|
New Page 12
Peace meeting:
Don’t bring thugs to Abuja
•PDP orders Ladoja, Adedibu
MATTHEW OGWUCHE,
Bureau Chief, Abuja
NATIONAL
leadership of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) rose from a meeting yesterday and
warned warring Gov. Rasheed Ladoja of Oyo State, his estranged political mentor,
Alhaji Lamidi Adedibu, and Chief Yakeen Adeojo, all of whom it has summoned to
Abuja, not to come with thugs.
The National Working Committee (NWC)
summoned the trio to appear before it next Tuesday.
The three chieftains of the party in the
state are to answer questions over the bloody crisis which had been rocking the
branch since last year.
The NWC’s resolution was contained in a
statement issued by PDP National Publicity Secretary, Mr. Venatius Ikem in
Abuja.
They were warned to come along with only
three persons each and to avoid coming with thugs to the National Secretariat
for a conflict resolution meeting or else they will be summarily dismissed from
the party.
The trio were also warned to desist from
making further press statements, which the party claimed could thwart the peace
process.
The NWC which also looked into the crisis
in the Kwara State branch overruled what it described as the purported expulsion
of the Minister of State for Health, Princess Funke Adedoyin and Alhaji Shaaba
Lafiaji, the state’s former governor and member of the Board of Trustees,
declaring the action as illegal and unconstitutional.
The NWC also resolved that it has
confirmed the reconstitution of the state executive of the party to accommodate
four members of the Dr. Olusola Saraki group.
It appealed to the state executive and
other members "to embrace peace and allow the umbrella to accommodate all
voices."
A stalemate developed in the Oyo State
chapter recently when despite the intervention of a PDP peace team led by the
National Chairman, Chief Audu Ogbeh, the state congress met and expelled Alhaji
Adedibu from the party.
Reacting swiftly, Adedibu, known within
political circles as the "strongman of Ibadan politics," dismissed his expulsion
as "the biggest joke of the year."
However, the NWC was surprisingly silent
on other crisis situations within the party which it was learnt were also
reportedly deliberated upon at the meeting.
These include the Anambra political crisis
involving Gov. Chris Ngige and Chief Chris Ubah the impeachment move against the
Abia State Deputy Governor, Dr. Chima Nwafor, and the opposition by four of the
five South-South governors to the appointment of Chief Godspower Ake as the new
National Vice-Chairman (South-South) to replace the late Chief A.K. Dikibo.
|
