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  • Why PDP defectors may not back Sheriff for governor

    Why PDP defectors may not back Sheriff for governor

    • By Basil Okoh

    It is now evident that many PDP members across Delta State did not join Governor Sheriff and ex-governor Ifeanyi Okowa in their defection to the APC. What was expected to be a big stampede into APC, particularly by the big-name politicians in PDP, didn’t just happen. 

    What we are seeing instead is the drift back into the old PDP and the regrouping of those who refused to defect. The big names are still reticent and holding back, keeping their cards face down on the political gambling table. The expected big lure of Sheriff, drawing people with him into the APC, didn’t happen. 

    To find the reason for the reluctance of PDP members to join Governor Sheriff into the APC will require us to examine the big fights in PDP since 2021 during the tenure of Dr. Ifeanyi Okowa when he dissolved his executive council just because some members were using the exco platform to pursue their political ambitions and Okowa wouldn’t grudge them. Okowa was resolute in being the Lord who dispenses political favours to whomever he likes. In the reconstitution of that exco, all politically aspiring members were left out, and the decline and freefall of the PDP started from there. 

    The seeds of discord having been planted in PDP, the primaries that were held later became a contest between factions, each contestant with his own retinue of loyalists. Okowa, using government money, controlled the process and bought off a majority of the electors for his candidate, Sheriff. The result was chaos and litigations, costing Okowa and the government N63 billion to make Sheriff governor of Delta State. 

    So this unusual behaviour of not following Governor Sheriff into the APC is a fallout of the PDP primaries. Sheriff was not popular in PDP and is not popular even now. This lack of followership is uncharacteristic of the Delta politics of the 4th Republic. We won’t follow where the money goes. And since Sheriff is the governor who controls the money, it was expected that the crowd would follow Sheriff into the APC. But this did not happen. If with the control of Delta State finances, Sheriff cannot muster followership among a hungry people, he should have no hope of winning the next governorship election.

    To better understand this changing character of Delta politics, one must first appreciate the ruling Nigerian environment and politics under the present regime. People have suffered and in their suffering have learnt lessons. The knowledge acquired through suffering has taught people lessons in restraint in political behaviour. When asked why they have not followed Sheriff into APC, many young persons answered: “What’s my gain following Sheriff?  “Who Sheriff help?” In Delta parlance, who Sheriff help? would mean how has Sheriff been useful to anyone? This dig means that Sheriff is inconsequential and travelling a lonely road to the APC, all by himself. APC thought that they were buying a town, but what they’re getting is just a household.

    The understanding that most political actors in the state dread being in the opposition is a reason for expecting that most PDP politicians would follow Sheriff without scruples into the APC. Politics is perceived here as a bread and butter contest and every politician wants to identify with the winner who holds the big bread and butter to share. There are no dreams here, no visions and no ideological fantasies. Politics here is clear-eyed about money and immediate gains, so wherever the man who dispenses money goes, there everybody else goes. They call it here “Follow who know road”. 

    Only a few men and women have had the courage not to follow the flow of money and power. For nearly three decades, PDP held the money bag in Delta State. But Okowa’s betrayal and now Sheriff’s defection have brought a new but confusing dynamic into the politics of the state.   This is the first time PDP will be in opposition, not because it lost an election, but because its own elected governor ran away. Now, PDP is confused as to what to do with the wife who ran away. Do you follow her into her new husband’s home and suffer disgrace, or gather your household together and find a new way to live without her? PDP men and women have largely decided to plod on, on their own and live without the runaway wife, Sheriff.

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    Sheriff is not liked in the APC and has no support or strong presence there. He has been pronounced the leader of APC in Delta State, but that’s just a mere pronouncement by the national leaders of APC and the men who procured Sheriff from the PDP. He is not immersed in the APC and may never be. His presence in the APC has raised new quarrels over personal popularity and acceptance within the group. Opposition is already growing among the core owners like Mr. Collins Eselemo and joiners of the group like Mr. David Otiono, that Sheriff cannot lead them into the election because he is not one of them and does not share in their core values and previous struggles. Nobody can dispute the fact that Sheriff is anathema to the founding ethos of the APC in Delta State.

