The national caretaker committee of the Peoples Democratic Party has reacted angrily to the re-emergence of Ali Modu Sheriff as its national chairman. Amidst the leadership crisis rocking the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) continues, the national caretaker committee headed by Ahmed Markarfi has reacted to the re-emergence of Ali Modu Sheriff. Addressing journalists on Tuesday, June 14, 2016, the spokesperson for the Makarfi committee, Dayo Adeyeye, said Sheriff was being sponsored by the All Progressives Congress (APC,) to scuttle PDP’s chance in the forthcoming governorship election in Edo state and also destabilise the party.
“The All progressive Congress, APC, has contracted Sheriff and his cohorts to scuttle the chances of the PDP in the Edo governorship elections.”
“We have credible intelligence that Sheriff had a meeting on Sunday night with an APC governor from the South West, where it was agreed that he would be given full security and financial support to exacerbate the crisis in the PDP with the objective of preventing our party from presenting a candidate for the Edo governorship elections,” he said.
He disclosed that Sheriff was mandated to ensure that ‘in the very least,’ the PDP is prevented from offering a serious challenge to the APC adding that the party “will take all necessary measures to prevent the it from being hijacked by political merchants.” The caretaker committee also accused the Nigerian Police of working in cohort with Sheriff acting on “orders from above”.
“Up to a point, the police discharged their responsibilities satisfactorily. However, later on without any justification whatsoever, Ali Modu Sheriff and the other renegades were allowed to gain entry into the secretariat, where they later proceeded to address a press conference”.
“While we are still trying to understand the role of the police in the entire saga, it is curious that the police made no arrest of the thugs who openly brandished various dangerous weapons in and around the premises of the secretariat in full glare of the police.
“It is also curious that the police claimed to be acting on ‘orders from above’ in allowing Sheriff and his cohorts to gain entry into the secretariat. If we may ask, who is the authority that issued the ‘Orders from above’?
“What we are however very certain about is that Sheriff and his fellow renegades are being used by the enemies of the PDP to destroy the party and to prevent it from reorganizing itself, so as to provide a credible opposition and alternative platform for the forthcoming Edo State Gubernatorial election and 2019 elections,” he said.
Meanwhile, Ali Modu Sheriff has stated that members of the PDP begged him to be the chairman adding that he remains the authentic chairman of the party unless the court says otherwise.