The factional Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Sen Ali
Modu Sheriff, has described the National Executive Council (NEC) meeting
of the PDP which extended the tenure of the Makarfi-led Caretaker
Committee by one year.
He said, the said meeting was in breach
of Section 31 (4) of the PDP Constitution, which makes the National
Chairman the sole authority with a mandate to convene the NEC.
Sheriff
said INEC has not been put on the mandatory three weeks’ notice,
neither has he as Chairman been put on one week notice, even if it was
an emergency.
He also called on members of PDP to disregard
everything that may have taken place in Port Harcourt, as everything
purported to have been done was in gross violation of a court order.
He
further maintained that the Caretaker Committee does not exist in law,
therefore, “Makarfi should stop parading himself as a PDP official”.
The
PDP extended the tenure of the Ahmed Makarfi-led caretaker committee
for one year after a vote of confidence was passed by national delegates
at the party’s secretariat in Port Harcourt, the River State capital.
The
Nigerian Police had cordoned off the venue of the planned National
Convention citing the ruling of a Federal High Court in Abuja on Tuesday
barring the PDP from holding the convention.
Justice Okon Abang
ruling in a motion filed by a factional chairman of the party, Ali-Modu
Sheriff, also restrained the Inspector General of Police and the
Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) from supervising or
monitoring the planned convention pending the determination of the
substantive suit.
The Public Relations Officer of the Nigerian
Police, Donald Amunah defended the action, maintaining that the that the
police got conflicting orders and as a neutral body they have to take
charge.
However, the party moved to their secretariat in Port
Harcourt, held the convention and announced the extension of the Ahmed
Makarfi-led Caretaker Committee by one year at the end of the exercise.