Dayo Adeyeye, spokesman for a splinter group in Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, has accused Ali Modu Sheriff, the party’s national chairman, of being driven by personal ambition and the reason for which they resent him.
“We had raised the concern that Sheriff was not interested in conducting a national convention that will be in the interest of the party and all members.
“He was planning a convention that will put his cronies in critical party positions who will then rubber-stamp his candidacy when the time to pick the PDP candidate for 2019 Presidential Election comes”, Adeyeye said.
He continued: “We are worried that some important party leaders also could not see beyond the facade, tagging along with Sheriff as he drags the party through the mud in his bid at achieving his selfish ambition.
“We hope perceptible minds in the party can now see why it is extremely dangerous to trust Sheriff with the organisation of any convention,’’ he said.
Adeyeye said that having Sheriff as PDP presidential candidate would be a real delight for the All Progressives Congress.
“It is as good as having your sparring partner as your opponent in a major bout.
“We want to make a serious contention for power in 2019. We don’t want to field a candidate who is the captain of the second team of the ruling party,’’ he said.
On the allegation that the caretaker committee was already boasting of going to obtain victory on the party’s leadership crisis at the Supreme Court, Adeyeye said it was blackmail from Sheriff’s group.
According to him, it is rather the Sheriff group that is already blackmailing the Supreme Court on the matter the way they did to the Court of Appeal in the Ondo governorship in 2016.
“They did the same against the second panel for which the Supreme Court awarded costs of over N20 million against them and their lawyers.
“They were the ones celebrating that appeal court judgment even before it was given. They said they knew the judgment.
“Their subtle blackmail of Supreme Court is unbecoming.’’
But Cairo Ojougboh, handpicked by Sheriff to act as PDP National Deputy Chairman, disagreed. He alleged the national caretaker committee, headed by Ahmed Makarfi and which Adeyeye speaks for, had been boasting the Supreme Court would decided the appeal on the party’s leadership tussle in their favour.
“We make bold to say nobody can buy the Supreme Court and the Supreme Court cannot be bought.
“The PDP has implicit confidence in the Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Samuel Onnoghen and his colleagues in the Supreme Court.
“We, therefore, advise Makarfi and his co-travelers that their wishful judgment which they are parading will remain in the trash can,” Ojougboh said.
Adefola Ademosu
Source: NAN
