- Inaugurates Lagos, Kwara caretaker committees
Onyebuchi Ezigbo in Abuja
The Chairman of the National Caretaker Committee of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Senator Ahmed Makarfi, has asked feuding members of the party not to send wrong signals to other Nigerians itching to join the opposition by refusing to end intra party quarrel.
Makarfi gave the charge yesterday in Abuja while inaugurating caretaker executives for Lagos and Kwara States.
He, however, expressed optimism that most of the crises are giving way and that normalcy is fast returning to the PDP.
“Anyone who wants to come around should come and join. The party is big enough to accommodate all. In fact, all we should be doing is to invite people to come and join the party but how can we do this if we continue to fight among ourselves. We will be sending throng the message. However I am glad that we are sending the right message now,†he said.
Makarfi told the state caretaker committees that theirs is a more difficult job of going to revive the party structure at the local level by establishing local government area and ward executives.
He charged them to ensure that they conduct an all-inclusive local government and ward congress elections in the respective states.
“I want us to stop looking these things as if everything starts and ends with what we are doing right now. We have only started the process of democratisation which will be taken down to the local level.
“You are to go back to your states to consult and set up local government committees and ward caretaker committees in your states immediately. There is a lot of room at the lower levels to ensure that power returns to the people,†he said.
The PDP caretaker chairman said the inauguration is just the beginning of the process of democratisation of the party operations, adding that the important stages are those at the local and ward levels.
He, however, warned that any member who intends to run for substantive offices should not offer himself or herself for the caretaker committees. According to him, only two states, Adamawa and Osun, that are still outstanding and are yet to resolve the internal dispute.
He said party stakeholders must not send the wrong message that the party is not ready to admit more members by refusing to accommodate and work with one another.
Chief Tunde Osainakan is the chairman of the Lagos State chapter while Tunde Akindeyi is heading the Kwara State chapter of the PDP.
