National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Senator Ali Modu Sheriff has insisted that the Caretaker Committee led by Senator Ahmed Makarfi is an illegal body and cannot organize the convention of the party, even as he faulted the party’s BOT position granting recognition to the caretaker committee.
Sheriff maintained that, because there is no provision for a caretaker at the national level in the PDP constitution, coupled with the fact that a competent court has pronounced it as illegal, while affirming Sheriff as the chairman, references should not even be made to the caretaker committee in looking for solutions to the PDP crisis.
According to him, it was the imposition of the caretaker committee in the first place, even as a contraption that precipitated the crisis, and any attempt to legitimize their function could spell further crisis for the PDP, stressing that BOT members should stop playing the ostrich and come to terms with the reality of his chairmanship, until a proper convention is organized.
He said that the Chairman of the BOT Senator Walid Jibrin has forfeited the confidence of greater majority of party members because of his inconsistency and crave for money, and should give way to a credible person whose honour and integrity are not in dispute to steer the affairs of the PDP BOT.
Sheriff stated that, the BOT chairman has in his actions and utterances portrayed the BOT as being teleguided, in such a way that he has brought credibility problem to the august body by clearly taking sides and championing the cause of particular interests in the crisis, at the expense of his leadership roles as mediator.
Ther chairman was of the view that, even though the BOT lacks the powers to give orders, it has acted in breach of its sacred duty as a father and so called conscience of the party by recognizing the Caretaker Committee, even when members know that it was the wrong thing to do. As much as he respects the BOT members, they should not allow themselves to be dragged into fighting a war for the benefits of a few power brokers.
His Media Aide, Inuwa Bwala, said further that “The national Chairman wishes to state categorically that, the BOT which earlier derailed peace initiatives by taking sides, coupled with the obvious roles of some of its members in the crisis, and against the background of the fact that it is merely an advisory body, lacks the moral and legitimate rights to dictate the pace of negotiations.
Already, the reconciliation committee, under Governor Seriake Dickson is still carrying out its assignment of reaching out to all parties, and until the committee makes its recommendations, which the national Working Committee will look at and convene a NEC for necessary deliberations, the BOT’s actions are of no consequence.
