Tag: Sheriff

WITH all the key organs of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) aligned against him, the embattled National Chairman of the PDP, Alhaji Ali Modu Sheriff, appears to swim laboriously against the tide. By his political antecedents, however, Sheriff never goes down without a fight, dirty or clean.

At the moment, he is fighting tooth and nail to upturn his unceremonious removal from office at the party’s botched convention ground in Port Harcourt on May 21. The convention, which was designed by his backers to be his coronation ceremony as substantive chairman, turned into his dethronement rites. Sheriff’s appointment as party chair in February marked the beginning of bitter disenchantment, throwing up a dozen centrifugal forces pulling in all directions.

In the first place, the former Borno State Governor’s name was not on the list of five aspirants of Northeast extraction considered for the job. His name suddenly came up on the very day that a choice was to be named, and to general chagrin, Sheriff was proclaimed chairman. The question raised by befuddled party members was: why Sheriff?

It is about finances, from all indications. Financial crisis reared its head in the administration of the party shortly after the PDP lost power at the centre in the 2015 general election. In an attempt to cut costs, the party had embarked on downsizing of secretariat staff and downward review of salaries and allowances of the few workers that were retained. The action sparked protest from the staff, leading to allegations of financial misappropriation and recklessness against members of the National Working Committee (NWC).

The stand-off degenerated into a media war between the aggrieved workers and members of the NWC. In the heat of the crisis, the workers threatened to drag some of the party officials before the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) for investigation and prosecution. Some concerned party leaders eventually stepped in and the matter was resolved one way or the other. In one of the meditative interventions, the immediate past Governor of  Akwa Ibom State, Mr. Godswill Akpabio, told the workers the home truth when he said: “We have no other choice than to downsize. We no longer have the Presidency to run to for money so you should understand the situation on ground”.

With depleted resources and a routed PDP presidency, the party started looking elsewhere to augment its budget. And governors elected on the party’s platform saw a prospective milk cow in Sheriff. The lot fell on the boisterous Ekiti State governor, Mr. Ayo Fayose, to lure the ex-Borno Governor. The members obviously reasoned that with Sheriff, who is reputed to be stupendously wealthy, as chairman, the party would tap the much needed financial reprieve to enable its fund its activities, particularly the 2019 general election project.

But Sheriff isn’t a spring chicken when it comes to the politics of intrigues. Clearly cashing in on the desperation of the governors, Sheriff was reported to have assured them that he would make N40 billion available to the party if he was made chairman. He was also said to have promised to deploy five private jets to enable the PDP prosecute its 2019 electioneering campaign project. It was a game of mutual skulduggery bound to unravel down the line.

The governors bought the dummy, probably aiming to pull the rug off Sheriff’s feet after he would have seen the party through its financial difficulties. On the other hand, Sheriff baited them with the mouth watering package, not just for the position of chairman, but to transmute into the party’s presidential candidate at an appropriate time. With mutual treachery kept to the chest, Fayose went to town and succeeded in selling Sheriff’s candidacy to his fellow governors. With their influence and financial position, the governors were able to force the choice down the throats of the Board of Trustees (BoT), the National Assembly Caucus, the party’s league of ex-ministers and other interest groups.

As a decoy, the governors stated that Sheriff would only be chairman for three months, after which a national convention would be held to elect a substantive chair. Reluctantly, the party organs caved in to protests within their ranks. Attempts by the Concerned Stakeholders, led by a former Information Minister, Prof. Jerry Gana, to break away from the party on account of Sheriff did not deter the governors. A convention was scheduled to hold in Port Harcourt while Sheriff was still in the saddle.

Nonetheless, Sheriff covered many miles within the three months he held sway as chairman. He succeeded in capitalising on the inordinate ambition of a few of the governors, particularly those from the southern parts of the country. Unknown to most stakeholders, many of the governors had been scheming for the party’s vice presidential ticket ahead of the 2019 election. In separate meetings, Sheriff assured five of the southern governors of the vice presidential ticket for 2019. Unknown to the governors, the chairman had sold the vice presidential ticket dummy to five of them. And some of the governors were said to have swallowed the bait.

With the governors in the pocket, Sheriff reached out to the Deputy President of the Senate, Ike Ekweremadu, with an offer of the same vice presidential ticket. Ekweremadu, who considers himself a natural choice for the ticket, had no reason to doubt Sheriff’s sincerity. On many occasions, he had paid private visits to the chairman in his office, grinning from ear to ear at departure. But the bubble burst a few days to the convention. In the course of rubbing minds, the governors got to know that Sheriff had indeed promised five of them the vice presidential ticket. They also found out to their consternation that, instead of investing his personal resources on party activities as he caused them to believe, the chairman was allegedly expending the lean resources in the coffers.

