The
factional National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party, Senator Ali Modu
Sheriff, and the Chairman of its National Caretaker Committee, Senator
Ahmed Makarfi, have agreed to set up a 24-man committee to handle negotiation
between the two warring factions.
The
committee, which will consist of 12 members each from the two factions, is
expected to be unfolded this week, according to investigations.
It
was gathered that the two leaders of the committee had agreed that the names
should be submitted to each faction for scrutiny before making them public.
It
was also learnt that each faction had been mandated to list terms of reference
to be covered by the committee.
A
prominent member of one of the factions, who confirmed this development to our
correspondent in Abuja on Sunday, said that the names of the nominees
should get to each of the factions either by Tuesday or Wednesday.
He
said, “As I speak with you, I’m working on the terms of reference for the
committee. We have agreed that each of us (factions) should nominate 12 persons
that would be in the reconciliation committee.
“The
names should be made known this week. However, we are giving each group the
opportunity of knowing the nominees before we release the list to the public.”
Last
week, there were fears that the promised reconciliation between the two
factions was heading for the rocks when a prominent member of the Sheriff
faction alleged that Makarfi was desirous for peace because his faction was
losing out in the fight for the control of the soul of the PDP.
This
prompted the spokesperson for the former governor of Borno State, Mallam Inuwa
Bwala, to issue a rebuttal, saying that the affected person was not speaking
for Sheriff.
Meanwhile,
there were indications that the Sheriff camp was worried about the
non-recognition of its candidate for the Ondo State governorship election, Mr.
Jimoh Ibrahim.
Sheriff
had forwarded Ibrahim’s name to the Independent National Electoral Commission
as its candidate.
However,
the commission recognised the candidate of the Makarfi’s faction, Mr.
Eyitayo Jegede (SAN), as the candidate of the PDP for the election.
The
election will hold on November 26.
In
the just concluded Edo State governorship election, the commission also
rejected Mr. Mathew Idorioyekemwen, the candidate nominated for the election by
the Sheriff faction.
Rather,
it went ahead to recognise Pastor Osagie Ize-Iyamu, who was nominated by the
Makarfi’s faction for the election.
The
electoral body cited a court order for its action.
It
was gathered that the loss of the election might have spoilt the strategies
that would have been used by the faction if the PDP had won the election.
“We
were waiting to go to court and pursue who the true leader of the party is. But
the defeat of the PDP by the All Progressives Congress spoilt
everything,” a member of the faction said on condition of anonymity.
But
unlike what happened in Edo State, Sheriff insists that his candidate will
still make the list in Ondo State.
Speaking
through Mr. Bernard Mikko, Sheriff said Ibrahim remained the validly nominated
candidate of the PDP for the election.
Mikko
said, “There is a lot of politics behind what is happening in Ondo State
concerning the non-recognition of our candidate by the INEC now.
“You
know that the commission is claiming a court order as the reason for its
action. We are not going to quarrel with that.”
Source:
The Punch
Tags
Politics