CHAIRMAN, Peoples Democratic Party’s (PDP) national caretaker committee, Senator Ahmed Makarfi, has said some aggrieved national chairmanship aspirants engaged in blackmailing him because he did not meet their offers.
This was as he described the allegations that he was nursing presidential ticket of the party as baseless.
“This is hypocrisy. Long before now, most of them have come to make offers to me to work with them. I have always told them that the convention is of priority,” he said.
Speaking during an interview in Kaduna, on Sunday, Makarfi dispelled the insinuation by some aspirants that he and the committee members were favouring a South-South candidate to emerge at the PDP convention to pave way for his presidential ambition.
According to him, those aspirants making allegations against him and the committee members had not been sincere to themselves.
“These complainers are not even being sincere. Which one of them has not approached me to work with him or them for their ambition? All I kept telling them is that: let us get the convention right first, what I will do is in the hands of God and time will determine that.”
Makarfi also disowned Alhaji Abdullahi Jalo over an interview granted by him regarding having presidential ambition, adding that “he (Jalo) has never been my spokesman and he is not my spokesman.”
He said all things were set for a successful convention, adding that essential documents had been printed; while other necessities had been put in place.
“I just want to say that we are absolutely on course and I don’t see anything that can lead to the postponement of the convention. The venue has been secured and paid for.”
Meanwhile ahead of the national convention, the plot to anoint Prince Uche Secondus from the South-South geopolitical zone as national chairman has suffered setback, Nigerian Tribune can authoritatively reveal.
A party source revealed that Secondus enjoyed the support of two governors from the zone while two other governors were against his choice. It is no longer a secret that the Rivers State governor, Nyesom Wike, was in full support of the candidacy of Secondus.
A governor of the zone was, however, gathered to sit on the fence, over the choice of Secondus.
Nigerian Tribune source revealed that a former governor from the zone appeared to be the arrowhead of the opposition to the emergence of Secondus. He has the support of a governor from one of the smallest states in the zone.
The source further revealed that opposing governors from the zone may settle for an aspirant from the South-West believed to have the same political clout and experience in the administration of the national secretariat of the party.
While the South-South governors are divided on choice of candidate, the northern delegates have equally been polarised by presidential aspirants from the zone, who have since thrown their weight behind certain chairmanship aspirants.
Investigation by the Nigerian Tribune revealed that former vice president, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, who, at the weekend, resigned his membership of the All Progressives Congress (APC), may be backing former education minister, Professor Tunde Adeniran, for the office of national chairman.
Atiku’s main rival for the PDP presidential ticket and former Jigawa State governor, Sule Lamido, may back former Ogun State governor, Chief Gbenga Daniel.
In a related development, in a move to forestall orchestrated plot of a parallel convention in December, certain leaders of the party may, this week, make a demand for the postponement of the convention.
A source privy to the move told the Nigerian Tribune e that the troubleshooting initiative of the team made up of former governors and ministers was to calm frayed nerves and listen to all aggrieved aspirants.
“It is obvious that the Senator Ahmed Makarfi-led caretaker committee is not ready for a serious, transparent convention. It is either they sit up or they are shoved aside,” the source said.
It will be recalled that two of the aspirants for the office of national chairman, Chief George and Professor Adeniran, had petitioned the committee and accused it of working to ensure that a particular aspirant from the South-South emerge as national chairman in December.
Reacting, Secondus regretted personal attacks and blackmail characterising the campaign.
He, therefore, called for a change of attitude among the contestants.
In a statement issued in Abuja, on Sunday, he said though he was not worried by such campaign of calumny, he was, however, constrained to call for a return to focus on issues.
Signed by his media officer, Bisi Ezekiel, the statement said “we are not perturbed by the many attacks as we hold tight to the spirit and letter of agreement entered into by all aspirants at the Wadata Plaza.
“We have resolved never to raise a finger against fellow aspirants but to run issue-based campaign that dwells on our agenda for the party.
“We are resisting temptations to retaliaite against savage attacks and falsehood, but instead concentrating our energies on wooing delegates and convincing them that we are the best for the leadership at this material time,” he said.
Secondus, while admonishing the contestants to focus on getting the support of delegates to the convention, maintained that he would take his message to the party members to convince them that he was the right man for the job.
“There is no desperation in our rule book. We urge other aspirants to make the same pledge, especially as that is what all aspirants entered into under the Wadata pact,” the statement read.
Fayose canvasses for South-West candidate
Ekiti State governor, Mr Ayodele Fayose, has promised to ensure that the South-West produces the national chairman of the party at the December 9 convention.
Fayose made the promise in Ado-Ekiti, the state capital, at the weekend, when one of the aspirants to the office of the national chairman of the party and former minister of sports, Professor Taoheed Adedoja, paid him a visit along with members of his campaign organisation
According to a statement ?made available to newsmen in Abuja by the media aide of Professor Adedoja, Mallam Yaya Adetunji, Fayose said he would canvass support for the zone from other governors.
According to the statement, Adedoja was said to have advanced reasons for the national chairmanship to come to the South-West for the first time in the history of the party.
“We know it is the turn of the South-West to produce the national chairman of the party and this should materialise at your time, both as the only PDP governor in the region and as the chairman of PDP Governor’s Forum,” Adedoja told Fayose.
The former minister said he was presenting himself for the position to bring about the desired fresh ideas for equity and justice in the party.
Bode George challenges other aspirants to open debate
Chief Bode George, at the weekend, challenged other contestants for the position of national chairman to an open debate.
George, who said he was knowledgeable about the culture and practices of the party, asked others to speak about their vision, agenda and motive in contesting for the office.
He said whoever wanted to lead the party should not be afraid of a public debate that would showcase his grasps of the norms and traditional values of the party.
While George told delegates from Kebbi, Zamfara and Sokoto states about the need for micro-zoning of the national chairmanship position, he insisted that the fundamental resolve of the founding founders was to promote equity and balance in the distribution of the party offices.
Chief George lauded the Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Sa’ad Abubakar, for his patriotism and instinctive embrace of all Nigerians, regardless of faith or tribe.
George was commended by the North-West coordinator of his campaign organisation, Alhaji Bakori, for his service to the party and his consistency, despite the twists and turns of the fortunes of the PDP.
Alhaji Bakori said Chief George was the most experienced and tested among all the contestants.
George was at the Katsina State PDP secretariat on Sunday morning, as part of his campaign tour of North-West.
Blaming me for PDP’s loss of Edo, Ondo elections preposterous —Kashamu
THE senator representing Ogun East in the National Assembly, Buruji Kashamu, has said the national caretaker committee erred by blaming him for the party’s loss in the Edo and Ondo states governorship elections.
Kashamu, in a statement issued on Sunday, while describing the act as preposterous, added that the losses were a result of the party’s disregard for its own constitution and the rule of law.
According to him, “it is preposterous that the NCC would accuse me (a senator from Ogun State) of bankrolling and sponsoring the conduct of parallel governorship congresses in Edo and Ondo states and thereby occasioning the loss of our party in the two states.”
He said “it is unfair to accuse me over a national leadership tussle that I did not create. I was actually caught in the web of the dispute over which I mediated actively, assisting the NCC financially and also giving unheeded pieces of advice.”
Kashamu said rather than looking for a scapegoat, the NCC should work towards having a wholesome party, adding that the handling of the party’s affairs by the present leadership resulted in the “loss of strong and notable leaders of the party, including Chief (Mrs) Mariam Ali, wife of the former national chairman of the party.”
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