A member of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Mr George Eke, has attributed the crisis in the party to the power politics of the PDP governors.
Mr Eke, who was a guest on Channels Television’s breakfast programme on Tuesday, believed that the influence behind the crisis was internal and not external.
“The influence is internal. It is the power politics of governors who want to show that they are in charge (and) who want to take over the party,” he said.
Influence Of The Governors
However, the lawyer said although the influence of the governors could not be removed, they could be made to realise that “the PDP belongs to everyone”.
“You cannot remove the influence of the governors because the governors are members of the party and once they are incumbent governors, they control some votes (and) they control some influence.
“We cannot say we could do without the governors but we can whittle their influence.
“We can tell the governors that the party belongs to every other person inclusive of the governors,” he said on Sunrise Daily.
Mr Eke also gave his opinion on how the forthcoming PDP convention in Abuja could resolve the crisis rocking the party since May.
“The only way it (the convention) can resolve the crisis is if we do not look at one group as a bad group.
“If you continue to see him (Senator Ali Modu Sheriff) as a bad guy, you never can resolve this problem,” he stated.
The PDP member insisted that Senator Sheriff must be absorbed into the party, citing an instance where he added live to the party when “PDP was in toxic”.
Crisis in the PDP began after top leadership of the party at a convention in Port Harcourt in May removed the chairman of the party, Senator Ali Modu Sheriff and set up a Caretaker Committee led by Senator Ahmed Makarfi.
After his removal, Senator Sheriff continued to parade himself as the leader of the party, insisting that a court had asked the party not to hold the convention.
While both Senator Makarfi and Senator Sheriff continue to lay claims to the leadership of the party, different courts at different times have ruled in favour of both men as the leaders of the party.
