March 25
Court not solution to party,election matters–Jonathan
The Bayelsa State Governor and the Chairman of the Reconciliation Committee of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP),
Governor Seriake Dickson has submitted the final draft of the Committee template to the Former President, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan, announcing that the duo of Senators Ali Modu Sheriff and Ahmed Makarfi have signed a ceasefire agreement for the peaceful resolution of the Party crisis.
Governor Dickson,who led two members of the Reconciliation Committee, the Former Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Engr. Muhammed Abba-Gana and a former Member of the Federal House of Representative, Hajia Halwa Ilusa Kida, to the Otuoke country home of Former President, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan also announced that Senator Ali Modu Sherif has declared his commitment to the peace process with a signed document submitted to the Committee.
Governor Seriake Dickson made this known in Otuoke in Ogbia Local Government Area of Bayelsa while presenting the Committee’s template, copy of the signed ceasefire agreement and copy of Senator Ali Modu Sherriff’s letter of Commitment to Former President Goodluck Jonathan.
Governor Dickson told the gathering of PDP Leaders that the proposal submitted by the reconciliation committee and the political solution submitted will work and make peace possible within the Party,
Governor 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.
Before presenting the report to Jonathan, Dickson 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.
The Former President, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan,who commended the Governor Seriake Dickson-led Peace and Reconciliation Committee, insisted that a political solution remained the best option to tackling the ongoing crisis in the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
Jonathan urged the contending parties to embrace compromise and negotiations as a way out of the current challenge.
According to him, a political solution remain the best means of resolving the crisis in the party, noting that Dickson and his Committee deserve all the encouragement.
Dr Jonathan expressed reservation over the use of courts to settle purely political matters, stressing that a political solution would ensure a win-win outcome for the warring groups within the party.
“Party difference,no matter what is like family squabbles. The best option to resolve it is out of the court.Yes, the purpose of the Courts is known to us.If you can not resolve the differences,you head to the Court. Most cases,when families go to court, they don’t come out smiling.”
“So, even if somebody wins, the family is forever divided. I I take a longer time to come together. But if they are able to resolve their difference, they immediately start smiling and embrace. I believe party differences shoukd take that patter.”
He regretted that the present crisis within the PDP has gone to the High Court and the Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court, “But let me assure you that PDP will emerge stronger.We are talking to ourselves and people should not be worried,we will come out stronger.”
Jonathan, who gave instances of people who went to court and at the end, did not get the desired result, 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.
Earlier, a member of the PDP Board of Trustees (BoT) and former minister of the FCT , Gana, paid glowing tributes to the remarkable leadership quality of governor Dickson as a peacemaker, commending his effort at pushing the peace process.
“ 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.
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