Going to S’Court won’t resolve issues, says Kashamu
The Senator, representing Ogun East Senatorial District, Buruji Kashamu, said the threat by Makarfi to head for the Supreme Court over last Friday’s verdict of the Court of Appeal would not resolve the crisis rocking the PDP.
He believed that going to the Supreme Court to appeal the appellate court’s judgment, would only prolong the crisis and make the current office holders to stay in office longer than they ordinarily would have done.
These were contained in a statement he issued on Sunday, a copy of which was made available to nigerianecho.com.
The lawmaker noted that both Sheriff and Makarfi had shown that they both had leadership qualities, and it was time for the two of them to come together and move the party forward.
Kashamu added that the PDP could not afford to continue as a divided house, stating that election in Anambra State would hold this year (2017), while that of Osun and Ekiti states would follow in 2018.
Kashamu said, “I sincerely doubt if anyone who is talking about going to the Supreme Court has the interest of the party at heart. Going to the Supreme Court will not resolve the issues. Rather, it will prolong them and further endanger the party.
“Senator Sheriff will not fold his hands and allow the judgment in his favour to be ridiculed.
“We have election coming up in Anambra State this year and later in Osun and Ekiti states. So, we must do primaries, either later this year or early next year.
“We cannot afford to allow the fate that befell us in Edo and Ondo states to repeat itself. The 2019 general elections are fast approaching.”
Kashamu also called on respectable leaders and elders in the party to intervene in the lingering dispute in order not to allow the ill-motivated opinion and selfish interest of a few to mislead them to taking actions that would not be in the overall interest of the party, its members and supporters.
He said, “We cannot afford to part now or divide our party any further. Let all true party men and women, young and old, rich and poor, strong or weak, rise and rally round our National Chairman, Senator Ali Modu Sheriff, and our national leader, Senator Ahmed Makarfi, to put the party together and organise a free and fair and all-embracing national convention within 45 to 60 days.”
Kashamu berated the governor of Ekiti State, Ayodele Fayose, for what he termed the governor’s “inconsistency” on the chairmanship of Sheriff, having supported his choice in the past and turned round singing a different tune.
The senator said, “Not a few have wondered why the volte-face by Governor Ayo Fayose of Ekiti State. Exactly a year ago, he praised the PDP National Chairman, Senator Ali Modu Sheriff, to high heavens, extolling his qualities. Now, he is singing a new song.
“The questions are: what has changed? Why the inconsistency? Why the flip-flop? Should anyone take him seriously?”
Meanwhile, the National Auditor of the party, Alhaji Fatai Adeyanju, said following the authentication of the Sheriff-led national executive council by the Court of Appeal in Port Harcourt, eight PDP governors out of 12 were already in talks with the Sheriff -led team.
He said this in Ijebu Igbo on Sunday during a stakeholders meeting of the party.
Adeyanju also urged leaders and members of the party to look beyond the judgment and come together to work for the party and help it play a formidable opposition role.