The Board of Trustees (BoT) of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) has directed the Ahmed Makarfi led Caretaker Committee to hold the party’s repeat national convention in Abuja instead of Port Harcourt.
The directive was contained in a communique issued by the BoT after a marathon meeting in Abuja Monday.
The communique, signed by BoT chairman, Sen. Walid Jubrin, also directed that the convention planning committee headed by the Rivers state Governor, Nyesom Wike be disbanded.
It ordered the Makarfi caretaker committee to set up of a new planning committee, to be approved by the National Executive Committee (NEC) of the party.
Two previous attempts by the PDP to hold the convention in Port Harcourt in May and August this year ended in a fiasco, throwing the party into deeper crisis arising.
The directives by the BoT were part of the conditions given by the faction led by the estranged National Chairman, Alhaji Ali Modu Sheriff for peace and reconciliation with the Makarfi committee before the last botched convention.
Thee BoT’s communique read in part, “The next convention should be held in Abuja.
“To ensure a credible, transparent, free and fair convention, a new Convention Planning Committee should be constituted by the National Caretaker Committee and approved by NEC”.
The communique further stated that the BoT should facilitate fund raising for the running of the party and directed to reconciliation committee headed by a former Information Minister, Prof. Jerry Gana to continue with its reconciliation efforts.
The meeting ended with the BoT passing a vote of confidence on the Makarfi led caretaker committee.
It charged the committee to convene a meeting of the NEC, with the view to approving proposals designed to steer the party away from crisis.