It dawned on them that the goodies promised by Sheriff might as well be a pie in the air, a pig in the poke. This much was confirmed by Governor Fayose shortly after the party’s stakeholders’ meeting in Abuja on

The embattled National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Alhaji Ali Modu Sheriff, condemned the protest, describing the it as a “shameful act of hooliganism and brigandage”.

In a statement by his Media Adviser  Inuwa Bwala shortly after the protest, Sheriff accused the Ahmed Makarfi-led Caretaker Committee of sponsoring the protest to undermine his leadership.

He described the action as a sad reminder of the days of lawlessness, impunity and brigandage “for which the sponsors of the caretaker committee have been known over the years”.

Sheriff enjoined his supporters to remain calm and law abiding in the face of the various provocations and allow the law to take its course.

He also implored security agencies to stop taking sides in political matters, even as he frowned at the way policemen deployed to secure the party secretariat refrained from interfering in the protest.

Accusing the caretaker committee of desperation, lies and blackmail, Sheriff said attempts to confer legitimacy on the committee would fail.

He refuted the allegation by the Makarfi camp that he was being sponsored by the All Progressives Congress (APC).

The statement said: “Makarfi and his sponsors want to create the wrong impression that Sheriff is not reliable, whereas it is an open secret that Sheriff has given credible and honest leadership to his state, to Nigeria and to the PDP, even for the short period he has been in the saddle of leadersip than Ahmed Makarfi.

“Be that as it may, we wish to challenge Makarfi to name the date, venue and names of those in attendance at the so-called meeting Sheriff allegedly had with some governors of the APC.

“Again how could Sheriff be a stooge when he remains the only PDP stalwart that speaks out against the APC since the party lost the 2015 elections?

“For the avoidance of doubt, we wish to state that Ali Modu Sheriff left the APC at its formative stage, and has never had anything to do with the party or any of its stalwarts since his departure.

“One wonders how Ahmed Makarfi and his cohorts could tell lies just to divert attention from the real issues at stake.

“The issues at stake remain the presence of a cabal in the PDP, desperately trying to hijack the structure of the  party and continue the perpetuation of acts of lawlessness and impunity, which Ali Sheriff resisted.

“While we consider it most uncharitable that Makarfi will attempt to smear our revered National Chairman by leveling frivolous allegations, in the hope that he can divert attention from the real agenda of the group leading him by the nose.”

Former Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Vice Chairman (Southwest) Chief Ishola Filani yesterday asked the embattled Acting Chairman, Senator Ali  Modu Sheriff, to desist from fuelling the protracted leadership crisis.

He said the former Borno State governor has completed the tenure of his predecessor, Alhaji Adamu Muazu, on May 21, adding that the decision of the convention to set up a caretaker committee was reasonable, logical and legal.

Filani, a lawyer, said Sheriff is living in an illusion of an imaginary tenure, urging him to accept his fate and team up with other leaders to move the party forward under the direction of the caretaker committee.

The party chieftain chided the National Secretary, Prof. Wale Oladipo, and the National Auditor, Fatai Adeyanju, for pushing for tenure elongation, reminding them that the court order that deposed Gen. Olagunsoye Oyinlola and Hon. Bode Mustapha as national secretary and auditor pave the way for their elections.

He said: “My appeal to Sheriff and others is to give peace a chance and allow the caretaker committee to do its job as directed by the convention. They should put the party interest above personal interest.

Filani said majority of party chieftains were taken aback by Sheriff’s reluctance to abide by the decision of the convention, pointing out that he was part of the decisions and steps taken by the party to organise the convention.

Stressing that Sheriff’s selection as the chairman ended on May 21, he added: “The appointment of Sheriff, who was completing the Northeast tenure of four years, ended on May 21 at the convention. Tukur and Muazu had earlier spent part of the four year tenure, which was served by three different persons. The Port-Harcourt convention was legally constituted by the appropriate authority within the party and duly observed by the INEC.

“All the decisions taken at the convention are legal and biding, including the appointment of the caretaker committee. The convention is the highest authority of the party and whatever decision taken there is binding on the party and can even be an amendment to the constitution. There was never a convention extending the tenure of Sheriff. One therefore, wonder how his tenure will end in 2018. “

Filani maintained that Sheriff was not elected as chairman in 2014, adding that Oladipo and Adeyanju who accompanied him to the national secretariat acted in error.

He said: “As for Prof. Wale Oladipo and Adeyanju, the national auditor, who accompanied him to the party secretariat; the two of them became National secretary and National Auditor upon the judgment that terminated the election of Oyinlola and Mustapha. As for Oladipo, the court ordered that the Southwest zonal executive to organise the congress for Oyinlola’s replacement. This was acrried out in Ibadan in 2013 or 2014. Oladipo was elected to complete Oyinlola’s term and no more.

