Goodluck wades into PDP crisis in bid to reconcile Sheriff and Makarfi factions

FORMER president Dr Goodluck Jonathan has offered to intervene in the lingering leadership crisis rocking his Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) that has resulted in their being two national chairmen claiming to be its leader.

 

Over recent months, the PDP has been in crisis following the election of former Borno State governor Senator Modu Sheriff as party chairman. However, a faction of the party elected former Kaduna State governor Senator Ahmed Makarfi, as interim chairman, with both sides laying claims to being its authentic leadership.

 

With the crisis showing no sign of abating, the former president, has decided to wade in and has been making calls to most of the principle parties involved in the dispute. After losing the 2015 presidential election, Dr Jonathan declared that he was going on sabbatical from politics for one year but has been forced into action sooner than he planned.

 

Yesterday, the party’s board of trustees led by Senator Walid Jubrin, visited Dr Jonathan and begged him to intervene in the crisis rocking the party. In response to their pleas, Dr Jonathan promised to do more to resolve the impasse.

 

Dr Jonathan said: “Unfortunately, we have been challenged but I don’t think you should be discouraged. Challenges are part of life, even in families there are challenges and there are challenges even in the church more than what may be happening at political level, so you should not be discouraged and I believe, collectively, we can solve it.

 

“This should not be beyond us but I believe collectively, we can resolve it. Any sincere PDP member should know that the party is bigger than an individual and many members have sacrificed their interest for the party.”