Ali Modu Sheriff


Leaders of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) all over the country are now in fresh moves to ensure that the National Chairman of the party, Senator Ali Modu Sheriff, leaves the office by May 21, when the national convention of the party is expected to hold.
The fresh move, which Inner room  gathered, has been code-named “Operation sack SARS”, is spurred by the bold moves of the chairman, who was brought in about two months ago to complete the tenure of the former chairman, Alhaji Adamu Mua’zu, to elongate his tenure towards the 2019 general elections.
It is believed that Sheriff has his eyes on the presidency and is hoping to leverage on the chairmanship of the party to push his way through. A former national leader of the party insisted yesterday that what Sheriff wants to do was akin to a coup on the PDP.
“He was brought in as a midwife to ensure the delivery of the new PDP in 2019 that will win the presidency. He is not okay with being the midwife now. He wants to be the midwife as well as the child at the same time. We must show him that the PDP is not like the All Progressives Congress (APC) or any other party that could be linked to an individual.
It is a national party that has the vision set out by the founding fathers,” the party leader told New Telegraph. It was learnt that the leaders of the party were not only worried that the zoning committee, set up by Sheriff and chaired by the Governor of Akwa Ibom State, Mr. Udom Emmanuel, has zoned the chairmanship of the party to the North-East, where Sheriff comes from; they are more worried by the audacity of the national chairman to paint a vehicle in his campaign colours and bring out leaflets campaigning for the position.
As soon as the report hit the newsstands, informed sources said that leaders of the party were aghast at the development. They were said to have made several phone calls to different leaders across the country, wondering what exactly went wrong with the chairman and the committee.
As a prelude to the groundswell of opposition expected to mount against Sheriff in the next few days, leaders of the party in the South-West, would gather today in Lagos, to reject the move by the chairman to extend his tenure.The meeting is expected to have in attendance, those referred to as the real leaders of the party in the zone.
The PDP leaders in the South-West are expected to issue a communiqué at the end of the meeting where they would renounce the position of another group led by the Senator representing Ogun East Senatorial District, Buruji Kashamu, who had sold the idea of the North holding on to the chairmanship to Sheriff.
The South-West meeting is expected to be followed with those of former PDP ministers, former party officials and leaders of the party from other zones who are expected to reject the zoning formula of the Emmanuel- led committee and ensure that the chairmanship of the party remained in the south going into the 2019 election.
By the laid down rules of the PDP, when the presidency is zoned to the north, the chairmanship of the party, the Vice President, the Speaker and the party chairman would come from the south. While the Senate President and the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF) would come from the North. One of the grouses of the party’s leaders against the succession plan of the national chairman is that there is the feeling that Sheriff might indeed be working secretly for President Muhammadu Buhari to have no opposition in 2019 should he decide to run again. Sheriff is said to be an in-law to the president.
A leader of the party expressed concerns over the unfolding development in the PDP. “That was how we lost the presidency in 2015. When some people in the party insisted that only Goodluck Jonathan was good enough for the presidency, we watched them and the result is very clear now.
If the south allows Sheriff to stay as the chairman beyond May, it does not mean the north would not produce the candidate of the party for the presidency in 2019. The party has already accepted the recommendation that the presidency would come from the north. But be sure that most leaders in the north are against this chairmanship thing unfolding now.”
Yesterday, former Deputy National Chairman of the party, Chief Olabode George, told New Telegraph that Sheriff should maintain his word that he would leave on May 21.“All the people now are up in arms that if we don’t get it right now, we would end up with a bloody nose in 2019.
That is why all the arguments about Buhari’s government now, I am not interested. Let’s remove the logs in our eyes before we start looking at specs in the eyes of the Buhari government,” he said. George insisted that it is the wish of the South- West to have the national chairmanship of the party, since it was the only zone that has not tasted the seat since 1999. He said that was the only way justice could be done by the party.