National
Caretaker Committee of the Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP) said National
Chairman, Sen. Ali Modu Sheriff, has no good intentions for the party.
Publicity
Secretary of the committee, Mr Dayo Adeyeye, stated this in a news conference
on Tuesday in Abuja.
Speaking at
the backdrop of a statement credited to Sheriff on his 2019 presidential
ambition, Adeyeye said that all efforts of the national chairman were geared
towards his hidden ambition.
He said that
Sheriff was holding PDP to ransom because he wanted to hijack the party and use
it for his selfish interest.
“We had raised
the concern that Sheriff was not interested in conducting a national convention
that will be in the interest of the party and all members.
“He was
planning a convention that will put his cronies in critical party positions who
will then rubber-stamp his candidacy when the time to pick the PDP candidate
for 2019 Presidential Election comes.
“We are
worried that some important party leaders also could not see beyond the facade,
tagging along with Sheriff as he drags the party through the mud in his bid at
achieving his selfish ambition.
“ We hope
perceptible minds in the party can now see why it is extremely dangerous to
trust Sheriff with the organization of any convention,’’ he said.
Adeyeye said
that having Sheriff as PDP presidential candidate would be a real delight for
the All Progressives Congress (APC).
“It is as good
as having your sparring partner as your opponent in a major bout.
“We want to
make a serious contention for power in 2019. We don’t want to field a candidate
who is the captain of the second team of the ruling party,’’ he said.
On the
allegation that the caretaker committee was already boasting of going to obtain
victory on the party’s leadership crisis at the Supreme Court, Adeyeye said it
was blackmail from Sheriff’s group.
According to
him, it is rather the Sheriff group that is already blackmailing the Supreme
Court on the matter the way they did to the Court of Appeal in the Ondo
governorship in 2016.
“They did the
same against the second panel for which the Supreme Court awarded costs of over
N20 million against them and their lawyers.
“They were the
ones celebrating that appeal court judgment even before it was given. They said
they knew the judgment.
“Their subtle
blackmail of Supreme Court is unbecoming.’’
Dr Cairo
Ojougboh, acting National Deputy Chairman of the party, in a separate news
conference also in Abuja, accused the caretaker committee of boasting about the
party leadership crisis now before the Supreme Court.
Ojougboh
alleged that the caretaker committee was already boasting that the judgment
rejected by the Court of Appeal would be adopted by the Supreme Court.
“We make bold
to say nobody can buy the Supreme Court and the Supreme Court cannot be bought.
“The PDP has
implicit confidence in the Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Samuel Onnoghen
and his colleagues in the Supreme Court.
“We,
therefore, advice Makarfi and his co-travelers that their wishful judgment
which they are parading will remain in the trash can,” Ojougboh said.
Meanwhile, the
PDP members and their leaders in the South-South said they remained committed
to the party and the resolutions of the May 21, 2016 national convention in
Port Harcourt.
National Vice
Chairman of the party in the zone, Chief Emmanuel Ogidi, stated this in an
interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja.
He said all
party members in South-South were under the authority of the National Caretaker
Committee headed by Sen. Ahmed Makarfi, which was constituted at the Port
Harcourt convention.
He assured
that the loyalty of members to the committee would be sustained until the
verdict of the Supreme Court on the appeal before it on the recent judgment of
the Court of Appeal.
The Court of
Appeal in Port Harcourt had on Feb. 17, 2017, ruled that Sen. Ali Modu Sheriff
remained the authentic chairman of the PDP.
The court also
directed that status quo before the national convention in Port Harcourt, which
sacked the leadership of the PDP and constituted the caretaker committee,
should remain.
But, a
minority judgment by a one of the judges, out of the three justices of the
Appeal Court that heard the case, recognised the resolutions and actions taken
at the Port Harcourt convention.
The judge held
that as somebody appointed to administer the party for about three months and
organise a national convention, Sheriff had by the resolution of the
convention, seized to be chairman of the party.
Ogidi
expressed optimism that the final verdict of the court on the issue would
vindicate the position of majority of the party’s members, and would uphold the
minority judgment at the Appeal Court.
According to
him, the minority judgment captured the crux of the matter and it is the way to
go to restore sanctity in the PDP.
On the merger
talks between PDP and some political parties, Ogidi said that it was real but
that the merging parties would adopt PDP as their new party.
According to
him, PDP is the brand and cannot be changed. Yes, other parties will merge with
us but the name PDP will be retained after the fusion. (NAN)
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