The chairman of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) Taraba state chapter, Hon Abubakar Bawa, inaugurated a 16-man reconciliation committee on Saturday, September 28th, 2024, after being directed by Taraba state Governor Agbu Kefas to ignore the composition of the committee members‘ list.

The Taraba State Working Committee of the PDP, through its publicity secretary Andeta‘rang Irammae, announced a list of 16 reconciliation committee members with a mandate to reinstate all the party’s aggrieved members on Tuesday, September 24th, 2024.

“The State Working Committee of the People’s Democratic Party (P.D.P) Taraba State Chapter has approved the constitution of a Reconciliation Committee to address intra–party grievances.

Sen. Zik Ambuno Sunday is the committee chairman, while Hon. Lawal Abdulkarim is the secretary, along with 14 other members.

A few hours after the PDP state working committee released the press statement, the office of the governor of Taraba state, Agbu Kefas, released a counter press statement urging journalists and the general public to ignore the purported composition of the reconciliation committee.

In a press statement issued and signed by Mrs. Jemima Nwunuji, the permanent secretary of the political affairs department from the Secretary to the Government of the State (SGS) Barr. Gibon Kataps called on the people of the state and beyond to disregard the composition of the reconciliation committee members as announced by the PDP state working group.

“Re: the constitution of PDP reconciliation committee, this is to let the general public know that they should ignore the Press Release dated 24th September 2024 on the Constitution of PDP Reconciliation Committee to address intra/inter-party grievances issued by this office. The release was done in error.

“Accordingly, the earlier Press Release is now withdrawn, and media outlets are directed to give this Release’s content the widest circulation possible. We apologise and regret the inconvenience it has caused the political class and members of the general public.

Despite the directives from the governor’s office, the Bawa-led state working committee inaugurated the 16-man reconstruction committee on Saturday, September 28th, 2024.

A statement released by the state working committee on Sunday, September 29th, 2014, stated, “The Taraba State Chapter of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) has inaugurated a reconciliation committee saddled with the responsibility of ensuring reconciliation within the party’s substructures.

“The committee was inaugurated yesterday, Saturday, 28th September 2024, at the state PDP Secretariat in Jalingo, the Taraba State capital.

“The 16-Man Reconciliation Committee set up by the party is saddled with the responsibility of ensuring reconciliation and identifying the immediate causes of Intra-Party friction and anger capable of creating faction within the party’s sub-structures compressively.

During the inauguration, state PDP Chairman Abubakar Bawa said the committee must recommend appropriate measures and sanctions to the state working committee to consolidate party unity and continue progress. The committee was given one month, starting September 28th, 2024, to report to the SWC.

This development prompted some political analysts from the state to urge both the governor and the PDP chairman to be watchful of the recent fires the former minister of Federal Capital Territory (FCT) and the former governor of Rivers State, Nyeson Wike, promised to put in any state that interferes in the Rivers political saga.