(Taiwo Amodu, ABUJA)
There is no end in sight to the intractable leadership tussle rocking the Peoples Democratic Party, (PDP) as former Borno state governor and chairman of the dissolved National Working Committee, (NWC), Senator Ali Modu Sheriff has kicked against the assumption of office by former Kaduna state governor and chairman of the party caretaker committee, Senator Ahmed Makarfi.
Ahmed Makarfi who emerged as chairman of the interim caretaker committee at the party national convention held on May 21, in Port Harcourt assumed office yesterday at the national secretariat of the main opposition party in Abuja.
In attendance to partake in the hand over ceremony were former deputy national chairman of the dissolved PDP NWC, Uche Secondus, the former National Legal Adviser, Victor Kwon and the former National Organising Secretary in the dissolved Senator Ali Modu Sheriff led national working committee, Alhaji Abubakar Mustapha. Also in attendance were Kema Chikwe and Abdulahi Maibasira, erstwhile Woman Leader and National Youth Leader, respectively.
But the former Borno state governor in a press statement made available to newsmen by his media aide, Inua Bwala dismissed the caretaker committee put in place by the highest statutory organ of the party, the national convention as a contraption. He further dismissed the assumption into office by Senator Makarfi as a charade and an infraction of court pronouncement which has declared him (Sheriff) as authentic chairman.
The statement read in part:”Our attention has been drawn to the activities at the National secretariat of the PDP to the effect that some individuals masquerading as leaders have handed over to Ahmed Mohammed Makarki under a contraption called “caretaker committee”.
“We state as a matter of fact that going by proceedings still pending in the courts to the effect that Senator Ali Sheriff remains the National Chairman, whatever transpired was null, void and of no effect whatsoever.
Sheriff has not mandated anybody, nor was his authority obtained by Uche Secondus, who has been parading himself as acting on behalf of the National Chairman.
“While we await the verdicts of the courts, we wish to state that Senator Ali Modu Sheriff is and remains the National Chairman of the party, until otherwise declared by the courts.
“We allowed the charade to go on at the secretariat without any form of challenge in strict obedience to careful pronouncement on the matter, but we must also state that there is no gathering of groups or individuals, however powerful, such groups or individuals may be, that can be said to take precedence over the law.
“For the avoidance of doubts, we state categorically that what took place at the PDP secretariat on Tuesday June 7, 2016 was a total disregard to court orders and an extension of the impunity for which the party has been accused of and which has taken the party to where it is today.
“The public should disregard all the actions and pronouncements.”