Fresh crisis in South-West PDP over legal representation of sacked national auditor

 Efforts of the ruling People’s Democratic Party (PDP) to reconcile aggrieved members of the party in the South West may have hit brick walls as governors of the party have asked the zone to resolve their crisis internally.

Members of the National Working Committee of the party last week attempted to reconcile all aggrieved members of the party in the zone but key figures including former President Olusegun Obasanjo and former National secretary of the party boycotted the reconciliation parley.

A fresh dimension into the crisis blew open when Joe Gadzama SAN, the legal counsel of the party informed the sacked national auditor of the party, Bode Mustapha that he was not withdrawing from the suit filed against the party to challenge the sack of the southwest executive by a Lagos Federal High Court.

Sources disclosed that the PDP Governors’ Committee set up to resolve the crisis in the South West and led by Governor Ibrahim Shema of Katsina State, was dissatisfied over over the refusal of the refusal of prominent members of the party in South West to shift ground and for the party to reconcile the members.

A source close to the meeting of the Shema-led committee disclosed “it was as a result of the various camps at the meeting not shifting their position that made the PDP Governors’ Committee to tell the group to go and reconcile themselves and inform them the decision reached.”

The source said “The forum only tried to ensure genuine reconciliation. I think their role was simply persuasive and they made that clear to us that they cannot usurp the function of the party national working committee.”

The meeting of the committee held during the week had to be adjourned indefinitely but not without Shema warning that the failure of the stakeholders to shift ground could affect the fortunes of the party.

He had to appeal to the PDP southwest stakeholders at the meeting to do away with” politics of exclusiveness and encourage unity within the party for the purposes of achieving a greater unity for the overall good of the zone”.

Prominent party leaders present at the inconclusive meeting included Tokunbo Kayode, former minister of Defence; Olusola Oke, former national legal adviser of PDP and later Ondo State governorship candidate of the party; Segun Oni and Ayo Fayose, both former governors of Ekiti State and Bode Mustapha, sacked national auditor of PDP; Gbenga Daniel, Musiliu Obanikoro and Ebenezer Babatope.

TUNJI OLAWUNI, Abuja