The Board of Trustees (BoT) of the crisis-ridden Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) have inaugurated an 18-man committee headed by former Minister of Information, Prof. Jerry Gana to reconcile its warring leaders and members.

The leading actors in the crisis are Senator Ali Modu Sheriff and Senator Ahmed Makarfi.

The committee is believed to have been set up to prepare the stage for the smooth conduct of the August 17, 2016 National Convention of the party in Port Harcourt, Rivers State.

While inaugurating the committee, the PDP Board of Trustees (BoT) Chairman, Senator Walid Jubrin, said that PDP is not dead, adding that the party hoped to achieve the objective of reconciling all warring members before its national convention.

He advised those insinuating that the PDP is dead to come back and help to rebuild the party.

Jubrin urged the committee, which has seven days to submit its report to explore avenues of reaching out to all affected members by adhering to the PDP’s constitutional provisions and ensure that pending matters are settled out of court.

He said: “We have therefore decided to set up a special committee with a view to resolving the problem. With the calibre of people we have chosen to represent the BoT, I am very optimistic that the end of this conflict has come and that we shall all come out smiling before our convention.

“We want us to agree that our party will rely on its Constitution and if we do, we must also agree that this party is supreme, it is above everyone. We must all put our hands on deck to ensure that we resolve this crisis politically.

“The BoT is the conscience of this party and I think God will not forgive us if we do nothing. With all the court cases, about 15 of them, the way forward is to allow all the aggrieved persons to come together and agree to take all the cases out of the courts and support this very important committee that will start work immediately,” he said.

Jubrin urged the committee to remain resolute and ignore rumours in the discharge of their duties.

“Leaders who are talking in newspapers that this party is dead are wrong; it is only in the imagination of anyone that is saying that this party is dead and that it will not come back. Such people should change their minds. If they come back to the party, we are ready to receive them,” he said.

In his response, Gana said that he is convinced that not all political crises should be resolved in the courts.

He urged Nigerians to fervently pray for the committee to succeed and not to discourage members from performing their assignments.

Gana also appealed to Sheriff and his supporters to accept the olive branch extended to them by the committee so that the party could make headway as a vibrant opposition party to the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC)-led Federal Government. (The AUTHORITY)

•Photo shows Prof. Jerry Gana.

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