“I organised the congress in Bodija. The result of the congress was merely ratified at the 2014 convention. No election was held into the position of the secretary because he was to merely complete Oyinlola’s tenure.”

Filani recalled that Oyinlola and Mustapha later appealed the decision of the High Court at the Court of Appeal, adding that their prayers were quashed. He said the party was consequently mandated by the Court of Appeal to reinstate Oyinlola and Mustapha, noting that the party disobeyed the judgment.

Filani added: “From the above, it is clear Sheriff and Oladipo have no claim to the position they are claiming to occupy till 2018.”

The National Coordinator of the Northern Youths United against Impunity in PDP, Alhaji Tanko Mustapha, has condemned the National Caretaker Committee of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) for alleging that the All Progressives Congress (APC) is using Senator Ali Modu Sheriff to destabilise the party.

The group, in a statement yesterday, said the Senator Ahmed Makarfi-led committee “resorted to this kind of cheap blackmail and propaganda because it lacks the facts and adequate information to address the contending issues”.

The group said: “If they say it is the APC that is using Senator Sheriff to destabilise our party, shall we also say it was the APC that used Governor Ayo Fayose and others who brought him and sold him to other stakeholders as the ‘messiah’ the party needed?”

The statement reads: “We wish to state that contrary to the allegation of complicity levelled against the Police authorities, the Police and the Inspector-General of Police, Mr. Solomon Arase, acted within their constitutionally guaranteed powers to maintain law and order.

“They acted responsibly and respectfully in obedience to the orders of the Federal High Court, Lagos made on the 24th of May, 2016.

“On that day, the court said, ‘The Inspector-General of Police is hereby directed that there is a matter pending in court filed by the warring PDP and the court has made an order of interlocutory injunction in respect of offices occupied by the Plaintiffs and there are applications and appeals pending. The Police is directed to enforce the orders of this court until all the applications before the court are disposed off, so that there will be no anarchy’.”

On the issue of tenure, the group said : “It is an indubitable fact that our great party held a Special National Convention on the 10th and 11th December, 2014 where the National Chairman, Alhaji Ahmadu Adamu Muazu; National Secretary, Prof. Adewale Oladipo and National Auditor, Alhaji Adewale Adeyanju were elected. At that same convention, Section 47 (6) of our party constitution was amended by substituting the last phrase ‘pending the conduct of election to fill the vacancy’ with a new phrase ‘to serve out the tenure of the Officer’.

“It is the considered view of not just the plaintiffs but also some stakeholders that since these officers came into office or were deemed to have assumed office in December, 2014, they have a four-year tenure which elapses in December, 2018. But, their opponents think otherwise and that is why they are in court in order for the court to make a pronouncement on who is right or wrong.

“Again, we are not unmindful that these are issues that concern a political party and they are better resolved politically. But a situation where the supposed conscience of the party and those who are supposed to be the custodians of the law seek to violate the constitution of the party and flagrantly disobey court orders leaves much to be desired.

“For instance, the Board of Trustees (BoT) of the PDP should not have allowed the same elements who brought this mess upon the party to hurry it to handover the party secretariat to the Makarfi-led National Caretaker Committee without pacifying the contending parties and resolving all the issues in a give-and-take manner.”

the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission(EFCC) yesterday invited the controversial  National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party(PDP), Ali Modu Sheriff, to appear before it for interaction on the N450 million allocated to Borno State from the N23.29 billion campaign funds facilitated by ex-Minister of Petroleum Resources Mrs. Diezani Alison-Madueke.

The EFCC is probing how Sheriff allegedly received about N40 million from the cash allocated to the state.

The N40 million was allegedly given to “Mohammed Kumalia for onward transmission to Sheriff.”

According to a source, the anti-graft commission asked Sheriff to report at its Maiduguri office today.

The source said: “A former governor of Borno State, Ali Modu Sheriff, will come to the office tomorrow (today)for questioning as a result of his involvement in the Diezani fraud during the last general election.

“We are looking into how N40 million out of the N450million allocated to Borno State was allegedly given to Sheriff for security purpose.

“If Sheriff gets to our office, he will be able to confirm whether he received such amount. We have done our preliminary findings and isolated questions for Sheriff to answer.

“We have also extended an invitation to the former governor. We are hopeful that he will honour our invitation.”

The source added: “We grilled a former Minister of Power, Mohammed Wakil, who was the PDP campaign coordinator for Borno State.”

The source said during the EFCC’s intial investigation and grilling of Wakil on June 6, he admitted the receipt of the N450 million.

