From: Timothy Olanrewaju, Maiduguri
The Borno State Chapter of the All Progressive Congress (APC) has denounced a media report claiming that a former governor of the state and sacked national chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Sen. Ali Modu Sheriff, is now the APC vice chairman in the north-east region.
A statement issued by the party’s Publicity Secretary, Makinta Zarami, in Maiduguri, on Wednesday, said an online media report presented Modu Sheriff as the party’s leader in the north-east.
It said the party leadership in Sheriff’s state has maintained “dignified silence” since the claim became rife in the social media but decided to speak now to put the record straight.
”As it must have been observed, some media promoters of Ali Modu Sheriff have been using the social media to share an online story claiming that the APC National Secretariat has appointed Sheriff as the new leader of the APC in the northeast.
“We consider this a clear case of impersonation, because as everyone knows, the APC has an existing National Vice Chairman for the northeast otherwise called zonal vice chairman who replaced Babachir David Lawal after the office became vacant following Lawal’s appointment as SGF in 2015,” the party said.
Sheriff, a founding leader of APC, in Borno State, later defected to PDP where he became the factional national chairman of the party. The PDP leadership which Sheriff occupied was contested at various courts by the Ahmed Makarfi faction until recently when the Supreme Court ruled in favour of Makarfi bringing to an end Sheriff’s hold on PDP.
However, speculations were rife in Borno State that Sheriff was planning to return to the APC. But the party said the APC was no longer the same party which the former governor left about two years ago.
“If he is to return, he will not be able to hijack the APC structure even in his own ward not to talk of Borno State or the northeast,” it said.