Onyebuchi Ezigbo in Abuja
As efforts to broker peace in the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has continued to hit the rocks, the immediate past Deputy National Publicity Secretary of the party, Abdullahi Jalo, has said the former National Chairman, Senator Ali Modu Sheriff, is desperate to destroy the party.
He said current posture of the former governor of Borno State is like a man on ‘suicide mission’ to destroy an entity he has benefited from.
Speaking with journalists yesterday in Abuja, Jalo said Sheriff has failed to stick to his conditions for truce, adding that he keeps shifting his conditions, including the latest condition that the Board of Trustees (BoT) chairman, Senator Walid Jibrin must resign.
Jalo who frowned at the recalcitrant posture of Sheriff, said the former chairman fell out with Governors Olusegun Mimiko (Ondo State), Ayodele Fayose (Ekiti), Nyesom Wike (Rivers) and Emmanuel Udom (Akwa Ibom) because he promised all of them separately to give them vice presidential ticket for 2019 if he emerges presidential candidate.
“It is an instrument of coesion that made our August 17 convention to be aborted. Is Sheriff is on suicidal mission to destroy the PDP, why should he say the convention should be aborted? And if the federal government says it has no hand in the PDP crisis, where did Sheriff get the security forces from to stop the convention. Does Sheriff hasve police?,” he said.
Jalo said the former governor was sacked at the May 21 non-elective convention of the party in Port Harcourt because of his “inconsistency and deceit” in handling the affairs of the party in addition to the expiration of his three months tenure.
According to the former PDP spokesman, the August 17 convention which was non-elective succeeded in extending the tenure of the Senator Ahmed Makarfi-led National Caretaker Committee to legitimise his signing of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) documents on behalf of the party where the need arises.
The former deputy spokesman also accused the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) of using the former law maker to “destroy” the PDP, saying: “the APC should give us a breathing space so that we can operate as an opposition party.”
He restated his earlier call on the federal government to arrest Sheriff and consider the numerous factors published by the Commissioner of Justice and Attorney General of Borno State Kaka Shehu Lawan pointing to “Sheriff’s romance” with the dreaded Boko Haram sect.
“I have not seen any reason why the federal government is yet to effect the arrest. If Sheriff is doing a dirty job for the federal government, darkness has come to light. The federal government should be sincere.
“If Sheriff is arrested today, Shekau will name the sponsors of Boko Haram. I respect President Muhammady Buhari but there are some people around him that wants to tarnish his image,” he said.
