… Why governors want Sheriff
By Willy Eya and Taiwo Amodu, Abuja
AHEAD of the May 21 national convention of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Port Harcourt, there are indications that the event may not hold after all following internal crises especially in various state chapters.
The development came even as more facts have continued to emerge on why governors and other major stakeholders have adopted Ali Modu Sheriff as the national chairman of the party.
Also, the proclamation by the South-west leadership that it would not seek the office of national chairman at its national convention has created disaffection among the party chieftains in the zone.
A national officer of the PDP, who spoke to Daily Sun on condition of anonymity said the May 21 convention date was not feasible because of the crises in various state chapters of the party.
He said the hierarchy of the party is working hard to resolve all crises to ensure that it does not witness a rancorous convention which would further polarize the party and worsen its woes after its dismal outing in the last general elections.
“The party knows the importance of the national convention and it does not want to make a mistake considering what we suffered in the last general elections. To tell you the truth, the party is likely to shift the date to ensure that all the issues in various state chapters are resolved before the convention,” he said.
Source told Daily Sun also that the former Borno State governor remains the best option to ensure that the PDP reinvents itself in the North in order to get a sizable chunk of the votes in the region in the 2019 general elections.
He said despite the question marks on his image, Sheriff is one politician that has the clout to sell the PDP to the Northern voters and power brokers.
He said: “Initially, many people resisted the candidature of Sheriff because of his alleged link with the Boko Haram sect but every member of the national secretariat and national officers and zonal officers who had one thing to do with him fell in love with his sagacity in solving problems.
“When you take a holistic view of the political landscape vis-à-vis areas in the PDP’s control in the whole North, we have only two states. The question is: are we going to keep the whole 19 states of the North out of the PDP politics? In 2019 when we would want to give them a presidential candidate that would emerge as the president of Nigeria, what would happen between now and 2019?”
The leadership of the party in the South West zone, led by Makanjuola Ogundipe had in a recent visit to the party national secretariat presented a position paper to its national chairman, Senator Sheriff on the forthcoming national convention.
In the paper, the PDP South-west demanded that the office of the national chairman be retained in the North. Daily Sun gathered that certain elders of the party in the zone, miffed by the position paper are already smarting for a showdown with Senator Sheriff, as they alleged that the stance of the South-West executive was to ensure tenure elongation for him.
Fingers of scorn are already being pointed at Ekiti State governor, Ayodele Fayose, as the mastermind of the controversial position paper. Further investigations revealed that the elders have agreed to sponsor former deputy national chairman, South-West, Chief Bode George as the zone’s candidate for the office of
national chairman for the convention. Speaking with Daily Sun on phone on the speculated ambition of the party national chairman, a member of the party’s Board of Trustees, Ebenezer Babatope expressed concern over the stance of the South-West executive of the erstwhile ruling party that the North be allowed to retain the office.