The National Caretaker Committee of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, has denied reports that the national convention of the party slated to hold in Port Harcourt, the Rivers State capital had been postponed, saying the August 17 date was sacrosanct.
A statement by the committee’s spokesman, Prince Dayo Adeyeye, on Thursday, said it was not true that the Chairman of the Caretaker Committee of the PDP, Senator Ahmed Makarfi, had suspended or postponed the event to allow time for more reconciliation on the leadership crisis in the Party.
The factional chairman of the party, Senator Ali Modu Sheriff, had reportedly listed suspension of the national convention and shifting of the venue from Port Harcourt to Abuja at a date to be decided by him, among other demands, as his condition for peace in the PDP.
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But the caretaker committee denied speculations the demands have been met and the convention postponed, insisting that “The information is false, null and void and only exists in the imagination of the authors and originators of the rumour”.
The statement reads in part: “For the umpteenth time, we reiterate there is no change to the August 17, 2016 Date slated for the PDP National Convention holding in Port Harcourt, Rivers State as approved by the Expanded Caucus of the Party in compliance with the Decision of the National Convention that reconvened itself within Ninety (90) Days.
“You will recall that the May 21st, 2016 National Convention in Port Harcourt that constituted the PDP National Caretaker Committee mandated it to organize and conduct another National Convention within 90 days from the Date of the last Convention. Therefore, the National Caretaker Committee has no power to extend the mandate given to it by the Port Harcourt National Convention and will not do so”.
It also said the caretaker committee “wishes to advise all stakeholders and the general public to ignore all rumours regarding the purported postponement of the forthcoming National Convention in Port Harcourt, Rivers State declaring that August 17, 2016 Date for the National Convention is sacrosanct and will hold as scheduled”.
The statement called on all members of the party nationwide to work closely with the leadership towards a successful convention that would elect credible party leaders to fill in the vacant positions at the national level.