    It must be recalled that because of the imposition of Sheriff as a governorship candidate in 2023,  PDP members had been drifting out of the party since after the governorship primaries of 2022, where Sheriff got an undeserved ticket.

    These groups insist that they left PDP because Okowa, in his skullduggery, imposed Sheriff as the governorship candidate of the party and because of the known cluelessness of Sheriff and his unpopularity among the voters of the state. No one should expect them now to accept Sheriff with open arms in their new abode in APC. 

    Everyone should remember that while expensive litigations were going on in PDP in 2022-2023, the left wing of the party, comprising of the professionals and intellectuals, “formed ourselves into the Delta Unity Group (DUG) and left the Party to join the APC in our mass, first at St. George’s Grammar School Obinomba, Ukwuani LGA, just before the elections of 2023”. And again, the other group of our DUG, led by Mr. Chiedu Ebie, joined the APC in a well-publicised mass defection from PDP and were received by the national chairman of the APC. 

    “Now, we, the men and women who fled from the PDP, have been followed by the same disruptive persons, Sheriff and Okowa, into the APC. We watched with trepidation as leadership of the APC was awarded to Sheriff, the same man who every defector from senator to plebian has been running from in PDP. If this reads like a zany caper from an American writer’s fictive imagination, please be persuaded that it is not. This is realpolitik a la Delta State, Nigeria. We cannot keep running from Okowa and Sheriff. We will deal with the matter squarely this time.

     So now there’s a growing rumble among the earlier defectors, swearing not to cohabit with Sheriff and Okowa in the same political party.  They recall that both men are deeply unpopular and running away from a deserted house which they created in the PDP and would do the same in the APC. They ran the PDP down and are now running to the APC to dodge the shame of defeat. Our group is sworn not to accept Sheriff as the governorship candidate of the APC, and if he is forced on us, we will work for a different candidate. 

    Sheriff will be the reason why the APC will lose the governorship election in Delta State. It should be obvious to the APC that Sheriff has no followership. The general did not surrender with any troops. The government officials who are still with him, Commissioners, Advisers, SAs, SSAs, Local Government Chairmen and Councilors, do not number up to the voting population of one community in the state. Many are with Sheriff only because they need their salaries. They will vote for someone else when the time comes.

    If Peter Obi comes with his gale force campaign again, and the youth of the state back him in their numbers as they did in 2023, not even the rigging machine of Governor Sheriff can hold back a determined governorship candidate backed by the youth in their fight for good governance. Delta politics is in animated suspension for now until a year before the elections, when everything will be brought to the boil. Time will tell.

  • Sherriff’s certificate

    Sherriff’s certificate

    Going home is always an education. I was at Warri recently for a royal fest, but I had eye on a project, a massive flyover project in the city that the Delta State Governor, Sheriff Oborevwori set in motion late last year. From the airport, I did not wait for long to see. The car ran into a traffic jam. In Warri? This was not Lagos. I asked the driver, “wetin dey cause this go slow na?” He replied, “na Sherrif bridge o,” he replied cheerfully.

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     That part of town was now different. The contractors created a bedlam of service to the city with cranes here and there, traders humming to profits and workers’ shirts and trousers whose colours had succumbed to the imperatives of dust and other materials of work. From the beginning, the flyover curved into space and I observed a happy disruption to the life of the Wafarians as the residents called themselves. Somebody asked after I saw the flyover, “the governor try?” I answered in the affirmative.it is good to see a mega project in my childhood city after years of paralysis. It is good to see a project rise from the ground into a potential marvel. I hope that much progress will continue. Governor Oborevwori has shown of late that he wants nothing but quality. He cancelled a contract to build a model stadium in Warri because of a bumbling contractor. He has revamped major arteries like Lower and Upper Erejuwa Roads and security has brought back night life. His thoroughness made him order a contractor back to site on the Isheagu-Ewulu Road in Aniocha Local Government. Hence, former President Goodluck Jonathan, in a flush of political innuendo, said the best certificate the Sheriff can advertise is his work for his people. So far, it’s A on that report card.

