PDP convention in Port Harcourt dissolves NEC, sets up Makarfi-led seven-man Caretaker Committee; Mantu, Gana, Nwodo, Okupe hold another convention in Abuja

The National Convention of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) on Saturday dissolved its National Executive Council (NEC), National Working Committee (NWC) and set up a seven-man Caretaker Committee.
The motion to dissolve the party’s NEC and NWC was moved by Mr Austin Opara, a former Deputy Speaker, House of Representatives and seconded by Mr Emeka Ihedioha, also a former Deputy Speaker of the House.
Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers State and Chairman of the party`s National Convention Committee put the question and the motion was affirmed by the delegates.
The convention also approved another motion to set aside decisions taken by the NWC and zoning of its presidential candidate for 2019 election to the North.
The motion was moved by Dr Babangida Aliyu, a former governor of Niger State and seconded by Governor Ifeanyi Okowa of Delta State.
The convention also set up a seven-man caretaker committee headed by Senator Ahmed Makarfi, a former governor of Kaduna State, while Senator Ben Obi was appointed as its secretary.
The committee was given three months to organise a National Convention to elect new national officers.
The delegates also barred the committee members from contesting any position in the next convention.
Makarfi, in his speech, said he accepted to serve because it was about the unity of the party and progress of the country.
“ I humbly accept this challenge and I do so, on behalf of other members of the committee. Other members of the committee were nominated on trust,” he said.
Makarfi assured that the committee would serve and bring unity to the party.
“I assure you, you will have no cause to worry. None of us is seeking for any office.
“ We are here to serve and bring unity to our party. I call on all aggrieved party men and women to give us a chance to rebuild our party to give hope to Nigeria and black race,” Makarfi said.
The other members of the committee were Sen. Odion Ugbesie, Sen. Abdul Ningi, Mr Kabir Usman, Prince Dayo Adeyeye and Alhaja Aisha Aliyu.
Before then, the acting National Chairman, Senator Ali Modu Sheriff, announced the suspension of its National Convention, citing numerous court cases as the reason for the decision.
Sheriff, who announced this at a news conference in Port Harcourt on Saturday, said as a law abiding party, it suspended the convention until all court cases were resolved.
“Members of the National Working Committee and I have been working since morning. We are confronted with a lot of challenges.
“The challenges are court cases and taking into account the decision of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) not to supervise the election into the office of Chairman, Secretary and Auditor.
“Based on the order of the court and on the account that our party is responsible and law abiding with high respect to the judiciary and courts, we do hereby state and put off the National Convention,” he said.
Sheriff said the convention would be held when all court cases were resolved.
He said the issues raised in the cases were many and bothered on the expiration of the tenure of some offices in 2017 and 2018 and the fact that INEC said it would not supervise the election.
He also said that the NEC of the party did not want to be charged for contempt of court and decided to suspend the convention.
He urged all delegates to return to their various states until the issues were resolved.
“Whatever the decisions the court take, we will abide by it,” Sheriff said.
But in spite of non-recognition by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), another “national convention’’ was held in Abuja on Saturday.
The Abuja event was parallel to the highly publicised National Convention organised by the national leadership of the party in Port Harcourt.
INEC had on Thursday said that it was aware of only one national convention of the party and that it was the one planned for Port Harcourt.
Director of Voter Education and Publicity, INEC, Mr Oluwole Osaze-Uzzi, had said that the commission would be at the convention in Port Harcourt to play its statutory role of supervising the exercise.
In Abuja, however, Chairman of the convention, Sen. Ibrahim Mantu, said that the major stakeholders of the party were united to reposition the party and that no officer would be elected at the exercise.
Mantu said that stockholders in PDP were all united in affirming the vision and ideals of the party’s founding fathers.
“We are united in reaffirming the ideals that made Nigerians in 1999 to break the yoke of ethnicity and divisive politics to unite under the PDP umbrella to elect the first Pan Nigerian President.
“Our teeming supporters are looking toward the party of inclusion, the party of economic opportunities, the party of freedom and the party of national unity to rise from the ashes of defeat to the mountain of hope.
“Our people are looking with nostalgia to the freedom of speech, the respect for our courts and the sense of belonging that pervaded our country under the PDP.
“We the stakeholders of the PDP are resolved to rebuild, renew and rebrand our great party to anchor the dreams of our founding fathers and give wings to the hopes of our citizens who live in uncertainty,’’ he said.
Mantu said that the gathering of PDP members in Abuja for a national convention was to chart a new course and restore the moral values of the party.
“Our concerted efforts will lead to a new party with responding ideals,’’ he said, adding that the decision to go ahead with the Port Harcourt convention was illegal and a total disregard to a court order.
“The decision to go ahead with the illegal convention in Port Harcourt is a disobedience of a valid court judgment stopping the convention.
“The disobedience signals a worrisome trend that would further weaken the party to the delight of the fifth columnists working hard to truncate the historic role of the PDP to provide viable and constructive opposition to the ruling government,’’ he said.
He added that the action of the National Executive Committee of the party in selecting Sen. Ali Modu Sherriff as national chairman was in gross violation of established procedure for the selection.
“The selection of the chairman for the unexpired term of the North-East zone started with nominations from states in the zone; Sen. Sheriff was not nominated by any state caucus and hence not qualified to be selected,’’ he said.
In his remark, a former Minister of Information, Prof. Jerry Gana, said that the Abuja group’s effort would lead to a new beginning for the PDP.
“Our founding fathers are very resolute in the kind of party that we are building; PDP that wants to ensure that everybody is cared for and carried along.
“PDP will not tolerate anything that will take away human rights from the people. PDP stands for human rights, human dignity and human values,’’ Gana said.
He expressed optimism that the party would regain power in 2019.
Some members of the party at the Abuja convention were former chairman of the party, Dr Okwesilieze Nwodo; former Minster of Power, Prof. Chinedu Nebo; former Minister of Federal Capital Territory, Bala Mohammed and Dr Doyin Okupe.