Chief Olabode Ibiyinka George, former Deputy National Chairman of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), has condemned the handling of the processes leading to the holding of the coming PDP national convention by the party’s national chairman, Senator Ahmed Makarfi, calling on him to resign his position forthwith for the sake of propriety, equitable balance and moral appropriateness.
The PDP has scheduled the exercise for December 9, 2017 in Abuja.
George, who is one of the chairmanship aspirants in the exercise made the demand in a release titled, “Makarfi should resign now!” issued on Tuesday on his behalf by the Director-General, Bode George Campaign Organization, Alhaji Ibrahim K. Aliu (OFR).
According to the DG, Bode George Campaign Organization, the role being played by Makarfi as Chairman of the PDP Caretaker Committee ahead of the party’s national convention on December 9, this year was increasingly disturbing and rather untidy, accusing him of pursuing personal ambition of contesting for the presidential office in 2019 and brazenly aligning with a particular aspirant in the South-South to deliberately distort the process.
“It is increasingly disturbing and rather untidy the role Senator Ahmed Makarfi, Chairman of the PDP Caretaker Committee is presently playing in the processes towards the party national convention on December 9, this year.
Apparently spurred by personal ambition of contesting for the Presidential office in 2019, Makarfi is brazenly allying with a particular aspirant in the South-South to deliberately distort the process, muddle equity and invariably destroy the democratic process for transient personal gains.
“For the sake of propriety, for the sake of all that is good and meaningful, for the sake of equitable balance and moral appropriateness, we strongly advise Senator Makarfi to resign his position forthwith because he has been severely compromised,” he said.
Speaking further, Alhaji Aliu described Makarfi’s action as sickening, untoward, blatantly tendentious, and totally stripped of the typical moral high ground that often defined a well-meaning, God-fearing arbitrating leadership.
He said it was apparent that everywhere one looked, Makarfi was planting the agents of his favourite candidate to stage manage warped and skewed congresses in an undisguised mockery of all the normative patterns of the PDP founding fathers whose enduring forte about equity, justice, and fairness was now being flung into the gutter.
“In a way, Makarfi is evidently resolved to repeat the farcical malady that characterized the debacle in Port Harcourt last year. We have equally resolved that we will not be led along this ruinous path again. Never!
“He (Makarfi) can no longer play the role of a neutral arbiter who stands far above the fray. He is already tarred and soiled in the muddy waters of partisan prejudice. Makarfi should now do the most honourable thing by walking away and face his ambition squarely. He cannot use a privilege non-elective position to wangle undue advantages to his own side. It is patently unacceptable,” the Bode George Campaign DG reiterated.
Aliu, therefore, charged, “We need to redeem our party by being faithful to the great ideals of our founding fathers, urging PDP elders across the country to summon an emergency summit as a matter of priority to deliberate on the right way to restrategize the party and rectify the wrongs on the ground.
“We really believe that elders of the party across the nation should summon an emergency summit to deliberate on the right way to re-strategize our party and rectify the wrongs on the ground. All the elders across the zones must take it as a priority that this party can only be redeemed and restore to its winning ways when we are all sincere, genuine, and anchored on the path of salvaging righteousness,” he said.