  • Sheriff 38, opponents zero

    Sheriff 38, opponents zero

    Governor Sheriff Oborevwori said at a thanksgiving service that he survived 38 legal onslaughts in his quest to be the governor of Delta State. The victory last Friday at the Supreme Court was the last of such battles. I don’t know of any public figure around the world who has had to confront such rat-tat-tat of charges other than Donald J. Trump. But Trump is losing his. Sheriff won all. In these days of Guiness Book of Records anxiety, Governor Oborevwori might have clicked something in that book, maybe for Africa, or for persons running for governor in a presidential system or regional governor in Westminster style. But it shows how the political class is riveted on power and how the courts have taken a pivotal part in our evolving political system. It is not only that he had these legal challenges, he conquered all. The attacks ranged from Pre-election to election challenges. I imagine how much lawyers were paid for each of those cases, and how we make career on fictive crimes. It is what Shakespeare calls all labour’s lost. But not for the cynical lawyers. For the politicians who challenged on flimsy ideas though, some people say it is one way the system takes back stolen wealth and redistributes to the system. But lawyers are not the right people to receive them because they are not the people.

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    The most telling is the emotional rollercoaster the governor might have navigated, the highs and lows of blood pressure, the second guessing of judges, the possibility of losing a status or what sociologist call status anxiety, the fear that his grand projects and vision might turn into a soap bubble. Happily, the big projects, including the revamping of Warri, no one will now distract. All is well that ends well. His detractors thought the court proceedings were the beginning of the end. As Churchill noted, it is the end of the beginning.

  • A Sheriff of restraint

    A Sheriff of restraint

    The budgetary tradition in this country is to spend more than the previous year. It is a manic ritual of the spendthrift. If I spent ten naira last year, I should spend fifteen or fifty this year. The excuses are predictable. Inflation, population growth, expanding communities and demands and, of course, ambitious projects. While inflation is one major cause, we might conclude that budgets create double jeopardy. We increase budgets to match inflation, inflation soars to match budget. The other one is ambitious projects. Ego and fraud sometimes meet there on balance sheets. It is therefore a cheer that someone has bucked the trend.

    Delta State Governor Sheriff Oborevwori has rolled out a budget less than last year’s by as much N94.9 billion, 12 percent drop from 2023. Last year’s budget was N809.4 billion while this year’s is 714.4. This is in spite of the mammoth infrastructure project for Warri whose groundbreaking took place last week as the first ever contract the state government has had with the German bulwark, Julius Berger. The budget assigns N150 billion for road infrastructure, Warri being one of such ambitious works. The Sheriff is policing the money. This column has looked at it a few weeks ago. It is cheering to see a promise and work go into action in short order. I will monitor it. Warri is the city of my birth and childhood. I still recall my walks through rain and heat from St. Andrews Primary School to our Okumagba Layout abode. But the Warri I saw recently is a city in distress, crying for a lift and the mercy of modernity. A city shouldered by oil wealth but smolders in neglect. Not Warri alone in the state. Happily, work is on as one travels from Warri to Asaba as contractors like Levante and the Chinese firms are turning potholes and craters into express.

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    Let Warri rise. Governor Oborewvori has a Warri State of mind. He, as a private citizen, built its Osubi Airport in the military era.  Other cities will follow suit. Asaba has enjoyed much. It should not be abandoned but Warri and environs should shout, emilokan!

  • 2019: ‘Sheriff, my former boss, wants to manipulate Buhari, Oshiomhole to anoint next governor’

    Alhaji Shettima Dibal, the Wazirin Biu, was deputy to former Governor Ali Modu-Sheriff from 2003 to 2011. In rare comments about his former boss, Dibal spoke to reporters in Abuja on recent political developments in the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Borno State. Managing Editor, Northern Operations Yusuf Ali was there.

