PDP: Makarfi heads to S/Court to stop Sheriff
Police barricade meeting venue Nigeria’s democratic freedom declining – Ekweremadu
The police yesterday stopped the Sen. Ahmed Makarfi faction of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) from holding its stakeholders meeting at the International Conference Centre (ICC) in Abuja.
Daily Trust correspondent who visited the ICC by 11:15am saw heavily armed policemen stationed at the venue’s gate and around the premises with their patrol vans and a banner with the inscription ‘Find another venue’.
By 1:30pm, the police were seen stopping vehicles from gaining entry into the venue. One of them who spoke with our correspondent in confidence simply said: “that is the order from the above.”
The development forced the Makarfi-led National Caretaker Committee of the party, which planned the event to move to the Ekiti State Governor’s Lodge, where party leaders passed a vote of confidence on Makarfi and pledged to work with him.
Prominent party leaders at the event were Governor Ayodele Fayose of Ekiti State; Nyesom Wike (Rivers); Emmanuel Udom (Akwa Ibom); Deputy Senate President Ike Ekweremadu, former governor of Jigawa State, Sule Lamido; former governor of Kaduna State Ramalan Yero and former Kebbi State governor, Saidu Usman Dakingari.
Also in attendance were former minister of Aviation Femi Fani-Kayode; former governor of Kogi State, Idris Wada; former minister of Special Duties, Tanimu Turaki; BoT chairman, Senator Walid Jibrin, among others.
A statement by the committee’s spokesman, Prince Dayo Adeyeye, accused the party’s embattled national chairman, Sen. Sheriff and the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) of conniving to kill the PDP.
“Senator Ali Modu Sheriff in collaboration with the APC-led federal government has barricaded the The deputy President of the Senate, Sen. Ike Ekweremadu, yesterday lamented what he described as “the manipulation of vital institutions of democracy and radical decline of democratic freedoms in Nigeria.”
Ekweremadu was quoted in a statement by his media aide, Uche Anichukwu, as saying this during the PDP National Stakeholders meeting, which held yesterday at the Ekiti State International Conference Centre (ICC), venue of the scheduled stakeholders meeting of the entire organs of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
“This is a very sad development in our democratic history where there is no longer free association and movement of citizens of this country,” the statement said.
In a communiqué at the end of the meeting which lasted for several hours, the faction resolved to file an appeal at the Supreme Court to challenge the decision of the appeal court which held that Sheriff is the authentic chairman of the party.
It said: “That we fully endorse the prompt and proactive decision of the national caretaker committee to lodge an appeal to the Supreme Court of Nigeria against the decision of the Court of Appeal as well as filing an application for injunction pending appeal all of which was done in the morning of Monday 20th February 2017.
“That having duly filed both an appeal to the Supreme Court and an application for Injunction Pending Appeal in the morning of Monday the 20th February 2017, we pass a resounding and unqualified vote of confidence in the leadership of the Sen. Ahmed Mohammed Makarfi-led committee of the PDP and pledge our unalloyed support to it as it pilots the affairs of the party in this critical transitional period of the party’s life.” Governor’s Lodge, Asokoro, Abuja.
Ekweremadu, who was particularly peeved at the sealing of the International Conference Centre, Abuja, the earlier announced venue of the PDP stakeholders meeting by security agencies, said that such flagrant manipulation of critical institutions of democracy was not only dangerous, but bad news for the nation’s democracy.
“We are aware that all the institutions of democracy are being manipulated and harassed in this country. The National Assembly and the press are not left out. The INEC has been captured and now a part of the All Progressives Congress (APC). Our judiciary is being insulted and assaulted every day; Their houses are being attacked very late at night and the judges are being harassed.
“So, we are not surprised at what we are seeing today (sealing of meeting venue). But what remains is for us to remain resolute,” he said.
He also decried the worsening economic conditions of the country, noting that all APC promises had been kept in the reverse order saying, the naira is the worst currency in Africa today.
“They told us that one US dollar would be one naira when they take over. Has that happened? Today, our currency is the worst currency in the whole of Africa. Is that the type of democracy we looked forward to?
“I can see a situation where the price of oil is going up and the value of naira is going down. What type of economics is that?” he queried.