PDP
crisis: IGP wades in, meets Sheriff and Makarfi
– Police IG, Solomon Arase met with
the two warring factional leaders of the PDP
– The discussion at the meeting may
have been centered on a perceived threat to security in Abuja by suspected
supporters of the factional leaders
– The IGP appealed to the feuding
parties to refrain from any act that may threaten public order
Police IG, Solomon Arase held a
meeting with Makarfi and Sheriff Sheri
Following the crisis rocking the
Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), the Inspector General of Police, Solomon Arase
met with the sacked national chairman of the party, Ali Modu Sheriff and the
chairman of the caretaker committee of the party, Senator Ahmed Makarfi on
Wednesday, May 25. The meeting was ostensibly to find a solution to the crisis
that has enveloped the party since Sheriff was ousted as chairman at the May 21
national convention in Port Harcourt, Vanguard reports. Share on Facebook Share
on Twitter Makarfi and Sheriff Police IG, Solomon Arase held a meeting with
Makarfi and Sheriff Sheriff was sacked by the party and a caretaker committee
led by Makarfi, who is a former governor of Kaduna state was constituted. The
meeting was said to have behind closed door at the police headquarters, Louis
Edet House, Abuja.
A member of the Makarfi committee
confirmed the meeting saying, the IGP told the warring factions to maintain
peace and carry out their protests within the ambit of the law. Details of the
discussion between Arase and the party leaders is yet unknown. Recall that
after the botched convention which was held by different factions in Port
Harcourt and Abuja, the PDP national secretariat in Abuja was sealed by the
police, preventing both workers and officers of the party from going into the
premises. The police said it received intelligence that “some aggrieved
factional leaders and members of the PDP have perfected plans to engage thugs
from across the country to join them in threatening public peace and security
in Abuja” over the current leadership crisis within the party. The police have
remained in place till date. Things took a twist on Tuesday, May 24, when a
Federal High Court in Lagos ordered Sheriff to continue serving as the chairman
of the party. On the same day, a Federal High Court sitting in Port Harcourt
granted an interim injunction restraining Sheriff and Professor Oladipo from
parading themselves as national officers of the party. However, the party’s
Board of Trustees has said it will take over the leadership of the party.
