Outcry as Makarfi faction unveils membership plan for PDP members
- A new Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) plan says membership of the opposition will now be paid for
- The new membership plan is categorized into six and the people in the high cadre, the Platinum members will enjoy government positions, contracts and chance to become Board of Trustees members among other things
- The Ahmed Makarfi started the plan but the Ali Modu Sheriff faction has kicked at it saying that the party is not for sale
The Punch is reporting that the Senator Ahmed Makarfi faction of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has perfected moves to use the party’s structure to generate funds for the opposition.
According to the report, a high-powered committee made up of 201 members and headed Professor Jerry Gana has advised the party to sell its membership and also restrict senior government positions and other perks to the highest bidder.
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Sources within the party Gana has been moving around the country, distributing copies of the report, which has been accepted by the larger Makarfi faction, to prominent members of the party.
It was this report that former President Goodluck Jonathan, ex-national chairman Bamanga Tukur, former Chairman of the Board of Trustees Chief Tony Anenih and a former National Security Adviser; Gen. Mohammed Gusau (retd.) received recently.
Some other members of the BoT and the national caretaker committee have also collected copies of the document, sources say.
The report groups the party’s membership into six categories in descending order of members’ financial contributions. The Punch reports that those in the highest categories are to have special benefits based on their financial contributions to the party.
The categories are: Platinum, Diamond, Gold, Silver, Standard and Students in Tertiary Institutions.
Male members of the party that desire to be Platinum members are to pay N500,000 a year or N50,000 monthly instalments while women will pay N250,000.
“Consideration shall be given to platinum card-carrying members for appointment into boards of Federal Government-owned parastatals, agencies, ministerial appointments as well as other benefits that accrue to the party,” the report says.
Other perks, the report says, “are inclusive, but not limited to procurements, contracts and projects (awards) at all levels of the party governance structure.”
In the diamond category, men will pay N250,000 (men) or N200,000 (women) annually to the party and the report explains that they “will (however) not be eligible for consideration into the membership of Board of Trustees as well as contest for the position of President and national party offices as the national chairman, deputy national chairman and national secretary.”
And so on are the breakdowns.
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But the national chairman of the party and leader of the court-backed faction Senator Ali Modu Sheriff decried the plan saying the party was not for sale and the idea was to handover the party to the rich.
He spoke through the acting national publicity secretary of the party Bernard Mikko, saying: “That idea won’t work. We are talking and planning to handover the party to the people, yet some people are secretly planning an alliance to hijack it.
“The PDP is not for sale. We won’t allow it to happen. The party is for ordinary Nigerians who are committed to its ideals and not for a few, who are desperate to hijack it.”
Meanwhile, River state governor and top chieftain of the PDP Nyesom Wike has accused the police in his state and the Nigerian police as a whole of affiliating itself to a political party in the country.
Daily Post reports that Wike made this statement during a meeting with the new Commissioner of Police Zaki Ahmed at the government house in Port Harcourt.
The governor urged the police to concentrate on their constitutional responsibility of providing internal security for Nigerians.
Source: Legit.ng
