Makarfi urges Sheriff to tow the path of dialogue

The National Caretaker Committee of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), has advised the disputed National Chairman of the party, Sen.

The chairman of the committee, Sen. Ahmed Makarfi, gave the advice on Monday in Abuja when he received the report of the PDP Edo governorship primaries.

``Once again, I called upon the former chairman of PDP, my colleague and friend Sheriff and those associating with him to follow the part of dialogue.

``They should not to do anything further that will cost PDP harm in Edo state,’’ Makarfi said.

He said that it was important for the party to work together as INEC had stated that it required 21 days notice to monitor any primary.

``This means validly and legally, no any primary can be conducted apart from the one which we conducted and monitored by INEC.

``If the intention is not to cause the PDP to fail the election, any talk towards conducting other primaries in Edo by anybody either within or outside the state is supposed to have ceased by this time.

``I will continue to plead that what you cannot achieve through peace or dialogue, you cannot achieve it through the opposite,’’ he added.

He said that the committee had set a standard that needed to be emulated at all levels of the party’s primaries to make the election transparent.

The chairman of the primaries committee, Gov. Dave Umahi of Ebonyi while submitting the report, said that the primary was peaceful and successful.

Umahi urged party members to continue to believe in PDP as well as support the party’s candidate in the September 10 election.

He commended the maturity and respect Makarfi and his team accorded to Sheriff in handling the party leadership crisis.

He also called on leaders of the party to persuade Sheriff to discontinue the path he was going in order to have a united house in the PDP.

``Let me also appeal to Sheriff that no one can be greater than the party. He may have been wronged on moral ground, but by the reason of our party’s constitution, let him have a rethink,’’ he said.