Crisis hits PDP as senator's faction seeks to register new party, APDP

There have been several reports that some top members of the Senator Ahmed Makarfi faction of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) are seeking to register a new party.

According to the Sahara Reporters, the Chairman of the Caretaker Committee of the PDP's faction have applied for the registration of a new party called Advanced Peoples Democratic Party (APDP).

Reportedly, these PDP members were prompted to make this move after the Makarfi-led caretaker committee was sacked by the Port Harcourt High Court and replaced with Sen. Ali Modu Sheriff’s faction of the party.

A statement from a PDP chieftain in Abuja has confirmed that some members of the Makarfi faction of the PDP are unhappy with the replacement and are definitely trying to convince others of the need to form a new political party.

The PDP chieftain said, “Right from the beginning, Sheriff was a big mistake; he did eight years as governor on a party platform opposed to PDP and he has never been known for the kind of brotherly compromise that our people are expecting."

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An anonymous top official of the PDP, who spoke with Daily Trust, has confirmed that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has received this application and added that the commission is not opposed to the idea.

The source said: "We are making alternative efforts to register a new political party ahead of the 2019 elections. Initially, INEC was trying to dismiss it on the ground that the new name had PDP in it but we pointed out to them that our party is different in that it has ‘Advanced’ added to the PDP, which is not the same as PDP.

“We have started the process; at least the application is with them. That is the first phase, and they have not contacted us for the second phase, which is the payment of the requisite N1 million and fill their form."

In spite of this confirmation, the Chief Press Secretary to the Chairman of INEC, Mr Rotimi Oyekanmi, has denied any knowledge of the application to register the new party.

However, this has not stopped the Ali Modu Sheriff faction of PDP from speaking out against this new party.

The Nation reports that the Deputy National Chairman to Sheriff, Dr. Cairo Ojougboh, has referred to this as an Advanced Free Fraud.

In a telephone conversation, he said:”The PDP is a lawful franchise and we won’t associate with fraud.”

He also urged PDP members and the public not to “have anything to do with the so called Advanced PDP.”

Others are yet to react to this development.