The National Executive of the Peoples Democratic Party has fixed August 12, 2017, to hold a non-elective national convention in Abuja.

The decision comes after a series of meetings by the various organs of the party.

At an expanded caucus meeting in Abuja on Monday, former President Goodluck Jonathan called on members of the party to focus on rebuilding it ahead of the 2019 general elections.

According to him, the PDP has the chance to regain power at the centre if the leaders are able to build the party's structures that were almost destroyed by the protracted legal tussle.

In the same vein, both the Senate Deputy President Ike Ekweremadu and the Chairman of the PDP Governors’ Forum, Ayodele Fayose of Ekiti State urged members to rebuild the confidence of the electorates in their constituencies, so that they can vote the PDP in subsequent elections.

Meanwhile, the chairman of the Caretaker Committee, Senator Ahmed Makarfi assured members that he would seek to deepen the party’s reconciliation efforts, to reunite those who had defected to other political parties.

The meeting was the first of its kind in the wake of the Supreme Court judgment, which put to rest the leadership tussle that threatened the unity of the party in the last 13 months.

It was attended by chieftains of the party, including former national chairmen, serving and former governors, as well as former ministers from the party.

However, the ousted National Chairman, Senator Ali Modu Sheriff and his major supporters were absent at the meeting, although the Caretaker Committee said they were invited.

Efforts to reunite members commenced last week after the Supreme Court brought to an end the leadership tussle which had left the former ruling party in disarray.

On July 12, a three-man Supreme Court panel, led by Justice Olabode Rhodes-Vivour ruled that Sheriff ceasds to be the party’s national chairman and ordered Makarfi to take over the leadership. (Channels TV)

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