Former President Goodluck Jonathan has denied endorsing Senator Ali Modu
\nSheriff as the National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP),
\nduring a visit of the embattled PDP Leader to his house.<\/p>\n
Mr Ikechukwu Eze, Media Adviser to the former President described the
\nclaim as false, saying the issue of endorsement never came up in the
\ncourse of the visit, \u201cnot at the closed door meeting with Sheriff nor
\nduring the former President\u2019s interview with newsmen.\u201d<\/p>\n
Eze who wondered \u201cwhy few reporters, some of whom were not even at the
\nvenue, chose to infuse mischief in their report\u201d, also noted that Jonathan
\nas a former President and foremost leader of the party, welcomed Sheriff
\nand some of his supporters to his house, in line with a mediation role he
\nis playing towards unifying and strengthening the PDP.\u201d<\/p>\n
He further stated that Jonathan opened his doors to Sheriff upon his
\nrequest, just as he had earlier done to the Makarfi-led caretaker
\ncommittee members, adding that the former President is prepared to broker
\nmore talks until the issues in the leadership of the PDP were finally
\nresolved.<\/p>\n
He said: \u201cIn deed, it may interest you to know that after meeting with
\nSheriff, the former President also met with Senator Ahmed Makarfi, leader
\nof the PDP Caretaker Committee, and the party\u2019s Board of Trustees
\nchairman, Senator Walid Jubril, later in the evening.\u201d<\/p>\n
Eze emphasised that \u201cas a peace-loving leader of the party, the former
\nPresident\u2019s interest is to help reposition PDP to enable it play a
\nconstructive role in the affairs of the nation, in view of the imperative
\nof deepening the nation\u2019s democracy.\u201d<\/p>\n
Eze said further: \u201cI wish to let those spinning this falsehood know that
\nit just doesn\u2019t add up to fly a contrived banner of endorsement in one
\nbreath, and in another, concede that the former President explained his
\ncommitment in meeting with different interest groups, towards resolving
\nthe differences in the party.\u201d<\/p>\n
He also said: \u201cFor the avoidance of doubt, the following are the former
\nPresident\u2019s exact words during the interview with newsmen, as had
\naccurately been reported by most online and major national newspapers, as
\nwell as broadcast organisations:<\/p>\n
\u2018We (PDP) are not factionalised. We are one. We are solving our problems.
\nThere are bound to be differences in politics. It is the way we resolve
\nthese differences that make us human beings and that is what makes us
\nleaders. I have met with Sheriff. And I have met with others. I will still
\nmeet with others, so that we will be able to do what is expected of us as
\na political party,\u2019 Jonathan said.<\/p>\n
Eze further made a case for fair and balanced reporting of national
\nissues, saying: \u201cWhile we appreciate the interest of journalists in the
\ncoverage of the activities of the former President, we urge accurate and
\nconstructive reporting, as it is a known fact that we cannot truly develop
\nour nation, if journalists continue to twist and fabricate stories with
\nthe intent of misinforming the public.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Former President Goodluck Jonathan has denied endorsing Senator Ali Modu Sheriff as the National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), during a visit of the embattled PDP Leader to…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":50268,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-56292","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-exclusive"],"yoast_head":"\n