Solving PDP’s problems requires tact —Makarfi

BASKING in the euphoria of the court judgement which conferred legitimacy on his committee, Chairman of the National Caretaker Committee of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Senator Ahmed Makarfi, has said that resolving the problems of the party would require tact rather than open arguments over its internal disagreement.

Speaking in Abuja on Wednesday while receiving members of the North-West Zonal Executives of the party, who came to endorse his leadership, he said he would prefer a situation where aggrieved members locked themselves into a room, quarrel and resolve their differences rather than crying out in public.

Addressing the delegation, he said: “I assure you that we will work very hard to do the needful. We will have to be a bit tactical by not talking too much.

“So, we are not sleeping. We will deliver and we will deliver to the satisfaction of PDP men and women wherever they are in this country.”

While welcoming the July 4, 2016 Federal High Court judgement which validated the decision of the National Convention to dissolve the National Working Committee led by Senator Ali Sheriff, the party boss stated that he had not foreclosed the window for peaceful dialogue with the Sheriff faction.

According to him, even though all major legal interventions have been determined in favour of the decisions of the May 21, 2016 Port Harcourt national convention, the job has not yet finished.

He said: “We give gratitude to God Almighty for bringing us so far. On the legal front, all major determinations have been made positively in favour of the decision taken by the national convention.

“That is not to say that the job is finished. In the past, I have said severally that the path of peace and reconciliation is the best path.

“Litigation can resolve issues on legal grounds but between brothers and sisters, it is best you go beyond that and create a forum for reconciliation between your brothers and sisters so that we all move together.

“We will never foreclose that window even if the legal issue terminate at this stage. If the legal issue continues, we will not foreclose the window of reconciliation,” Makarfi assured.

Leader of the delegation and PDP National Vice Chairman (North-West), Ambassador Ibrahim Musa Kazaure, explained in his address that the purpose of the visit was to declare support of the PDP North-West zone to the caretaker committee.

“The entire North-West zone is behind you and hereby identify with your leadership as the only option to save the PDP,” Kazaure stated.

He observed that from Makarfi’s antecedents as a two-term state governor and senator, he has the wherewithal to pull the party through its difficult times and restore it to a formidable political structure.