Confusion As National Convention Divides PDP Again

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PDP

The national convention of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) has factionalised the party once again as leaders could not find a common ground to resolve their differences.

While a faction gathered in Kaduna for the event other party leaders converge in Port Harcourt, the Rivers State capital in spite of court injunction stopping the convention.

The National Chairman of the party, Senator Ali Modu Sheriff, announced the postponement of the national convention in Port Harcourt, due to court injunctions but a former Governor of Kaduna State, Senator Ahmed Makarfi, was elected the party’s caretaker national chairman by a group of PDP governors backed by Deputy Senate President Ike Ekweremadu and PDP Board of Trustees chairman, Senator Walid Jibril. Senator Ben Obi is to serve as the Secretary of the caretaker committee with other five members.

The committee was given a mandate to organise a national convention for the election of substantive party’s national executive within 90 days with a caveat that none of the members of the caretaker committee is eligible to contest in the convention to be organised.

Earlier in the day, a splinter group led by Prof. Jerry Gana gathered in Abuja to hold a parallel convention after the pro-Sheriff group insisted on its plan to organise the convention in Port Harcourt.

The Prof. Gana group is said to be favourably disposed to the idea of putting in place a caretaker committee to run the affairs of the party, pending the conduct of an acceptable national convention