The Board of Trustees (BoT) of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) yesterday took over the National Secretariat of the party at Wadata House,Wuse Abuja.
BoT members, led by their chairman, Senator Walid Jubrin, met with the staff of the party at the party’s secretariat, signalling the first formal activity to take place in the premises after a nine-day lockdown.
Addressing the staff, Senator Jibrin, who gave the assurance that the BoT members had not come to take over the party, however noted that there cannot be a vacuum in the management of the affairs of the party.
He added that the BoT had to step in because there was no court order against it unlike the Senator Ahmed Markarfi-led Caretaker Committee and the erstwhile national chairman, Senator Ali Modu Sheriff.
Jibrin thanked the Inspector General of Police (IGP) for lifting the lockdown on the party’s national secretariat, and said that the BoT was entrusted with the constitution of the party to be in charge of its assets and liabilities.
“BoT remains the only legal body in the whole set-up that has no court order against it. We are here to play our role and not take over the secretariat. We are hoping that the problems will be resolved.
“BoT is taking it upon itself to resolve the problems in the party. We have gone very far in resolving the problems. We are making contacts and consultations.
“The BoT has not come to apportion blames. We seek your cooperation; we are not here to take over offices of anybody. Your offices are our offices. We will do our best to ensure normalcy in the party. We will do that without fearing anybody. We will do that so that our name and role will be fully maintained.”
He stated that the PDP was not about to crumble, but that it had come to stay.
“We are only on sabbatical leave. When we are done, we will return to the centre. We are going back in 2019 but we can only do that if we cooperate. We have come to play the role of fathers,” he said.
On the internal wrangling affecting the PDP ahead of the Edo and Ondo governorship primaries, Jibrin said the party elders were putting their heads together so that all the problems will be resolved soon.
When he was asked the time the Markarfi caretaker committee would assume duty, the BoT secretary, Ojo Maduekwe, said the party leaders were awaiting the resolution of the court orders hindering the committee from performing, adding that “caretaker committee members are working somewhere, that is why we don’t see them here.”
While he called for the speedy resolution of the matters in court, internally, he added that the “biggest impunity is to rush to court. All those that have matters in court should withdraw them.”
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