The Senator Ahmed Makarfi-led Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) yesterday fixed August 17 for a new convention to be held in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, to elect new leaders of the party.
The decision was reached at a meeting of PDP stakeholders held at the Yar’adua Centre in Abuja.
Senator Buruji Kashamu, a close ally of the factional chairman of the party, Senator Ali Modu Sheriff, attended the meeting.
Similarly, chairman of PDP Governors’ Forum and governor of Ondo State, Olusegun Mimiko, Governor Ayo Fayose of Ekiti State, Nyesom Wike of Rivers State, Hassan Dankwambo of Gombe State, Darius Ishaku of Taraba, a former governor of Benue State, Gabriel Suswam, former minister of special duties, Tanimu Turaki, former minister of information, Prof Jerry Gana, Chief Raymond Dokpesi and a former political adviser to ex-President Jonathan, Rufai Ahmed Alkali, were also in attendance.
Addressing newsmen at the end of the meeting, Senator Makarfi said, “What we want is an all-inclusive PDP; an equitable, fair and just system in the PDP where the right of everyone, commensurate with their own level is protected and preserved.
“We have equally set up a special committee led by the deputy Senate president, Ike Ekweremadu, to further cement the reconciliation going on in the South-west, so that all issues that must have led to the division in the region would be resolved accordingly,” he said.
At an earlier meeting with PDP leaders from Kwara State, Makarfi said his committee members were not willing to stay longer than their term.
“We are not a sit-tight caretaker committee. We are given a mandate and we are determined to deliver that mandate within the time given to us,” he said.
However, sources said Makarfi and Sheriff had refused to agree at a meeting held in the early hours of Wednesday at the Taraba State Governor’s Lodge.
