PDP Sacks Ali Modu Sheriff as Nat'l Chair, Appoints ex-Gov

Ali Modu Sheriff in tears during a press conference in Abuja 

 

The embattled national chairman of the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Ali Modu Sheriff, has been fired by the party, and a former governor of Kaduna State, Ahmed Makarfi, was appointed as the leader of an interim party executive committee. 

 

According to Premium Times, a former Anambra governor, Peter Obi, was also appointed as the interim secretary of the party, adding that the caretaker committee will pilot the affairs of the party for three months.

 

It was gathered that the PDP took the decision on Saturday as part of efforts to resolve the crises the party is facing.

 

Meanwhile, the party’s scheduled national convention in Port Harcourt was cancelled, as a faction of the party conducted a parallel convention in Abuja same day.

 

Ali Modu Sheriff, who addressed journalists at around 3:00pm on Saturday, at the Conference Room of the Le Meridien Hotel, Port Harcourt, said there were currently three court orders issued against the party convention.

 

“We want to be seen as a law-abiding party. We will ask the delegates to go home,” Sheriff said, reading from a prepared text.

 

 

“The convention is not holding. Our leaders have been meeting since early in the morning and they finally resolved that the convention should be shelved until the court order issued is vacated,“ a delegate to the convention said.

 

He also said some of the leaders of the party expressed the view that “efforts should be made to resolve all differences with the Jerry Gana group before a fresh national convention is held”.

 

A source added that the leadership which comprised of PDP governors and other eminent members of PDP agreed to name an interim committee to replace the National Working Committee, pending the election of new NWC members.

 

Another source present at the high-powered meeting that was convened at the office of Governor Nyesom Wike in Port Harcourt said members resolved to make Markafi the chairman of the caretaker committee while Peter Obi would function as secretary of the party.

 

“Governor Fayose said Sheriff should leave for a new caretaker chairman to take over, but Governor Wike said Sheriff should not be disgraced out of office just like that that they should let him be chairman of the caretaker. The governors rejected Wike’s suggestion,” the source said.

 

The source said there will be representatives of the six geopolitical zones in the caretaker committee, too. “Sheriff was not happy with the development. In fact, he had to storm out of the venue of the meeting, angrily,” the source said.