”I received a call from Mrs.  Nenadi Usman, a former Minister of Finance, that N450 million was sent to Fidelity Bank and a template for how the disbursement of the funds will be conducted, “the EFCC quoted him as saying.

The source added: “Wakil added that he collected the money and shared it as follows: “Nicholas Msheliya, Peter Biye, Hon. Kudla Satumaria, Hon. Ibrahim Birma – all from southern Borno – received   N112, 340,000. Hon. Kangar, through Dr. Kulima A.A., received N88, 620,000 and Mohammad Baba Kachalla (an engineer), Hon. Kaamuna Khadi, Hon. Zarma Mustapha and Hon. Abdulrahman Tarab received N140,860,000.

”Similarly, N40 million was allegedly given to Hon. Kumalia for onward transmission to Sen. Ali Modu Sheriff for security.”

The crisis rocking the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has taken a new turn, with Senator Ali Modu Sheriff telling the Federal High Court in Port Harcourt that he remains the chairman.

He described the “Caretaker Committee” headed by Senator Ahmed Makarfi as a group of “usurpers” and a “contraption” that was set up in defiance of valid court orders.

According to certified court processes made available to reporters in Lagos through his lawyer, Ajibola Oluyede, Sheriff is praying the court to hold that only he can preside over a convention or meeting where party leaders could be chosen.

PDP sued Sherriff, Prof Adewale Oladipo (who was PDP National Secretary), the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), the Inspector-General of Police (IGP) and the Department of State Services (DSS) before Justice I. Liman.

The judge had restrained Sherriff and Oladipo from parading themselves as chairman, secretary or members of the National Executive Committee or National Working Committee (NWC) of the PDP until the suit is determined.

But, Sheriff and Oladipo, in a motion on notice dated May 27, said those who sued them in PDP’s name lacks “the authority and locus” to institute the suit on the party’s behalf.

They are also praying the court to discharge the ex-parte order restraining them from holding their offices.

According to them, Justice Liman made the order on May 24, which is 12 days after Justice Ibrahim Buba of the court’s Lagos Division had restrained the party from conducting elections into offices of national chairman, national secretary and national auditor.

Sheriff and Oladipo are praying the court to hold that by a community reading of the Section 223 of the 1999 Constitution and Articles 33(1) (a) and 35(1) of the PDP Constitution, only they are empowered to chair and preside over the party’s convention and all meetings through which available national offices can be filled.

They said “the illegal contraption they call ‘caretaker committee’” was set up in violation of three orders made by judges of the court.

“The so-called caretaker committee or any other person acting under its authority is an aberration under the PDP Constitution and was constituted in breach of the mandatory provisions of Section 223 and 224 of the 1999 Constitution and has no capacity to institute this action in the name of the PDP,” said Sheriff and Oladipo.

Sheriff and Oladipo urged the court to dismiss the suit filed against them for being an abuse of court process.

“In our humble submission, in view of the fact that persons behind the institution of this action were appointed in defiance of valid orders of this honourable court, this action is tainted with illegality and it is trite that no cause of action can be founded on illegality,” they said.

According to them, PDP is a corporate entity and can only be “invoked” by the National Executive Committee, of which they (Sheriff and Oladipo) are principal officers.

“In the instant case, however, it is clear that this action cannot be for the corporate interest of the PDP when the officers of the National Executive Committee are being sued as defendants in this action, by which the usurpers are seeking to validate their illegitimate claim to power.

“This suit cannot, therefore, be sustained in the name of the PDP…We humbly urge this honourable court to reject the plan of these lawless individuals to cause confusion and thereby benefit from their illegality, by dismissing this action,” they prayed.

According to Sheriff and Oladipo, the PDP NWC, which is still under their control, did not instruct anyone to file the action on the party’s behalf.

They said only the NWC is responsible for the day-to-day administration of the PDP and has the authority to institute or instruct anyone to file a suit in the party’s name.

“The NWC of the PDP did not authorise or delegate the authority to institute this instant suit.

“In a desperate bid to confer authority upon themselves, to invoke the corporate personality of the PDP, the individuals, namely Senators Ahmed Makarfi and Ben Obi, who instituted this instant action in the name of the PDP committed several illegalities in order to establish the illegal contraption they call the ‘caretaker committee’, which they believe entitles them to invoke the corporate personality of the PDP,” they said.

They accused the plaintiffs of “conspiratorial and criminal contempt of the court by devising means of defeating the purpose and intendment of the interlocutory injunction made by Justice Ibrahim Buba.”

But, the party instead appointed the caretaker committee in Port Harcourt.

Sheriff and Oladipo are praying the court to dismiss the suit for being an “illegality” and vacate all orders made.