The National Leadership of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) under the
Chairmanship of Senator Ahmed Mohammed Makarfi, yesterday met with the
party’s caucus of both the Senate and the House of Representatives, with
a vow to drag the All Progressives Congress, APC to court over the just
concluded Edo State gubernatorial election.
According to them,
they were optimistic that the PDP would get the victory, just as they
said that they have confidence in the judiciary.
Makarfi led
other members of his team to brief NASS caucus on the decisions taken so
far to have lasting peace in the party, especially the move to put in
place a twenty- four member team from both sides of Senator Ali Modu
Sheriff and that of Makarfi.
The Meeting was convened at the
instance of the National Caretaker Committee briefed members of the
National Assembly on the state of affairs of the Party since after the
last National Convention in Port Harcourt, Rivers State; especially on
the ongoing reconciliation process.
According to the National
Chairman, the Meeting was to assist leadership of the Party harvest
more ideas and be guided towards achieving the mandate of rebuilding the
Party and strategize to return the PDP to power in 2019 not only with
majority of states, but also reclaiming the Center, the meeting
unanimously endorsed the peace process initiated by the National
Caretaker Committee to reconcile all aggrieved members of the Party.
The
Party leadership maintained that there is no faction in the PDP, but
grievances amongst Party members and that will be resolved soonest.
Speaking
to Journalists after the meeting, PDP National Publicity Secretary,
Prince Dayo Adeyeye who noted that Edo issue was discussed at the
meeting, “We discussed it. We know that we were we robbed in Edo State.
We believe that we will have our day in court. And by the grace of God,
we still have confidence in the judiciary. What happened in Edo State
will not stand. ”
Speaking further on the meeting, Adeyeye said,
“The members of the National Caretaker Committee led by Senator Ahmed
Makarfi came in here today to brief our National Assembly Caucus. The
Minority Leader of the House of Representatives is here, the DSP was
also here. We had very good representation at this meeting.
“Basically,
it was to brief them on new developments in the party, particularly
relating to the peace efforts that we are making in the party. We have
to put them into confidence in some of the actions we have taken lately.
And ask for their own contribution because after all they are major
critical stakeholders. They put us there, we need to consult with them,
we need to brief them on developments from time to time.
“And I’m
happy to say that after the review of what has happened, we have come
to the conclusion that the peace efforts already taken by the caretaker
committee are in order. And the National Assembly Caucus have given full
endorsement to all the efforts made so far by the National Caretaker
Committee to reconcile all the aggrieved members of this great party.
On
why the other faction was not at the meeting, he said, “We don’t have
any faction in PDP. I’ve said some people are aggrieved. And we are
trying to make peace with everybody. The PDP is one single body. In
every party, you have people who could be aggrieved from time to time.
And we are making efforts to reconcile everybody together. ”
In
his opening remarks, Deputy Senate President Ike Ekweremadu who thanked
members for taking time out of their busy schedule to attend the
Meeting, however expressed appreciation for the recognition accorded
them by the National Caretaker Committee for the briefing.
In the
same vein, the Minority Leaders of Senate and House of Representatives,
Senator Godswill Akpabio, and leader, House of Representatives, Hon.
Leo Ogor in their goodwill messages respectively, eulogized the
collective responsibility of the leadership style of the National
Chairman and his team especially in their pursuit for peace and unity in
our Party.