PDP reconciliation fails again •Govs back out

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9 years ago

THE inauguration of peace reconciliation committee of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), scheduled for Tuesday, failed to hold, as governors elected on the ticket of the party backed out of the arrangement.

The committee was planned to include members from the Senator Ahmed Makarfi-led national caretaker committee of the party and the Senator Ali Modu Sheriff faction.

Nigerian Tribune learnt that the governors were not comfortable with the inability of Sheriff to submit the list of his 14 members for the 28-member reconciliation committee as of Tuesday.

The governors, it was learnt, became angry because, according to them, Sheriff was not serious with the peace deal, as shown by his action and activities in Delta and Ondo.

The Makarfi committee was said to have been ready with its nominees, in line with the terms of the reconciliation.

A source from the governors, who spoke with the Nigerian Tribune, had said “this was not our agreement.”

According to the source, “look at what is happening in Delta PDP, with the inauguration of parallel executive. See what is happening in Ondo, the man is coming out with a different candidate for the state governorship election. This is against our position and agreement.”

The inauguration of the reconciliation committee was scheduled for 4.00 p.m. at Transcorp Hotel on Tuesday, while the governors scheduled their meeting for 2.00 p.m. at Ondo State Governor’s Lodge, Abuja.

The governors, as of the time of filing the story, were still holding meeting, as the inauguration meeting failed to hold.

It will be recalled that on Thursday, last week, while briefing newsmen, Sheriff had said all interests would be accommodated in the reconciliation process.

He also said as individual, his group did not have problem with anybody, adding that the proposed reconciliation committee would take everybody along and every interest would fully represented.

When contacted on phone by the Nigerian Tribune last night, the publicity secretary of the Makarfi-led national caretaker committee, Prince Dayo Adeyeye, said it was speculative that the reconciliation move had broken down, stressing that the effort remained “ongoing” and that it was natural there could be “some hiccups” in that kind of assignments.