A high-powered committee set up to
revamp the fortunes of the Peoples Democratic Party has submitted a
report that may throw the fractious party into a new crisis. Among
others, the committee advised the party to sell its membership and also
restrict senior government positions and other perks to the highest
bidder.
Reliable sources within the party told that the plan had been accepted by the leadership of the Senator Ahmed Makarfi faction, which also set up the committee.
The Makarfi faction is the bigger of the
two factions fighting for the soul of the former ruling party. It has
the support of an overwhelming number of former governors, ministers and
power brokers.
However, it suffered a major setback at
the courts recently when the other faction led by former Borno State
Governor, Ali Modu Sheriff, was declared as the authentic executive of
the party. The Makarfi faction has however, challenged the decision of
the Court of Appeal at the Supreme Court.
, Prof. Jerry Gana, is moving around the
country, distributing copies of the report to prominent members of the
party.
Among those who are said to have
received it are former President Goodluck Jonathan; a former Chairman of
the Board of Trustees, Chief Tony Anenih; and a former National
Security Adviser; Gen. Mohammed Gusau (retd.) Some other members of the
BoT and the national caretaker committee have also collected copies of
the document, sources say.
The report, which was seen by our
correspondent during the week, groups the party’s membership into six
categories in descending order of members’ financial contributions.
Those in the highest categories are to have special benefits based on
their financial contributions to the party.
The categories are: Platinum, Diamond, Gold, Silver, Standard and Students in Tertiary Institutions.
According to the report, male members of
the party who desire to be Platinum members are to pay N500,000 a year
or N50,000 monthly instalments while women are to pay half the amount.
The benefits accruing to those in this
category include “opportunities to attend the expanded national caucus
meetings of the party, be invited to social and political events of the
party with the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and the
national chairman of the party.”
Members in this category are also to
contribute and participate in the formulation of key policy decisions
for the next general election.
“Consideration shall be given to
platinum card-carrying members for appointment into boards of Federal
Government-owned parastatals, agencies, ministerial appointments as well
as other benefits that accrue to the party,” the report says.
Other perks, the report says, “are
inclusive, but not limited to procurements, contracts and projects
(awards) at all levels of the party governance structure.”
For those in the diamond category, they are expected to pay N250,000 (men) or N200,000 (women) annually to the party.
The document also states that diamond
card-carrying members will enjoy most of the privileges associated with
those in the Platinum group.
The report adds that those in diamond
category “will (however) not be eligible for consideration into the
membership of Board of Trustees as well as contest for the position of
President and national party offices as the national chairman, deputy
national chairman and national secretary.”
Gold card members will be expected to
pay N200,000 (men) or N100,000 (women) minimum a year. They are expected
to enjoy the benefits accruing to those in the diamond card category.
Holders of Silver cards in the party,
according to the document, are expected to contribute N100,000 (men) or
N50,000 (women) per annum to the party.
But they will not enjoy contracts from
the government or be allowed to contest for national offices or be
considered for appointment as ministers.
However, Silver members may be
considered for commissionership appointments as well as other benefits
that may accrue to the party such as “procurements, contracts and
projects” at the state levels of the party’s governance structures.
Members who cannot afford to part with
the sums quoted above will be asked to cough out N3,000 (men) and N2,000
(women) annually. However, they will only be allowed to contest for
public posts at the local government and ward levels. Those in this
category are called “Standard membership” card holders.
Student membership is planned to be
free, but the document says it will be limited to “students in tertiary
institutions approved by the Federal Ministry of Education.”
In his reaction, the National Chairman
of the party, Senator Ali Modu Sheriff, said the cash-for-membership
plan would not work, adding that the party was not for sale. Sheriff
added that the plan of the Makarfi-led caretaker committee was to
handover the party to the rich.
Speaking through the Acting National
Publicity Secretary of the party, Mr. Bernard Mikko, the former Governor
of Borno State said, “That idea won’t work. We are talking and planning
to handover the party to the people, yet some people are secretly
planning an alliance to hijack it.
“The PDP is not for sale. We won’t allow
it to happen. The party is for ordinary Nigerians who are committed to
its ideals and not for a few, who are desperate to hijack it.”
Deputy National Chairman of the PDP, Dr. Cairo Ojougboh, also condemned the new membership plan.
