IN an apparent bid to prove his sincerity to party stakeholders, the National Chairman of the Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP), Senator Ali Sheriff, has signed a written undertaken not to contest the position of national chairman at the planned national convention of the party.
He signed the undertaken at the prompting of the Chairman of the PDP National Reconciliation Committee and governor of Bayelsa state, Seriake Dickson in Abuja on Thursday.
Also for the first time since the Court of Appeal judgment restored him to office, Sheriff’s leadership met face-to-face with delegation of members of the rival National Caretaker Committee (NCC) led by Senator Ahmed Makarfi in Abuja on Thursday.
The meeting was brokered by Governor Dickson who revealed the undertaken signed by the former Borno governor.
Dickson made the revelation while submitting the report of his committee to the Chairman of the PDP Board of Trustees (BoT), Senator Walid Jibrin in Abuja.
While noting that for the first time, the two groups met on Thursday, Dickson said: “The National Chairman recognized by the court today, Sheriff has made a public declaration and signed with his hand to the effect at the proposed unity convention, he would not be standing for election as national chairman.”
He said Sheriff also signed an undertaken to make sure that the proposed national convention planning committee will conduct a free and fair election while he would also ensure that all national officers whose tenures may not have lapsed are made to resign their appointments to enable elections to be conducted.
In his remark after receiving the report, the BoT chairman warned members of the party with personal ambition not to destroy it.
Jibrin also warned against any attempt by PDP members to join “an unborn party”, saying that they cannot abandon their house.
He said the BoT will study the report and take a position on it to enable the party to hold a national convention by June.
and then