Dickson has evil agenda against PDP – Makarfi

National Caretaker Committee Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Senator Ahmed Makarfi has said that Bayelsa State Governor, Seriake Dickson has an evil agenda for the party.

Makarfi said Dickson pulling out of the unanimous proposal drafted at a meeting of the 11 PDP Governors with former President Goodluck Jonathan, and coming up with a personal proposal he submitted to Senator Ali Modu Sheriff’s group was a mischievous act that would not do the party any good.

The former Kaduna State Governor stated this in Kaduna at the weekend when he visited the secretariat of the Kaduna State Correspondents Chapel of NUJ, which was gutted by fire last Monday.

According to him, “Just a week before Governor Dickson submitted his report to Ali Modu Sheriff, the 11 PDP governors, including himself met with former President Goodluck Jonathan and came out with a unanimous proposal on the way out of the crisis in the party.

“Then, out of the 11 PDP Governors, he (Dickson) pulled out and made a proposal, which he presented to Sheriff.

“Well, for us the issues in the PDP is not just about conducting convention, it is about more fundamental issues. How do you go for convention if you don’t address these fundamental issues and achieve reconciliation?

“You have not talked about the problems, you have not sorted them and you are more concerned about a committee to organise convention, that means you will go and do convention while the crisis is still on.

“Governor Dickson was at the meeting of the Governors and the former President where they came out with a unanimous proposal; so, how can he pull himself out a week after and make his own proposal?

“If he had anything contrary to what they agreed on, why didn’t he suggest it at that meeting? He didn’t make sense; out of 11 Governors, you pulled yourself out and you made a separate proposal and presented to Modu Sheriff.

“The proposal by the former President and the 11 Governors was presented to us, to the BOT Chairman and to Modu Sheriff.

“If anything is going to change, they should go back to President Jonathan and the other Governors to discuss and review the responses from us, from BOT, from Modu Sheriff and see if there is going to be any modification to the proposal, not for one single Governor under whatever name, who was a party to the unanimous proposal to now come out with a personal proposal.

“But, he spoke with me informally and said he was bringing his proposal, which I never saw. He called the President and they were to meet on Wednesday, then he also called BOT Chairman, who gave him appointment for Wednesday, only for him to go and submit his proposal to Modu Sheriff to go ahead and conduct convention. And that is what Sheriff has been looking for. Now, he has gotten somebody asking him to go ahead and conduct convention.

“So, what is Governor Dickson up to? I don’t know, but it is definitely an agenda not good for the PDP. His proposal is even a breach of the Court of Appeal judgement, because he is suggesting going for convention in June. Court of Appeal said you cannot hold convention until August this year based on the tenure it recognised.”

Makarfi said, even the Sheriff group was not complying with the Court of Appeal judgment, as he (Sheriff) was still parading with party officials he single-handedly appointed after 21st May, 2016, when the court ordered that the status quo before 21st May should be reverted to.

He, however, said that the way out of the PDP crisis was for all national officials to resign their positions, sign indemnity not to contest such resignation in court, then form a committee, consisting of members from his and Sheriff’s groups to organise a transparent convention, where there would be a level playing field for all the groups.

Speaking further on the PDP crisis and the 2019 general elections, Senator Makarfi said, the crisis was not a determinant factor of 2019 elections outcome, saying even the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) and his own party were not likely to remain the same till 2019.

He said that the PDP despite its crisis had perfected its strategies, which he said they were keeping to their hearts, ahead of the gubernatorial elections in Ekiti, Anambra and Osun later in the year.