By The Senator Ahmed Makarfi-led Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) caretaker committee has declared that there is no plan to postpone the party’s national convention scheduled to hold on Wednesday in Port Harcourt, Rivers State.
Chairman of the Publicity Sub-Committee of the Convention Planning Committee, Chief Onyema Ugochukwu, in a statement issued in Abuja, denied the misconception that the convention had once again been postponed, advising members to disregard any such rumour.
He further invited all stakeholders of the party to turn up en masse at the Port Harcourt convention, to give a new lease of life to the party.
He also stated that the only legally recognised interim executive of the PDP empowered to organise a convention was the one led by Senator Makarfi.
Ugochukwu cited the tacit recognition of the Makarfi committee by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) as the only lawful interim leadership of the PDP and the recent judgment given by a high court in Port Harcourt, restraining the security agencies from interfering with the forthcoming convention to buttress his argument.
According to him, the Makarfi-led caretaker committee had worked very hard to achieve its mandate of organising a consensually agreed convention within 90 days from the date of the rescheduled event.
He recalled that the earlier convention hosted at the same venue, Saturday May 21, 2016, had put in place a caretaker committee to steer the affairs of the party on an interim basis. He noted that the convention had mandated the interim committee to organise a fresh convention within 90 days, to put in place a substantive national working committee, the highest executive organ of the party, to steer its affairs on a sustainable basis.
While enjoining members of the PDP to demonstrate loyalty and solidarity with the party by turning out en masse at the Port Harcourt convention, Ugochukwu used the opportunity to express the party’s appreciation to the governors elected on the platform of the party for their continued support towards the sustenance and survival of the party.
He singled out Rivers State governor, Nyesom Wike for special appreciation, for his generosity and conscientiousness in hosting two critical conventions of the party within the short span of three months despite the current harsh economy.
