that only credible persons go into the elections Wednesday.
Daily Trust on Sunday gathered that none of the committee members is allowed to contest any position at the convention.
A former minister of information, Professor Jerry Gana, who was part of leaders at the high table said: “the national convention of the PDP scheduled for the 17th of August will hold. I hereby encourage all our delegates from the Northern part of Nigeria to be in Port Harcourt. In fact, our next meeting will be in Port before the convention begins.
“We want to assure you that by the grace of God, adequate arrangement will be made for security. You will travel safely, you will arrive safely, you will do the convention safely and you will return safely.
“We are never intimidated by the kind of things people are talking. We are going to Port Harcourt. This party needs to be solid so that we have national officers that will direct the affairs of this party.”
Similarly, a former deputy senate president, Ibrahim Mantu, confirmed that the convention will hold on the 17th in Port Harcourt, Rivers State.
He said some leaders of the party were skeptical about the convention holding in Rivers because of the security situation in the state among other factors but said some leaders have been convinced following explanation by Governor Nyesom Wike, who is governor of the state and chairman of the convention planning committee.
According to Mantu, Wike explained that he is still in the first tenure of his administration and that he is determined to work for the party’s good for him to contest a second term on its platform.
“I will say without due apologies that I have been at the forefront of those who are skeptical about the possibility of holding the convention on the 17th in Port Harcourt because of the ongoing reconciliation. Because we thought perhaps, the reconciliation will come up with something new.
“But it is now clear that the convention will by the grace of God take place on the 17th and in Port Harcourt. Those of you who are in the convention committee yesterday (Friday) at Yar’adua centre and I can see many of you here if I am not making a mistake. But it is very important for us to understand why some people were skeptical about the convention taking place in Port Harcourt.
“Part of the reasons why we suddenly agreed yesterday was the fact that this skepticism was addressed by the governor of Rivers State, who is the chairman of the convention committee. The fear of many people was that there is insecurity in PH and secondly, what happened in the last convention most of the committees were not allowed to do their jobs and the rest of them. We brought this out yesterday and we spoke frankly,” Mantu said.
But when contacted in a telephone interview to find out whether Sheriff was in agreement with the decision that the convention be held in Port Harcourt, his media aide Inuwa Bwala said: “do you just say Northern leaders of the party? Was Sheriff there at the meeting? Is he not a Northern leader?” And cut off the conversation.
The reconciliation committee had submitted BoT’s recommendations Thursday midnight to Sheriff in his office at Maitama-Abuja, for consideration. Sheriff had pledged to study it with his National Committee members before arriving at a position.
However, while the content of the document was not exposed to journalists “in order not to scuttle the reconciliation effort” according to one of the committee members, an insider who spoke with our correspondent in confidence said one of the recommendations was that the convention must be held in Port Harcourt. He said: “this recommendation did not go down well with Sheriff.”
While the BoT chairman, Senator Walid Jibrin has confirmed that there are about 15 court cases over the leadership of the party, the most recent is the judgement of a federal High Court in Port Harcourt which had in July, validated the Makarfi-led National Caretaker Committee of the party.
However, few days after the judgement, Sheriff approached a Federal High Court in Abuja and obtained an interlocutory order declaring as null and void all the actions and decisions taken by the Caretaker Committee since its formation on May 21, 2016.
Following this, majority of party leaders and the BoT have insisted that Wednesday Convention must hold even if reconciliation efforts fail to yield expected result. The argument is that the Abuja court has no powers to nullify a judgement delivered by its counterpart in Port Harcourt.
“Only an Appeal Court can alter or overrule the decision of a Federal High Court not the court of same jurisdiction. The Federal High Court in Port Harcourt has delivered a judgement in favour of the party and of course, the Caretaker Committee. So Sheriff can only appeal the judgement at a higher court.
“What Sheriff simply did was to obtain an order from the Federal High Court, Abuja, declaring Makarfi’s leadership invalid. It was an order not even a judgement and the order did not stop the convention, so the convention will hold Wednesday,” a former minister told our correspondent.
However, when contacted, the deputy national chairman in Sheriff’s camp and former national vice chairman (South-south), Dr. Cairo Ojougboh ruled out the possibility of Sheriff organizing a parallel convention.
A reliable source, who has been part of some of the meetings told our correspondent yesterday in confidence that: “we are still meeting but the major problem is that the Northern leaders does not want the convention to hold in Abuja, they prefer Port Harcourt, that is the challenge.”
While the convention has been slated for Port Harcourt by the Makarfi-led National Caretaker Committee, one of Sheriff’s conditions was that the convention be held in Abuja. Others were that the Makarfi-led National Caretaker Committee be dissolved and that he must preside over the convention and hand over power to an elected national chairman of the party, not a Caretaker Committee.
Sheriff had at late hour, also included another condition after the zoning of the party’s offices, insisting that the North-east be allotted the position of national secretary for peace to prevail.
The office of national secretary had been zoned to the North-west with party stakeholders preferring Senator Ibrahim Ida to fill the vacancy. Governor of Taraba State, Darius Ishaku had at a meeting of North-east caucus of the PDP at Transcorps, Abuja, backed Sheriff, appealing that the national leadership of the party should consider zoning the office of secretary to the North-east.
He explained that the zone was able to win two states of Gombe and Taraba in the region despite the 2015 Change mantra that was blowing across the states.
Governor Dankwambo of Gombe State said:”we must avoid decisions that will further divide our members or bring more problems to our party. We should respect the views of our stakeholders and take a decision that will unite us.”
Senator Emmanuel Bwacha in his remarks called on party stakeholders to make sacrifices by ensuring that conditions given by Sheriff for truce were met.
As it is now, it is left to be seen what becomes of the party’s convention and its chances in the 2019 general elections.
dailytrust
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