INSIDE PDP MEETING WITH JONATHAN – BOT THREATENS JONATHAN, REMOVE MODU SHERIFF OR WE LEAVE
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP)
members of the Board of Trustees (BoT) have issued March deadline to
former president Goodluck Jonathan to reject Ali Modu Sheriff as the
party’s acting national chairman. Ex-president Goodluck Jonathan has
been asked to reject Modu Sheriff as PDP acting national chairman “Well,
at our session, some of us made it known that we cannot even wait till
the end of March to determine our stay in PDP. Once Sheriff is in
charge, we will abandon
PDP for another party. The Nation
reports that the BoT members and some aggrieved senators have already
raised a committee to meet with Jonathan over the issue.
The aggrieved members threatened
that if Jonathan refuses to reject Sheriff he should be prepared to face
mass exodus from the party. The committee meeting with Jonathan will
explain to him the ‘grave implications’ of allowing Sheriff to lead the
PDP.
Despite the internal feud the choice
of Sheriff had sparked in the party, some members of the national
working committee (NWC) are insisting that the tenure of the acting
chairman should end in March. Sheriff was supposed to succeed Adamu
Mu’azu whose tenure would have ended in March.
The anti-Sheriff forces comprising
former ministers and BoT members have vowed not to attend any meeting
with Sheriff or his representatives.
“We have asked a team to meet
Jonathan and draw his attention to the grave implications of having
Sheriff as PDP national chairman. We believe the ex-President was
ill-informed. We want Jonathan to withdraw his backing so that Sheriff
can step aside in March. We have weighed all options and the only
midstream approach now is to prevail on Sheriff to complete Muazu’s
tenure and quit in March.
So Jonathan has to choose between
the larger interest of the party and Sheriff,” a source said. Speaking
also, a former minister who preferred not to be named said: “Well, at
our session, some of us made it known that we cannot even wait till the
end of March to determine our stay in PDP.
Once Sheriff is in charge, we will
abandon PDP for another party. “The truth is dawning even on some of the
governors and NWC members that Sheriff’s selection was unpopular among
Nigerians. We now have deficit in the opposition politics we are playing
because we have to seek equity with clean hands.
This is why he should step down in
March.” However, a source within the camp of Sheriff disclosed that the
imposed acting chairman is mulling on completing his tenure in 2018,
when the party would have been placed on the right track to reclaim
power from the All Progressives. Congress (APC) at the 2019 general
elections. “Pro-Sheriff governors and leaders want him to stay till 2018
in line with the “secret agreement” which led to his selection as the
new PDP chairman.
“They said they will not allow any
subtle plot to force Sheriff to step down in March. This is the
situation we are now. No doubt, there is tension in the party.
We are sharply divided,” the source
said. Meanwhile, despite the rejection of Sheriff by some top members,
former ministers Bala Mohammed and Ibrahim Shekarau have paid him a
congratulatory visit.
A source said: “At our meeting, some
members expressed reservations on these ex-ministers’ visit to
Sheriff.” It was gathered that Sheriff rushed into a BoT meeting on
February 18 to solicit acceptance from the members but they promised to
get back to him on his plea for acceptance.
A source at the meeting hinted that
BoT is determined not to validate Sheriff instead may advertise the job.
Sheriff reportedly implores the BoT members to give him a chance,
promising that “PDP will bounce back.” He virtually begged us to give
him a chance to lead the party.
We listened to him but we were
unanimous that he is not the one needed to lead PDP. He wanted our
endorsement but we hold him that we will get back to him. We did not
make any commitment to Sheriff. At our meeting, we resolved not to
accept his candidature,” a BoT member said.
The governor of Kano state,
Abdullahi Ganduje has said the new acting national chairman of the PDP,
Senator Ali Modu Sheriff will end up working for the APC judging from
the antecedents and history of the chairman himself.
The governor made the statement in response to Sheriff’s claim that PDP will regain federal power in 2019 general elections.
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