    Former Governor Ali Modu-Sheriff whom you served as deputy for eight years has returned to the APC recently. First of all, why didn’t you follow him to the PDP ahead of the 2015 election?

    To start with, I have always been in politics of purpose and conviction. I don’t do blind politics. I think if I was going to join the PDP that should have been when Goodluck Jonathan became the President in 2010, because we had some familiarity when both of us served as deputy governors. Jonathan is a humble and nice man, yet even when he was President and I was doing nothing around 2011, I wasn’t attracted to the PDP. I think the worst thing that can happen to any reasonable politician is to forget what works in his own base. From 1999 to date, Borno and Yobe are the only two states in the whole of northern Nigeria where the PDP has never been in control, whether by election or defection of a sitting governor. If you look at all the 19 states in the North, you will discover that the PDP has at one time or the other been in control of state government, whether through election or the defection of an incumbent governor from another party. But, in the case of Borno and Yobe, we have never had anything to do with the PDP at the state government level. Borno and Yobe have always been under the APP that later became the ANPP and now the APC. If you recall, in the build up to the 2003 election, the then Governor Mala Kachallah of blessed memory defected from the APP to the AD; the soul of the then AD is part of the APC today. One would have expected Kachallah to join the PDP for his re-election in 2003. I mean, the PDP at that time controlled the Presidency, the security agencies and INEC, but he didn’t do that, because he knows that the people of Borno will never vote PDP into office. Going to the PDP in Borno and Yobe is suicidal. I know that and my politics is always about our people and what they want.

    Why then do you think Sheriff joined the PDP? Didn’t he try to persuade you and other associates?

    I think Sheriff went into the PDP because he is always afraid of being in opposite political direction with every sitting President. He usually tries to manoeuvre his way to the heart of every sitting President. When he is in the opposition, many people accuse him of working for the sitting President in another party. However, for the 2015 election, he lost influence in the APC. He was not in position to influence anything for Jonathan and the PDP; that is why he left the APC and he did so because he never believed it was possible for a sitting President would lose the election. He did everything to drag Governor Kashim Shettima and all of us in the APC to follow him to the PDP, so that we can work against the victory of Buhari. At some point Kashim  Shettima was seriously harassed, intimidated, blackmailed and even threatened to make him leave  the APC and go to PDP. But, the governor was very strong. I will tell you that I was surprised by his strength. He stood firm in the APC and he mobilised everyone in Borno and across the Northeast for Buhari’s victory. He did so much behind the scene.

    Now that Sheriff is back to the APC, will you say he made the right choice in line with the political philosophy of Borno people or do you think he came with a different motive?

    I think Sheriff’s return to the APC has nothing to do with right or wrong. It was about his survival. He returned because he didn’t have any option and, like I said, he always wants to manoeuvre his way to the Presidency. But, then, politics is about growing numbers and whoever joins the APC is ordinarily a plus. However, it will depend on sincerity of purpose or the opposite.

    Are you saying Sheriff is not sincere, because he is now promising high votes for Buhari in Borno State in 2019?

    Making bogus promises to presidents is not new to Sheriff. After the 2007 election, when the late President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua came to Maiduguri for a state visit, Sheriff said publicly without any prompting that he was going to work for Yar’adua’s re-election. At that time, Sheriff was in the ANPP and Buhari was the ANPP’s presidential candidate and he was still in court challenging Yar’adua’s election. Sheriff didn’t care about Buhari’s interest; he was trying to find a way to penetrate Yar’Adua. Don’t also forget that when Buhari lost election to Yar’Adua in 2007, the ANPP national leaders came to Maiduguri and held a closed door meeting at the Government House which was hosted by Sheriff. One of the outcomes of that meeting was that the ANPP should not go to court to challenge Yar’Adua’s victory. The ANPP took the decision without consulting Buhari who was our candidate. The party decided to abandon Buhari to his fate and he went to court without the ANPP’s support. I believe it was part of that reason and more that Buhari left the ANPP to form the CPC. After the 2007 election, Sheriff was one of the major beneficiaries of the Yar’Adua/Jonathan government. He was a governor on the platform of the ANPP, but his sister-in-law was appointed a Minister by President Jonathan. So, making promises is not new in his tactics.

