Former Governor of Borno State, Senator Ali Modu Sheriff, was, on Tuesday, sworn in as the new substantive national chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), beating back strong opposition from some members of the party’s Board of Trustees (BoT).
He was sworn in after a meeting of the National Executive Committee (NEC) of the party, which voted for him among four nominees considered.
Sheriff, speaking after his swearing-in, vowed to work with all members of the party to return it to power in 2019, while he also appealed to members to forget about existing differences and cooperate with him.
His selection followed the recommendation of the national caucus of the party.
However, it hit a snag earlier on Tuesday, as key organs of the party, the national caucus and the Board of Trustees (BoT) disagreed on his choice.
After initially announcing him as the choice of the party’s national caucus, the BoT kicked against it, jeopardising what was expected to be a smooth ratification of his appointment.
The national caucus, made up of all 12 governors of the party, its National Assembly leadership and other stakeholders, had met in Abuja on Monday night, where they agreed to back Sheriff.
When he was presented to BoT on Tuesday, there was stiff opposition from members who were thought to be worried about the image of the former governor.
Sheriff, a founding member of defunct All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP), was a late entrant into the race for the chairmanship, following the inability of stakeholders in the North-East to present a common candidate.
PDP governors who had gathered for the NEC meeting to give Sheriff the final approval, had to wait in the acting national chairman’s office to give the BoT the opportunity to reach a decision.
The national publicity secretary of PDP, Chief Olisa Metuh, had, earlier on Tuesday, said all the national organs of the party chose the same person, which turned out to be the former Borno governor.
But this also turned out not to be accurate, as the BoT apparently kicked against Sheriff as chairman.
Metuh later came to announce that BoT was having a problem agreeing on the choice of the national caucus and had to go on break to reconvene later.
He, however, rejected any attempt by individual party members to go against the interest of the party, but assured that there would be no imposition of any candidate.
The party spokesman also said those opposing the choice of Sheriff had not come up with and alternative choice, saying that such persons had not been properly briefed on the decision of the national caucus to select Sheriff.
“We have decided that the North East Caucus should meet and bring a candidate to replace the national chairman that resigned, Adamu Mu’azu. But when they met, they were not able to narrow it down to one person. So, what they did was to send to us five people; one from each state of the North-East.
“They sent Girigiri from Yobe State, Ambassador Wilberforce Juta from Adamawa State, Abba Gana from Borno State, Shehu Gabam from Bauchi State, Senator Kumo from Gombe State. Taraba did not have any other person.
“So, these five people were invited to come and see the national caucus on Monday to take a decision.
“At the meeting that we had with them, we decided that it was important that we enlarge the scope and the number of people that will come.
“So, we extended and invited some other people to come and show why they want to be chairman.
“One or two governors confirmed that Ribadu had shown interest in becoming chairman; so we extended invitation to him to come.
“We were told that Modu Sheriff, at the weekend, expressed an interest. We invited him to come and tell us.
“Because Honourable Wakil had come down from the United Kingdom to participate in the process, we invited him as well.
“On Monday, apart from those five people, we interviewed Ali Modu Sheriff and Mohammed Wakil. But we were told that Ribadu was not comfortable with an interview.
“After the interview process, they were narrowed down to two persons. And a little over an hour ago, the national caucus discussed.
“The governor first of all discussed and brought a candidate, the National Assembly discussed and brought a candidate, the BoT discussed and came up with a candidate, the National Working Committee discussed and came with a candidate.
“So, we brought the candidate at the national caucus. One interesting thing was that unanimously, it was the same candidate that every single organ of the party brought to the national caucus.
“So, the national caucus endorsed that they will bring to the Board of Trustees its choice, after which both organs will bring the nomination to the National Executive Committee (NEC),” he had said.
Though former EFCC chairman, Mallam Nuhu Ribadu had earlier indicated interest in the post, he was said to have been uncomfortable with the idea of being interviewed for the job and, therefore, declined to show up when invited on Monday night.
Reacting to the development, the South-East and South-South caucuses of the PDP in the Senate rejected the choice of Sheriff as the national chairman of the party.
The senators, who immediately kicked off consultations as soon as it emerged that he was having the upper hand in the bid to emerge the party’s helmsman, were said to have concluded on the need to reject him as PDP chairman.
Sources in the the Senate said on Tuesday that the senators had resolved not to have anything to do with the PDP led by Modu Sheriff.
One of the senators said: “we are worried at the news of possible emergence of Senator Modu Sheriff as chairman of the PDP. We are worried that some persons are not thinking of the need to move the party forward.
“We feel there is every need to raise the credibility of the party after the debacle of the last general election. It is not fair that we saddle the PDP with the burden that the chairmanship of Senator Modu Sheriff would bring to the party at this time.
“We all know the issue that has been around Senator Sheriff. For sometime now, his name has been consistently linked with the Boko Haram issue and we need to allow him to clean his name rather than bother him with the leadership of the PDP at this time.
“If those pushing for the former senator succeed, I can tell you that the nation will witness massive defection from the PDP. We in the South East and South South are ready to leave the PDP.”(Tribune)
