Former President Goodluck Jonathan has summoned the camps of Ali Modu-Sheriff and Ahmed Makarfi of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to a crucial meeting in Abuja on Thursday.
This is in his bid to boost peace efforts in the troubled main opposition party.
The meeting which will be attended by other stakeholders of the party from both sides is expected to address the suspicion in either camps that had prevented them from coming to agreement.
Spokesman of the Ahmed Makarfi-led National Caretaker Committee, Dayo Adeyeye confirmed on Wednesday that the caretaker committee members will attend the meeting as put together by ex-president Jonathan.
Also, the national secretary of the Sheriff faction, Wale Oladipo, confirmed that a strong team to be led by Sheriff will be at the meeting.
Ex-president Jonathan had earlier waded into the crisis, during which he called on both sides to embrace political solution to resolving the matter.
The former president was quoted to have implored both Sheriff and Makarfi to step down and allow a neutral body take charge of the party affairs and conduct an acceptable National convention for the party where new set of leadership will emerge.
But Sheriff denied it and said that such proposal never emanated from the meeting he held with former president Jonathan while the Caretaker committee confirmed that such proposal was actually made by the ex-president.
Sheriff has repeatedly expressed his unwillingness to quit office as the party chairman until he preside over a convention of the party, while the caretaker committee has also insisted that it would not participate in any convention to be presided over by Sheriff.
However, while both camps were holding on strongly to their hard stance, the reconciliation committee led by Bayelsa Governor, Seriake Dickson proposed a template for the hosting of a unity convention.
The governor met with almost all organs of the party, with the exception of the National Executive Committee (NEC) to present the report of his committee containing the template for the proposed Unity Convention.
Governor Dickson’s committee also brokered a peace deal between the two camps during which it was agreed that a ceasefire be observed by both camps in relation to use of foul languages on one another.