    The argument of Sheriff is that in 2003, 2007 and 2011 Buhari got around one million votes in Borno, but in 2015 he got around 600,000 votes. Sheriff is now promising to ensure Buhari gets more than one million votes in Borno State by 2019. What’s your reaction?

    I think the most annoying political analysis is to compare Borno’s 2015 election with the results of 2003, 2007, 2011 or with the upcoming 2019. It is the height of insult to people’s intelligence. Look, in 2015, about 20 local government areas held their elections in IDP camps in Maiduguri. Initially, many people thought election was not going to take place in Borno, because the Sheriff’s faction of the PDP kept on spreading fake information that it was not going to take place and because of that voters didn’t turn out for the presidential and National Assembly elections as they did for the governorship and the state assembly. In the first election, presidential and National Assembly in IDP camps, some local governments in northern Borno did not produce more than 2,000 votes each. There is a member of House Reps in the APC that won his election with less than 7,000 votes, as the total votes from four local government areas and the election took place in the IDP camps. Almost two million of our citizens from 20 local government areas were scattered around neighbouring countries like Niger, Cameroon and Chad and states like Adamawa, Bauchi, Gombe, Kano, Abuja and some went to Lagos. They all ran for their lives due to killings. After Buhari won, some of these people became energised and they came to Borno to take part in the governorship and state assembly elections. So, 2015 was a different thing entirely. However, for 2019, the governor and all of us have been mobilising people to come out and register, so that they can vote. I remember last year he released funds to stakeholders to go to their communities and mobilise citizens to get their PVCs. In fact, most of the time when the governor visits any place, he demands that people should show him their PVCs. A lot of women in Borno whenever they see the governor driving, will show him their PVCs and he stops and give them some help. This is of public knowledge. Borno today has more than two million registered voters and this happened when Sheriff was still fighting for his chair in the PDP. He came only three months ago. He knows the number of registered voters, he didn’t play any role on that, but now he wants to steal the show. Typical of him.

    Are you saying Sheriff’s promise to deliver more than one million votes for Buhari is mere political rhetoric?

    It is not rhetoric; it is rather a political antic that is calculated to manipulate and deceive President Muhammadu Buhari, the new National Chairman of the APC, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole, and the entire Presidency. What Sheriff wants is for the Presidency and the APC headquarters to make him the arrowhead of Buhari’s campaign in Borno State. By that, he will get some mileage, access to security and resources principally for him to anoint the next governor of Borno State. He is angry with those who didn’t follow him to the PDP before 2015 election and he wants the next governor to fight them. The same Sheriff said on January 24, 2015 during PDP presidential campaign in Maiduguri that he was going to ensure Buhari’s defeat in Borno State. He said Jonathan should hold him personally responsible if the PDP fails to win Borno State. Of course, the PDP lost woefully. I think if we are to even look at Buhari’s election record in Borno State from 2003 to date, I will say his best was in 2015.

    Why will you say so?

    In all the previous elections that Buhari took part, whether it was 2003, 2007 and 2011, results in Borno showed that Buhari’s opponents in the PDP from Obasanjo, Yar’Adua and Jonathan all got the component of 25 per cent of votes needed to defeat Buhari. And you know, sometimes the only thing the PDP presidential candidates need from opposition state is to get 25 per cent votes. PDP candidates have always secured more than 25 per cent in Borno, except in 2015 under Governor Kashim Shettima as leader of the APC. So, whereas Buhari recorded higher votes in previous elections, his opponent got what they wanted from Borno under Sheriff. The greatest mistake PMB or Oshiomhole will make is to ignore those who remained with the APC under intense atmosphere of intimidation to embrace someone who joined the party only three months ago and mind you, he joined not because of conviction and interest in the President, but because he lost grip in the PDP.

