The committee on reconciliation of the opposition Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, headed by Governor Seriake Dickson, has opted for a political solution to the protracted crisis in the party.
The committee took the decision Thursday at a meeting held in Abuja.
A communiqué of the meeting was signed by Mr. Dickson alongside his deputy in the committee, Ibrahim Mantu and secretary, Joshua Lidani.
The committee also said it endorsed the resolution of the meeting between former President Goodluck Jonathan and PDP governors who also agreed to seek political, rather than legal, solution to the party’s crisis.
The Court of Appeal in Port Harcourt had on February 17 affirmed former Borno State Governor Ali Sheriff as the national chairman of the party against a resolution of May 2016 national convention that sacked the party’s National Working Committee, NWC.
In place of the NWC and National Executive Committee of the party, the convention constituted a National Caretaker Committee headed by a former governor of Kaduna state, Ahmed Makarfi, to manage the party and organise an elective national convention.
But Mr. Sheriff challenged the development in court and got judgment, affirming him as chairman.
The national caretaker committee, the PDP Governors’ Forum and elders, including the Board of Trustees, flayed the judgment of the court and have appealed to the Supreme Court.
Mr. Dickson’s reconciliation committee, which was put in place by Bamanga Tukur when he was national chairman in 2013, said as part of the reconciliation process, it is “imperative that an early convention within the second quarter of 2017 should be held in Abuja which therefore should be all inclusive and where new national officials of the party will be freely, fairly and transparently elected”.
The reconciliation committee also said it would embark on extensive consultations with all relevant individuals with a view to building confidence and necessary consensus toward the convention
“The committee appeals to all party leaders, and members of our great party to exercise restraint and focus on the loyalty to and the overall interest of the party,” the communiqué said.
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