The national leadership of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) yesterday mandated the Senator Ali Modu Sheriff-led-National Working Committee (NWC) to hold a national convention in May this year.
This was the outcome of the meeting involving PDP governors, National Assembly Caucus, National Working Committee (NWC) and Board of Trustees (BoT) held at the residence of the Ondo State governor, Olusegun Mimiko, who doubles as chairman of the PDP Governors Forum.
Sheriff, while briefing newsmen on Monday, had said he awaited the leadership of the party to tell him when his time in office would expire.
Briefing newsmen after the three-hour meeting, Mimiko disclosed that the timeline for the conduct of convention would be released within two weeks.
He further stated that all organs of the party had agreed to stand by Sheriff, and that the controversy arising from his emergence as party chairman had been resolved.
Mimiko further declared that decision reached at their meeting was binding on the former ministers’ forum, stressing that every past minister is a product of the state caucus of the party and, by implication, a part of the national caucus, which was part of those who decided on Sheriff’s choice as chairman.
But the former ministers of the party rose from their meeting yesterday insisted on their rejection of Sheriff as national chairman, declaring that national convention must hold on March 28, 2016. They were holding their meeting while the governors, BoT and NWC were also meeting.
Speaking Mimiko said: “As you can see, we are just from a meeting. You are all aware of some controversies generated by the appointment of our new national chairman.
“In view of the recent development of our party, I want to let you know that all organs of the party, the Governors’ Forum, National Assembly Caucus, BoT, have agreed to stand by our national chairman to ensure that our party moves forward.
“We have put behind us all the controversies in the last few days and I want to assure you that we are together as a party.
“We have also mandated the National Working Committee to immediately put in motion the processes of ensuring that, within three months, the national convention of our party is called.”
The Ondo governor noted that members of the party would be briefed “within the next two weeks on the timetable that will culminate in the conduct of the national convention.”
“I want to assure all of you that PDP is ready. Let them know that, as one big family, we are set and ready to move forward and ensure that we give good governance to the country.”
Reacting however to the absence of former ministers at their meeting, Mimiko, said: “All I can tell you is that every past minister is a product of the state caucus of the party. They emanate from the state. The caucus of the party is all designed that every state is represented by the chairman of the party.
“Secondly, all the key organs in the party are also represented in the caucus: the governors, National Assembly members, National Working Committee members, the BoT members are all there. And I tell you that every governor, NWC member, member of the National Assembly emanates from the state organ of the party.
“And all state chairmen are members of the Caucus, they are members of NEC. They were part and parcel of the decision that led to this controversy. And everything is going on very well. There is no problem.”
The acting chairman of the BoT, Senator Walid Jubrin, thanked the governors for bringing the controversy to an end. He corroborated the decision by the organs of the party to hold a national convention in three months.
However, rising from their meeting of the former ministers, their chairman, Tanimu Turaki, said: “The forum of PDP ministers affirms the commitment of ideals and core values of founding fathers. It resolved that ministers reject Sheriff as national chairman due to the illegitimacy that brought him into power.”
He further stated “that the forum commends and supports the stance of the BoT for the rejection of the imposition of Sheriff; that the forum calls for the conduct of congress at all levels of the party leading to the national convention to be held on March 27 2016 so as to return power to the people; that the forum condemns all acts of impunity in the running of the party and calls for the respect of the party constitution.”
The forum also agreed to continue with consultations with all relevant stakeholders of the party.
It expressed regret at “the threat to one of our own, Femi Fani-Kayode by the chairman, Ali Modu Sheriff. We want to note a threat to one is a threat to all.”
Reacting to questions that the BoT had accepted Sheriff’s chairmanship and a timetable for national convention, Tanimu said that by the time they took their position, which was guided by their conscience, “we felt that the process deployed to appoint the national chairman was flawed.”
He added that in the first instance, the person who presided over the meeting had been barred by a court injunction and “to the best of our knowledge, that injunction has not been lifted.
“We believe that we should not give room for impunity. If the BoT chairman changes the position of BoT, it will not change our position. We stand by it and we still feel the way we feel,” he said, adding that “unless there are new reasons for us to reconsider our position, we stand on our ground. But there will still be room for consultation.”
PDP will bounce back, says former ministers
The PDP Ministers’ Forum yesterday boasted that the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) would bounce back again to reclaim its prominence in the country.
In an opening statement at the Forum’s maiden meeting in Abuja, the chairman of the forum and former Minister of Special Duties, Kabiru Tanimu Turaki, said members of the forum were determined to defend and protect the achievements of the PDP government in the last 16 years.
