By Dansu Peter
The unending crisis in the opposition Peoples Democratic Party, PDP took a dramatic turn at the weekend when the southeast and southwest caucuses of the party passed a vote of confidence on the Ali Modu Sheriff and Ahmed Makarfi led rival leadership respectively, News Punch observes
It was the Southeast caucus who took the shot to pass a confidence vote on the National Caretaker Chairman of the party, Ahmed Makarfi. The resolution is coming on the heels of submission of the report of Strategy Review/Inter Party Affairs Committee led by Prof Jery Gana, The Sun Newspaper confirmed this
National Vice Chairman of the PDP, South-East zone, Chief Austin Umahi, who is also a member of the committee, yesterday, expressed optimism that the party after the implementation of the recommendations of the committee would become more united and better positioned to win elections. He commended the Makarifi-led National Caretaker Committee for being firm and fair, adding that with his wealth of experience and commitment, the PDP would soar above other political parties in the country.
Chief Umahi said: “The zone commends the Strategy Review/Inter Party Affairs committee constituted by Makarfi-led national Caretaker committee under the chairmanship of Prof Jery Gana for the thorough and painstakingly accomplished work which will not only strengthen the party but reposition it to take power come 2019”
Umahi said PDP controlled states in the zone are the most developed and economically viable, adding that Governors Okezie Ikpeazu (Abia), David Umahi (Ebonyi) and Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi (Enugu) have done the party proud by delivering democracy dividends to the people of their states
Few days after Makarfi's confidence vote by Southeast PDD, the leadership of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the South-West yesterday passed a vote of confidence in Senator Ali Modu-Sheriff as the national chairman of the party.
Rising from an expanded South-West PDP committee meeting in Ijebu-Igbo, Ogun State, yesterday, the party acknowledged and affirmed the leadership of the party under Sheriff and his efforts to reposition it.
Reading the communiqué, National Vice Chairman/Zonal Chairman, South-West PDP, Chief Makanjuola Ogundipe, said all hands must be on deck to move the party forward and put it in good stead for the task ahead.
The communiqué further urged party members to pray for the quick recovery of President Muhammadu Buhari in order to continue his anti-corruption crusade.
In his remarks, Sheriff said he would continue to work for the progress of the party and return it to the grassroots.
Senator Sheriff, who stated that he would not be provoked by the statement of the party’s Chairman of the PDP Strategy Review Committee, Prof. Jerry Gana, said he would stand in the way of any individual who wants to corner the party for “selfish reasons.”
on his part, former Deputy Senate President, Alhaji Ibrahim Mantu, attributed the crisis rocking the party to lack of internal democracy, imposition of candidates and impunity of some individuals within PDP.
Mantu, who is the deputy chairman of PDP Reconciliation Committee, said the party bungled the goodwill it enjoyed for 16 years by allowing internal wrangling to fester, urging leaders of the party to shelve personal interests and work towards mending the cracks in the party.
He reiterated that leaders and members of the party must come together to settle their differences, if PDP is serious of taking mantle of leadership from the All Progressives Congress (APC) in 2019.
“All hands must be on deck to ensure total victory in the entire South-West and Nigeria in 2019. Our detractors had expected the crack in the family to be the beginning of our end. Tell them that the lion was just sleeping to conserve more energy and make a minced meat of them in 2019. No matter how much weight an elephant loses, it can never be compared to a cow,” he said.
The meeting was attended by the national chairman of PDP, Senator Sheriff, his deputy, Dr. Cairo Ojugbo, acting National Publicity Secretary, Bernard Niko, former Federal Capital Territory (FCT) minister, Alhaji Mohammed Abba Gana, Senator Chris Anyanwu and leadership of the party from Oyo, Osun, Ekiti, Lagos, Ondo and Ogun states.
With the latest deveopment the crisis plaguing Nigeria's former ruling party may not end so soon as it had hoped.
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