  • Osinbajo, Sheriff, Oyegun meet in Aso Rock

    Osinbajo, Sheriff, Oyegun meet in Aso Rock

    Vice President Yemi Osinbajo on Thursday met behind closed doors with the former Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Ali Modu Sheriff at the Presidential Villa Abuja.

    The Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), John Odigie-Oyegun, later joined the duo at the meeting.

    The meeting is still in progress at the time of filing this report.

  • Sheriff and PDP: Any hope for reconciliation?

    Sheriff and PDP: Any hope for reconciliation?

    In this piece, VICTOR IZEKOR urges the founding fathers of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to broker reconciliation among aggrieved chieftains so that the the party can bounce back and play the role of the opposition in democracy.

    I am neither a pessimist or prophet of doom when I ask the above question. For the avoidance of doubt, let me repeat myself: Is there any hope for reconciliation between Senator Ali Modu Sheriff and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), following the recent Supreme Court judgment on the party leadership tussle between Senator Modu Ali Sheriff and Senator Ahmed Makarfi?

    With the final proclamation of the Supreme Court that Senator Ahmed Makarfi is authentic chairman of the PDP and not Senator Sheriff as earlier proclaimed by the Court of Appeal in Port Harcourt, the leadership impasse of the party that held the nation spell bound in awe has finally taken a bow. Recalled that while the impasse lasted it had negative spillover effect on the judiciary as some of the High Courts of Coordinate or equal power compounded the situation through conflicting judgment on the same issue of leadership. The awful disposition of the concerned courts this time cast aspersion on the integrity of the nation’s judiciary in addition to encouraging rascality and impunity in our body polity.

    Now, with the leadership rift finally settled, is there likelihood of point of convergence or agreement between the warring groups? This question becomes imperative in the light of the unfortunate utterances or happenings among the stakeholders of the party after the apex court verdict. Rather than soft tone of reconciliation, spirit of forgiveness and give and take, the contrary is the case. For example, reports have it that the chairman of the Board of Trustees (BOT) of the party Senator Walid Jibrin in a statement in Kaduna expressed joy at the Supreme Court judgment pointing out that had Senator Sheriff won at the apex court he and many others would have left the party. Similar sentiments were shared by chief Bode George, another chieftain of the party. Perhaps the reaction of Ekiti state, governor, Comrade Ayo Fayose was more devastating when he pointed that had Sheriff won at the Supreme Court he would have torn his membership card of the party and burnt the flag.

    From Southwest came the report that the supporters of Senator Sheriff Group in the party have moved enemas to another party on the ground of unfavourable comments by the likes of Ekiti State governor. These utterances and reactions that seemed unabated for now do not create favourable atmosphere for peaceful resolution of conflict. Rather, they amplify issue from frying pan into fire. No doubt the crisis that bedeviled the PDP provoked anything, but decency and decorum. It provoked among the stakeholders verbal war of words, hate speeches, bitterness, rancor and personal animosity. As the political impasse lasted, the party became a piece of bone between two violently competing dogs with no mercy to its soul. The falcon no longer hear the falconer. Many including some party chieftains and legislators have defected to other parties as a result.

    The sum total of all these is that even with the leadership tussle over, the basis of trust and mutual respect especially, among the chieftains of the party has waned if not  broken. It is now left for the party leaders to bolster through the debris of catastrophe to salvage the dwindling opposition party if Nigeria democracy would be of reckon.

    It is gratifying to note that the pillars of the party in likes of former President Goodluck Jonathan are putting their hands together to save the party from utter collapse and ruins. However, how far will they go in the light of brickbats and mudslinging among members of the warring groups.

