Jonathan had accepted to assist in resolving the crisis in the party, a decision believed to have brought some relief and renewed confidence to stakeholders, who believed that a political solution to the crisis was possible after all.
But the excitement arising from this was cut short the moment the Makarfi group headed for the Supreme Court to appeal the judgment that conceded the PDP leadership to the Sheriff group.
It was gathered at the weekend that Sheriff has been served with the notice of appeal at the Supreme Court.
A top member of the Sheriff-led leadership and spokesman, Mr. Daniel Mikko, said last night that the notice of appeal signified the resumption of legal fireworks by both parties.
By implication, Mikko added that the latest move might have put the reconciliatory talks in jeopardy. He said this was so because nobody would be going into such discussions with confidence.
“Nobody will be comfortable continuing with the peace talks once there is a Sword of Damocles dangling over his head”, he said.
Although the Makarfi-led caretaker committee has vowed to proceed with the appeal to the Supreme Court, spokesman of the group, Chief Dayo Adeyeye, said his group had nothing against the move by Jonathan to broker peace in the party.
“The former president has made good effort; let him continue. We have nothing against it but the understanding we had with the former president is that we shall continue with peace efforts without prejudice to the ongoing court process. So, the court process will go on and if there is any political solution, that will be okay. We cannot wait for the political solution before going back to the court,” he said.
Adeyeye explained that there was every reason for them to insist on seeing the appeal through to the Supreme Court in order to put the party in a strong position for negotiation.
However, with regards to the Jonathan peace moves and the renewed effort by the PDP standing committee on reconciliation headed by the Bayelsa State Governor, Henry Dickson, and Senator Ibrahim Mantu, the two sides said they would support the initiative.
Mikko said that the Dickson committee would complement efforts of the former president in settling most of the animosities amongst members.
“Looking at the grievances that are being heard across board, I think this is the best time for him to look into the grievances held by party members with a view to resolving them. We feel the Dickson committee will serve to complement what former President Jonathan is dong. They are not working at cross-purposes but complementing each other,” he said.
On factors responsible for the failure of previous peace efforts, Mikko said before the latest Court of Appeal judgment, there was a proposal canvassed by Sheriff to the effect that both sides should select six persons each as acting members of the National Working Committee pending a new national convention.
“Part of the proposal that we put out was that both parties should appoint six persons each to serve as acting members of the NWC, who would make presentations to the NEC meeting after which we will go for a national convention on September 25. But Makarfi did not get back to us on its position, instead they opted for the botched convention on August 17.
“After that they insisted that they were going to get favorable judgment from the Court of Appeal in Port Harcourt, Rivers State. Now that the case has been won and lost, what we are saying is that let everyone join hands to plan for a unity convention. We are not saying that we won but let everybody come together and let’s set an agenda for a national convention.”
But in spite of the appeal court judgment, one issue that has not been resolved outside of the judicial pronouncement is who controls the apparatus of the party and leads the rest of party members to organise a convention.
While Sheriff believes that his victory at the appeal court automatically confers on him the powers to assume leadership and organise a national convention, the Makarfi group sees such as a temporary advantage which is going to be upturned soon at the Supreme Court.
Makarfi and other leaders who have refused to recognise the Sheriff leadership feel they have the support of a majority of the mainstream members of the party.
Mikko, however, thinks differently. According to him, “There are no two ways to it: Sheriff is the national chairman of the PDP. The court has said so and the convention is going to be presided over by the chairman. It is stated in the party’s constitution and no other person should preside”.
It is against this backdrop that Dickson has appealed to leaders of the party to be ready to make sacrifices for the overall success of the ongoing peace initiatives.
The Bayelsa State governor said his committee had started to embark on a wide consultation with party leaders and critical stakeholders across board with a view to building consensus and confidence in the party before holding an all-inclusive unity national convention to save the party from imminent disintegration.
He said his committee’s preliminary findings indicated that the consultations are already yielding dividends as stakeholders have begun to meet as well as seek a way forward to an all-inclusive national convention, which he reckoned was in the interest of the nation’s fledgling democracy.
A statement signed by Dickson’s Special Adviser on Media Relations, Francis Agbo, quoted the governor as having made the remarks shortly after a meeting of his committee in Abuja last week.
According to the governor, party leaders all over the world make sacrifices to consolidate the political system, adding that the PDP leaders could not do otherwise. He therefore asked party leaders to urgently burry their differences and work for the rediscovery of the PDP.
Contending that the PDP is the only political party capable of accommodating all shades of interests in the country, Dickson posited that a political party is like a horse that could go to war only when it is strong.
“I am appealing to all party leaders, critical stakeholders and members across the country to close ranks in the overall interest of our great party. Let the revival of our great party be of paramount interest to all and sundry, for we can only further our political interests in a strong political platform. We have the potential to revive the party but we can only do this if we subsume our divergent interests under the umbrella.”
Dickson said Nigerians were waiting for the PDP to bounce back and play the role of a virile opposition party, warning also that anything short of this would be a disservice to the people and the founding fathers of the party.
He therefore maintained that an amicable political solution was the best option for the party and that the proposed convention would be a litmus test to gauge the seriousness of party leaders towards reviving the PDP.
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