As part of the options of resolving the crisis in the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), some governors and leaders of the party have started consultations on how to concede the National Chairman to the South West.
The development may lead to the party asking both the sacked National Chairman of the party, Senator Ali Modu Sheriff and the Chairman of the Caretaker Committee, Senator Ahmed Makarfi, to step aside.
The ceding of the slot to the South-West was said to be a midstream approach (otherwise dubbed the third alternative) to the crisis which had been purportedly fuelled by PDP leaders from the North.
It was not immediately clear if the two warring factions will buy into this option.
According to investigation, some governors and leaders of the party have started looking beyond the court to resolve the unending crisis in the PDP.
They said the best alternative will be doing away with Sheriff and Makarfi in order to give peace a chance.
But there were fears that the third option might not be acceptable to either Sheriff or Makarfi.
While Sheriff is adamant that his tenure will end in 2018, Makarfi’s Caretaker Committee has a three-month renewable lifespan.
As at press time, those being considered are a former Minister of Education, Prof. Tunde Adeniran; a former Deputy National Chairman of the party, Chief Olabode George; a former Minister of State for FCT, High Chief Olajumoke Akinjide; the incumbent National Secretary of the PDP, Prof. Wale Oladipo; and a former governorship aspirant in Oyo State, Chief Teslim Folarin.
A top source, who spoke in confidence, said: “The way the PDP crisis is going, there might not be an end to it. Some governors and leaders of our party are looking into a midstream approach to it.
“The quickest option is to allow power shift at the chairmanship level to the South West because the key actors in this dispute are from the North. We want a situation whereby there will be no winner, no vanquished.
“If our governors and leaders are in favour of this shift to the South West, we will then prevail on Sheriff and Makarfi for an out-of-court settlement and form a unity National Working Committee (NWC) to manage the affairs of the party.”
A BOT member said: “We are thinking of a solution which will border on neither Sheriff nor Makarfi in order to move the party forward. Even if it will be at the caretaker level, it is better to do away with these two factions.
“But some of us feel that recourse to legal action cannot end the crisis in the PDP. And if we go ahead like this till 2019, all of us will lose out.”
As at press time, Sheriff and Makarfi were yet to meet on how to reconcile because of alleged disagreement on the agenda for the meeting.
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