    This reminds one of the Yoruba adage which says that we cannot go to court and become friends again. How applicable is this with regards the matter in focus? First, Senator Sheriff seemed at loss with the apex court verdict ousting him out of power. His first reaction to the judgment was that he was shocked and appeared for now in the same dilemma. Notwithstanding his present disposition on the verdict of the Supreme Court, the facts remains that the crown his slipped off his head.

    Now that the table has been turned against him, is Senator Sheriff prepared to swallow his pride and join hands with others to save the PDP from utter ruins? The senator is the best man to answer this question for he alone knows where the shoe pinches him. However, for a diserning observer of the contemporary happenings in the political firmament for about two decades back, the unequivocal response would point to the fact that Sheriff might not be prepared to go along again with the PDP. Senator Sheriff wants always to at least be the king maker if not the king and would do anything to achieving one of these. He is never prepared to play the second fiddle as antecedents have shown. He is a tailor made for the popular saying, “power corrupts, absolute power corrupts absolutely.” According to the apex court judgment on leadership tussle between Sheriff and Makarfi, “Sheriff is power hungry and displayed an infantile desperation to remain in power.” The PDP as at now might not  contain him for obvious reasons. Besides, is Sheriff ready to forget his ego and subject himself to the authority of party?

    On the other hand, will Sheriff be with all sincerity be accepted in the PDP, especially by the chieftains of the party some he had engaged in verbal war of words and hate speeches? To some stakeholders in the party, Senator Ali is suspect and in same manner they are suspects to Sheriff. It is a matter of cat and dog affair.

    If eventually the Senator leaves PDP to another party, the PDP must have lost a politician of patronage who might have deployed his wealth for the use of the party. In the same vein Ali leaving the PDP means missing the affluence influence of a giant party. Whichever way, the loss is that of PDP and Sheriff. Notwithstanding the magnitude of the challenges, with sincerity of purpose, political will and with the overall interest of the party as the driving force, the problems though herculean, but not insurmountable. PDP as a formidable party and alternate government must not die or fizzle away. It is the only party for now that will keep the ruling party in check in case of excesses. Nigeria cannot afford the negative inherent luxuries of a one party state.

    It is therefore imperative for the survival of our nascent democracy, the founding fathers of the party that are living and still in the party, the governors, party chieftains and other stakeholders must act and speak with one voice all aimed at salvaging the collosius that is now developing a feet of clay. Individual ego must give way to modicum of sense and sanity. Let our past be a lesson that would inform our forward match. If for any act omission or commission PDP is allowed to disintegrate, the attendant negative effects of such will be too great to not only the PDP but in the entire nation.

    • Izekor is journalist and public affairs analyst.
  • We won’t leave PDP to Fayose, say Sheriff’s loyalists

    We won’t leave PDP to Fayose, say Sheriff’s loyalists

    •Faction denies defection to Mega Party

    Ekiti State Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) leaders and members loyal to the deposed National Chairman, Senator Ali Modu Sheriff, have said they will not leave the party after the July 12 Supreme Court judgment, which handed the party’s control to Senator Ahmed Makarfi.

    Speaking under the aegis of PDP Elders’ Forum, the politicians denied speculations that they were moving to Mega Party of Nigeria (MPN).

    They maintained that they would not quit the house they laboured hard to build.

    The politicians distanced themselves from the newly-formed MPN which was unveiled in Ado-Ekiti, the state capital, few days ago.

    They said the alleged defection was “the decision of a few members to pitch their tent with the new party without adequate consultation with the leaders of the PDP”.

    The forum said PDP members in the state should remain in the party, adding that the verdict of the Supreme Court had not affected the state chapter in a way that would necessitate defection to another party.

    Rising from a meeting on Saturday hosted by the first state’s party chairman and former Senate Deputy Chief Whip, Chief Clement Awoyelu, the forum members resolved to work hard for the party’s victory ahead of next year’s governorship election.