The meeting started at about 12pm and had PDP ministers from 1999 till 2015 in attendance. Some of them are Prof Jerry Gana, Prof Tunde Adeniran, John Odey, Muhammed Wakil, Steve Oruh, Mike Onolememen, Nduese Essien, Oroye Olajumoke, Dubem Onyia, Godsday Orubebe, Ibrahim Shekarau, Kabiru Tanimu Turaki (chairman) Josephine Anenih, Amb. Aminu Wali, Edem Duke, Prof. Tunde Adeniran, Senator Patricia Akwashiki, Femi Fani-Kayode, Senator Ikenya Danlami, Senator Bala Muhammed, Prof ABC Nwosu, Dr Suleiman Abubakar, Ibrahim Bio, Ojo Maduekwe, Shetima Mustapha and Boni Haruna, among others.
Turaki stated that the meeting was called to discuss the emergence of Senator Ali Modu Sherrif as the chairman of the PDP, stressing that as critical stakeholders, they could not just sit by and watch the party being destroyed.
He said: “PDP belongs to the people and it must go back to the people. If we can save Nigeria and keep it together, we can save our party.”
According to him, the ministers’ forum, by right, is part of the national caucus of the party.
“We are stakeholders. We are well respected leaders. We will ensure that all decisions taken are done fairly and transparently in the interest of the party,” he said, adding that their primary purpose is to ensure harmony.
“Some insinuations have been made that we are not a recogniwed organ of the constitution of the party. But we have our rights as members of the national caucus.
“We are stakeholders. We are leaders in our various states and we have more than a passing interest in our party.
Turaki asserted that the members did not come to the meeting with any preconceived notion.
“We will take decisions and communicate same to the party. We will bring back respect to the party. We might be down because we lost election but we are not out. Let it be known to Nigerians that the PDP is coming back and this is the beginning of the journey to reclaim what belongs to us.
The Kebbi-born former minister also frowned at the deliberate attempt to change the narrative on the tremendous achievements of the PDP government in the last 16 years.
“People had predicted that Nigeria will disintegrate in 2015 but the PDP kept Nigeria together. If we can save Nigeria, we can save our party; if we save PDP, we are saving democracy in Nigeria.
Enumerating the achievements of the PDP in the last 15, Tanimu said the party left indelible imprints on all the sectors of the nation’s economy and that the achievements are there for all unbiased critics to see.
“When we came in in 1999, we inherited a wobbling economy. We made it not only the fastest growing economy in the world, but we were the third destination for foreign direct investment in Africa. We strengthened the banking sector. The faith of Nigerians in the diaspora was restored in the country and they came back to invest in the country. We sustained an exchange rate regime that was stable between N94 to N115 to a dollar. We moved agriculture from subsistence level to business. We respected court orders. We were able to build and sustain existing infrastructure. New airports were built.
“In the health sector, we ensured that each state of the federation had a teaching hospital or a federal medical centre. We eradicated polio. We wrestled Ebola to the ground.
“We are not fighting for space with anybody. We will defend our legacy so that the narrative is not changed. The successes of PDP was because we believe power belongs to the people and we must be with the people. That is why Nigerians trusted us to 16 years,” he said.
We will remove Sheriff – Fani-kayode
Former minister of aviation, Chief Femi Fani-Kayode, yesterday declared that the national chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Senator Ali Modu Sheriff, would be removed.
He also described as empty the threat by the PDP national chairman that he (Fani-Kayode) would be dealt with for his comment over Sheriff’s alleged association with Boko Haram sect.
He further questioned Sheriff’s nationality, asking him to explain whether he is Nigerian or Chadian.
Sheriff had, at his formal takeover as national chairman on Monday, said Fani-Kayode would not go scot-free for linking him with the sponsorship of the terrorist sect.
But Fani-Kayode, who spoke to journalists shortly after the opening session of PDP Former Ministers’ Forum yesterday, said it was unfortunate that Sheriff, who said he came to move the party forward, was issuing threats to members.
Fani-kayode said: “Well my first question is, who is Ali Modu Sheriff; is he a Nigerian or Chadian? The second thing is that he came as the national chairman, or claiming to one, and you want to move the party forward and the first you do is to start issuing threats. This, I think, is unacceptable and nobody is intimidated. The fact of the matter is that he wants to set Nigeria on fire; he also wants to set PDP on fire and that fire is going to consume him and him alone.”
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