The Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party Peace and Reconciliation Committee and governor of Bayelsa State, Hon Seriake Dickson, has submitted a copy of the peace plan he developed to take the party out of the lingering crisis bedeviling to the embattled National Dickson made the submission in Abuja on Wednesday, barely a week after he made the submission to court-recognised National Chairman of the PDP, Senator Ali Modu Sherriff.
Dickson had attracted a barrage of backlash from PDP chieftains and governors loyal to the Makarfi faction after he submitted the report to Sheriff.
But spurning the criticism following his alleged fraternization with Sheriff, Dickson said that although he was not a Sheriff fan, he was bound by the court judgment which recognised Sheriff as PDP National Chairman.
He urged other PDP members to rise up to verdict of the court in the party’s interest.
In what analysts have described as a shocking move, Dickson, in company of former Deputy Senate President, Ibrahim Mantu, handed over the same peace plan to Makarfi, a former governor of Kaduna, stressing the need for peace in the opposition party.
The Bayelsa governor disclosed that his recommendation for lasting peace in the self-styled largest party in Africa was the holding of the party’s national as soon as possible and that the all party officials elected at the wards, local government, states and zonal levels before the botched May 21, 2016 national convention should remain valid.
He, however, added that his committee’s report, which desires the PDP’s return to peace and cohesion was not “cast in stone,” but open to review by the appropriate authorised organs of the party.
He promised that he would, in company of other members of the committee, meet with other key organs of the party to put forward the template for lasting peace in the PDP. Dickson said, “My committee will also meet with other key organs of the party to present the template. But let me add that this report is not cast in stone”.
The meeting with Makarfi came just one day after Dickson denied media reports claiming that he allegedly asked the factional National Chairman to step down as the chairman of PDP National Caretaker Committee.
Speaking through his Special Adviser on Media Relations, Mr. Francis Agbo, Dickson averred that it was wrong for such a misleading story to be ascribed to him, while he was actively exploring ways and means of bringing about a lasting peace between the two PDP factions headed by Makarfi and Sheriff respectively.
Agbo said that the governor merely appealed to Makarfi and Sheriff to make sacrifices towards bringing a lasting peace to the party so as to win the next election.
He said, “To set the record straight, Governor Dickson spoke with a select group of journalists last Saturday in Abuja on the PDP crisis, but he never asked Makarfi to step down.
“In the said interview, the governor, as a peace maker, stated his committee’s role in the reconciliation process and argued that for PDP to bounce back, leaders must make sacrifices.
“He consequently appealed to PDP leaders including Sheriff and Makarfi to make sacrifices for the revival of the party, stressing that the PDP is more than Sheriff and Makarfi and indeed any individual.
“In spite of the blackmail and propaganda scripted to distract Governor Dickson, the governor and his committee remain committed to reconciling all interests through dialogue, for only a political solution woven around dialogue and sacrifices can engender true reconciliation.”