“The committee should stop
misrepresenting us. It is going about dishing out the report to eminent
members of our party without authorisation,” he said.
But the spokesperson for the Makarfi
faction, Prince Dayo Adeyeye, disagreed with the critics of the new
plan, saying that it would be wrong for anyone to say that the committee
was not serving the interest of the party.
Interestingly, the party’s thinkers
would still like to have a situation where government funds political
parties. In the report, the Gana-led committee said the Federal
Government should continue to fund political parties.
It said, “It has been established that
political parties all over the world are funded by governments of their
various countries. This was also in practice in Nigeria before a
PDP-controlled National Assembly stopped it.
“Public funding of political parties
made it morally right for INEC to audit political parties’ assets since
most of the funds came from the government. It is hereby recommended
that the PDP should collaborate with other political parties to amend
the Electoral Law to restore regular funding of political parties by the
government.”
The committee further recommended that
the party should invest five per cent of its annual income in commercial
companies. In order to make more money, the committee said the party
must establish companies that would bid for contracts as well.
The report said, “It is recommended that
five percent of the party’s income be invested in reputable fund
managers and blue-chip companies such as pension funds, treasury bills,
bonds, telecommunications companies, oil companies etc. NEC should
determine such companies from time to time.
“It is further recommended, if approved
by the appropriate organs of the party, to establish PDP incorporated
organisations to handle party investments and also bid for contracts.”
23 PDP state chairmen back Sheriff
Meanwhile, 23 out of the 36 state
chapter chairmen have thrown their weight behind the National Chairman
of the party, Senator Ali Modu Sheriff.
They also said they were backing
recommendations made by the Governor Seriake Dickson’s Peace and
Reconciliation Committee for a unity national convention to hold not
later than August this year.
The state chairman stated this after their meeting in Abuja on Friday night.
In their communique, which was made
available to journalists on Saturday, they expressed concerns that if
the ongoing leadership crisis in the party was not resolved quickly, it
would affect the fortune of the party, especially as the Independent
National Electoral Commission had released the 2019 election timetable.
The communique of the meeting was read by the Federal Capital Territory PDP chairman, Mr. Yunusa Suleiman.
He said he and his colleagues were
supporting Sheriff because of the judgement of the Court of Appeal,
which pronounced him as the party’s substantive national chairman.
Suleiman added that the support of the
chairmen for Sheriff was without prejudice to the ongoing appeal lodged
by the Senator Ahmed Makarfi-led National Caretaker Committee of the
party, at the Supreme Court.
He said whatever decision reached by the apex court would be adhered to by them as well.
The chairman insisted that the political
solution being proffered by former president Goodluck Jonathan was the
best way out of the crisis.
The communique added, “The PDP state
chairmen are very concerned about the crises engulfing the party as it
is degenerating into the several defections from the party across the
nation.
“Bearing in mind the upcoming
Presidential elections timeline recently announced by the INEC, as key
political actors of the polity, we cannot sit back and allow our party
to degenerate to this level and we have thus decided to come forward and
proffer solutions to this crisis.
“In line with the only template
presented by the Peace and Reconciliation Committee of our party headed
by Henry Seriake Dickson, Governor of Bayelsa State, we wish to state
that we support the recommendation that a political solution is the best
and only solution to our crisis without prejudice to the ongoing
judicial processes,
“We are also in support of the committees’ recommendation of an all inclusive unity convention to be held as soon as possible.
“We, as legitimately elected chairmen
wish to state on the grounds of clarity that we shall never be in
support or be a part of any plan to tinker with the option of leaving
the PDP and forming another party.”
The communique was signed by 23 participants at the meeting.
But in a swift move, Makarfi described the state chairmen as fake, and dissidents.
Makarfi, who spoke through a member of
his committee, Prince Dayo Adeyeye on Saturday, added that the action of
the chairmen was a ruse.
He said, “We wish to state without
ambiguity that the action of these elements is a ruse, lies from the pit
of hell and a mere continuation of impunity of Senator Sheriff and his
dissident backers within the party.
“For the records, we wish to make it
clear that many of those men are not elected state chairmen of our
party, even when Senator Sheriff was the recognised chairman of the
party.
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