SAN FRANCISCO, March 03, (THEWILL) – The immediate past president, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan has admitted meeting with leaders of the two warring factions of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, in his bid to resolve the crisis rocking the party.
The factions are led by the PDP National Chairman, Senator Ali Modu Sheriff and the Chairman of the sacked National Caretaker Committee, Senator Ahmed Makarfi.
The crisis, which started since the May 2016 convention of the party in Port Harcourt, assumed a new dimension when the Court of Appeal in the Rivers capital declared Sheriff as the authentic national chairman of the party.
It outlawed decisions taken at the party’s national convention where Makarfi and other members of the national caretaker committee were appointed.
In a statement issued on Friday by his Media Adviser, Mr. Ikechukwu Eze, the former president stated that he had also met with the Chairman of the party’s Board of Trustees, Senator Walid Jibrin and the Deputy President of the Senate, Senator Ike Ekweremadu.
While keeping mum on details of the said meetings, he promised to speak on his efforts even as he lauded members of the party for their unreserved support towards resolving the differences in the party.
PDP governors and some members of the party at the National Assembly are backing Makarfi and have proceeded to the Supreme Court, rejecting the appellate court verdict.
The Makarfi faction has also asked appeal court to order for the stay of execution of the judgement.
But Sheriff and his supporters had, on the basis of the judgment, moved into the party’s national secretariat in Abuja, which had hitherto been locked up by security agents following clashes by the two factions.
On Wednesday, the governors elected on the platform of the PDP agreed to pursue a political solution to the crisis after their meeting with the former President in Abuja on Tuesday. This is even as there are rumours in some quarters that Jonathan has asked the two leaders to step down to enable him find solution to the crisis.
But in the statement issued on his behalf on Friday, the ex-president urged stakeholders to ignore rumours and false information which he said were being passed off as the outcome of the continuing dialogue.
He pledged to “address the public on the positive outcome of the consultations, at the appropriate time”.
Jonathan regretted that there had been some speculations since he met with the governors of the party in Abuja on Tuesday, adding that most of the reports represented what he described as “often contradictory perspectives on the on-going consultations towards resolving the issues in the PDP.”
He urged the public and well-meaning PDP members to ignore such misleading conjectures, which he said were obviously the handiwork of those who he said did not wish the party well, and were therefore not happy with the current reconciliation efforts.
According to the statement, “The fact that the Chairman of the PDP Governors Forum and Ekiti State Governor, Mr. Ayo Fayose, promptly addressed journalists at the end of the meeting, to the effect that an agreement was reached on seeking a political solution in resolving the differences in the party, clearly showed that there was no ambiguity in messaging.
“It is obvious that those behind the misleading publications have failed to achieve their aim, as the former President has seamlessly continued with the consultations and reconciliatory meetings.
“It is instructive to note that since the meeting of last Tuesday with the governors, ex-President Jonathan has also met with many other key leaders of the party, including the Chairman of BOT, Sen. Walid Jibrin; deputy Senate president, Senator Ike Ekweremadu; Senator Ali Modu Sheriff and Senator Ahmed Makarfi, in line with his resolve to carry all the organs of the party along.
“There is no doubt that the statesmanship evident in the former President’s reconciliation efforts precludes his laying preconditions, as is deliberately being misrepresented by a section of the media.
“We hereby reiterate that the former President is determined to continue on this path of inclusive dialogue, by working with the BOT, members of the National Assembly and other key stakeholders, until the internal dispute is finally resolved.”
The former president urged the public and loyal party members to continue lending their support to the peace process and not to listen to rumours.
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