South-West PDP Leaders Meet, Set-Up Peace Committee

By Sakin Babalola, Ibadan

The embattled Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has started moves to sink differences among its members which led to the polarization of the party.

Leaders and stakeholders of the party in the South- West zone met in Ibadan, Oyo State capital on Monday for a peace parley between the warring members in the Senator Makarfi and Senator Ali-Modu Sheriff’s factions.

The ‘General Assembly’ met to resolve and restore an enduring harmony into two factions of the party.

The meeting with the theme: “Working together to regenerate our party in line with the spirit of the founding fathers” was presided over by former Deputy National Chairman of the Party, Chief Shuaib Oyedokun and it had in attendance party chieftains drawn from different states of the South West.

Participants at the meeting include: former Speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon. Dimeji Bankole; former Leader of the Senate, Senator Teslim Folarin; former Minister of Sports, Professor Taoheed Adedoja; former Minister of Education, Professor Tunde Adeniran; Barr. Jimoh Ibrahim; Senator Sunday Fajimi; Senator Buruji Kashamu and a host of other party leaders.

At the end of the five-hour meeting, a peace committee was set up to look into all intra-party fractions with a view to bringing in all aggrieved members to harmony.

In a communiqué issued and read out to newsmen by Professor Adedoja, the PDP leaders applauded the ongoing peace moves at the Federal level by the Sheriff and Makarfi groups while urging all other zones in the country to resolve their internal grievances accordingly.

Specifically, all party leaders in attendance resolved to remain with the PDP irrespective of the various challenges facing the party at the National, Zonal and States levels, with the aim of capturing the centre come 2019.

However, the members admonished the leadership of the PDP to clearly zone the party Chairmanship to the South-West “being the only zone that had never occupied the position in the past.”

The forum also urged the PDP leadership in Ondo State to close ranks and work together as a solid and united team to sustain the control of the state by the party at the forthcoming governorship election in the state.

In his address, Bankole commended the peace initiative in the PDP, describing it as a good development, just as he disclosed that he had been staying back from the fold since the past five years due to the raging misunderstanding in the party, both at the national and the zonal levels.

Bankole said: “I have not been attending South-West meetings due to the political differences. If this is the beginning of unification in the PDP, I am part of it. I noticed that a peace committee has been set up and this is a good omen.”