Former President Goodluck Jonathan, Saturday, threw his weight behind the Governor Seriake Dickson-led Peace and Reconciliation Committee, insisting that a political solution remained the best option to resolving ongoing crisis in the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
Receiving the governor and members of his committee in his country home at Otuoke, Ogbia local government area, Bayelsa State, Jonathan urged the contending parties to embrace negotiations as a way out of the current party challenge.
Jonathan , who made the remarks after receiving the report of the peace Committee, said party affairs should be treated like a family matter and settled out of court.
He commended the Dickson-led committee immensely for its good work saying members of the committee deserved encouragement.
He particularly thanked the governor and his entourage for going round the country to meet with key stakeholders and leaders of the party to seek ways of returning peace to the PDP.
Jonathan expressed reservation over the use of courts to settle political matters, stressing that a political solution would ensure a win-win outcome for the warring groups within the party.
He said: “ I believe a political solution remains the best means of resolving the crisis in the party and that’s why the Dickson committee must be commended.
“No two parties go to court and come out smiling especially for a political party like the PDP that’s in the opposition”, the former president opined”.
Giving instances of people who went to court and at the end could not get the desired result, Jonathan insisted that courts should ordinarily have no business in deciding who should be the chairman of a political party.
The former president called on the parties to submit themselves to a political solution and expressed hope that it would finally rest the protracted crisis.
On his part before presenting the report to the former President, Dickson aligned himself to some of the remarks made by Engr Aba Gana, a former Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), who had earlier spoken.
Dickson added that Bayelsa State has benefited substantially from the PDP, declaring that the party remains the only one that has given the position of President to Bayelsa, a minority.
He expressed Bayelsa’s indebtedness to the PDP, insisting that it is a thing of pride to work to ensure that the crisis in the party is finally resolved.
Earlier, Gana, who is a member of PDP’s Board of Trustee paid glowing tributes to the remarkable leadership quality of Dickson referring to him as a peacemaker.
“He has pushed the process so relentlessly to the extent that the success of finding a lasting resolution of the crisis has become evident”, Gana said.
He also commended former President Jonathan for conceding defeat to President Muhammadu Buhari at the time he did.
He maintained that that singular move restored peace to Nigeria and averted the looming crisis that would have consumed a number of lives.
Gana noted that a leader who could achieve that feat effortlessly, would even do much more to restore peace in the PDP.