PDP Considering Reverting to Saraki’s Solution to Address Internal Crisis

•Wike’s group says Wabara’s BoT can’t suspend them

Chuks Okocha in Abuja

Indications emerged last night that the troubled leadership of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) was considering the possibility of reverting to the Dr. Bukola Saraki solution to the crisis plaguing the party, if it must survive its current challenges.

Saraki had advised the PDP leaders to manage their affairs in such a way that they would not need to resort to litigation, because he had envisaged that going to court would stall the progress and unity of the party.

Instead, the former senate president suggested the idea of caretaker committee to enable the party address its challenges before mulling the idea of a national convention.

The latest indications emerged as some members of the Nyesom Wike group in PDP said the party’s Board of Trustees (Bo  T)     led Senator Adolphus Wabara could not suspend them.

Saraki had urged PDP members to avoid factionalisation, saying such a situation would only play into the hands of their enemies.

He also advised that the leaders should manage the party to get to the national convention, where they could now fix the troubling issues, review the constitution, and chart the way forward.

A party source said, “The party leaders did not listen. They pushed the matter until the resultant court cases and factions. With the litigations, Saraki advised that the best move was to stop the convention and set up a caretaker committee that will be used to resolve all the issues and reconcile the various factions and groups.”

The source added, “Still, the feuding parties refused to listen, and they went to hold a convention that has now become an exercise in futility. With the recent decision of INEC, PDP has now become a flock of sheep without shepherds. A ship without a captain.

“The next move is to return to the Saraki formula. As the former governor of Kwara State has counselled, the leaders should not wait for court to give judgement in any of the cases. The party leaders should move among themselves and start talking about resolving the disagreements.”

Meanwhile, Saraki and some others have already begun moves to bring the party together again.

Nevertheless, some members of the BoT disowned a communiqué issued after the party’s 83rd BoT meeting, describing it as unconstitutional, illegal and without effect.

The aggrieved BoT members made their position known in a letter addressed to BoT chairman, Adolphus Wabara, through their legal representatives, C.T. Mue and Associates.

In the letter, the lawyers challenged paragraph eight of the communiqué, which reportedly announced the suspension of certain BoT members and referred them to the party’s National Working Committee (NWC) for disciplinary action.

They said the PDP constitution clearly limited the powers of the BoT to advisory, moral, custodial, mediatory and harmonising functions, as provided under Article 32(5).

They stressed that the board had no constitutional authority to discipline, suspend, or remove any of its members. They also argued that any resolution purporting to suspend BoT members was ultra vires, null and void.

The lawyers further cited Article 32(7) of the PDP constitution, which stipulated that only the party’s national convention, acting on the recommendation of the National Executive Committee (NEC), could remove a BoT member on grounds of misconduct or infirmity.

They stated that no such recommendation or convention decision existed in relation to their clients, describing the alleged suspensions as a “constitutional aberration.”