  • Sheriff’s Southwest supporters dump PDP for Mega Party

    Sheriff’s Southwest supporters dump PDP for Mega Party

    Southwest supporters of ousted National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Senator Ali Modu Sherif, yesterday dumped the embattled party for the Mega Party of Nigeria (MPN).

    Led by a former PDP chairman in Ondo State, Mr Ebenezer Alabi, and the Director General of Omo Ilu Foundation, Otunba Leke Adekoya, the politicians told reporters at the office of the new party on Old Ife Road in Ibadan, Oyo State capital, that they left the PDP because the Ahmed Makarfi group was not magnanimous in victory.

    Omo Ilu Foundation is the mass mobilisation arm of Senator Buruji Kashamu’s political organisation.

    The Supreme Court, last week, recognised Makarfi as PDP’s authentic chairman.

    The judgment technically removed Sheriff, who had occupied the position following the judgments of lower courts.

    Alabi accused the Makarfi group of displaying arrogance and making reckless statements about Sheriff’s group.

    The former PDP chairman accused Ekiti State Governor Ayodele Fayose and Senator Iyiola Omisore of substituting the names of members of state executive with their supporters at PDP’s national headquarters in Abuja.

    He said the same thing happened in Oyo State.

    Alabi noted that as followers of Ali Modu Sheriff, they could no longer cope with the impunity in the PDP, which he said was the original cause of disagreement between the two groups.

    He said: “The purpose of the struggle was to stamp out impunity in the party. We thought the Supreme Court judgment would teach us a good lesson, but it did not. PDP has now been taken over by vampires that we cannot co-habit with.

    “We, who believe in the leadership of Senator Ali Modu Sheriff have, therefore, decided to move en masse to the Mega Party of Nigeria (MON). It was registered in 2010 as Mega Progressives Party (MPP) but we are transforming it to the new name to show the strength. The name will change officially next week.”

    Alabi said members of his group left the PDP for the likes of Fayose, who he accused of bragging over the party’s control in the Southwest.

    The former PDP chief said the party would soon realise that power belongs to the people who determine the destiny of candidates through the ballot, not a few individuals who overestimate themselves.

    He said the leadership was already talking to all members of the group in the five other regions to come over to Mega Party in order to show their strength in the next general election.

    According to him, happenings in the few months ahead will confirm that the PDP has been overtaken by events.

    Alabi said though the Supreme Court judgment was a surprise, the members expected the Makarfi group to reconcile with the other group to reposition the party for the 2019 election.

    He said: “But the Makarfi group chose not to be magnanimous in victory. First, they talked about offering us amnesty, as if we were militants. Recently, the Acting National Secretary also said he would not be surprised to see Sheriff join the All Progressives Congress (APC).

    “While Governor Fayose was also returning from Abuja, he stopped at Ikere-Ekiti, where he addressed people, making reckless statements. It was a display of arrogance of the highest order.”

    Alabi said the group would soon make public the names of their leaders in the Southwest.

    Also at the briefing were Oyo State Coordinator of Omo Ilu Foundation, Alhaji Kolawole Ibrahim, Chief Segun Odekunmi and Mrs Mary Anjorin, from Osun State.

  • Sheriff group: we’re not aware of defection

    Sheriff group: we’re not aware of defection

    The spokesman for the Senator Ali Modu Sheriff group in the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Mr. Bernard Mikko, has said the group was not aware of the movement by some party members to the Mega Party of Nigeria (MPN).

    Speaking on phone yesterday with our correspondent, Mikko said: “We are not aware of members of our group joining any other political party. Even if that happens, we cannot stop anyone from joining any political association of their choice.

    “For now, we are still studying details of the Supreme Court judgment with the view to taking informed decision after due consultations.”

    Sheriff and his loyalists had stayed away from consultative meetings convened on Monday and Tuesday by the Ahmed Makarfi leadership of the PDP.

    The meetings, which were held at the Abuja secretariat of the party, recorded a large turnout of stakeholders, including former President Goodluck Jonathan, governors, National Assembly members, ex-ministers and other prominent party chieftains.