Embattled National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party, Senator Ali
\nModu Sheriff, thursday stormed out of a reconciliatory meeting convened by
\nformer President Goodluck Jonathan, declaring no meeting of the party can
\nhold without him chairing.<\/p>\n
An irate Sheriff said as far as the PDP is concerned, he remains he most
\nsenior member and should be accorded respect.<\/p>\n
Sheriff, who came into the Yar \u2018Adua Centre, Abuja venue of the meeting
\nlong after Jonathan, the governors and other party chiefs had taken their
\nseats, stormed out of the meeting at 4:25 pm.
\nHe disagreed with Jonathan on the meeting, saying he (Sheriff) remained
\nthe most senior member of the PDP and, as such, a meeting of that nature
\nought to have been convened by him.<\/p>\n
Visibly agitated Sheriff was more piqued by Jonathan\u2019s refusal to allow
\nhim address the meeting in his capacity as the National Chairman.<\/p>\n
According to him, the meeting was at variance with the recommendations
\nmade by a reconciliation committee headed by Bayelsa State Governor
\nSeriake Dickson.<\/p>\n
Speaking with reporters shortly after he quit the meeting with his team,
\nSheriff said he would not be party to any arrangement that seemed to
\ndeviate from the recommendation of the Dickson committee.<\/p>\n
His words: \u201cWe were here for PDP stakeholders meeting and the PDP has only
\none national chairman, which is Ali Modu-Sheriff. There is no PDP meeting
\nthat will take place under whatever arrangement that I will not open the
\nsession as national chairman. Today, I am the most senior member of this
\nparty.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think Governor Dickson made a proposal for reconciliation. And we have
\naccepted. Some people want to deviate from this programme, to bring agenda
\nwhich was not part of it.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd as national chairman of the party, what I told you people in my
\noffice when Dickson brought the report is the only thing that we have
\nagreed at this moment. And I will not be party for anybody using me to do
\nanother programme. I\u2019m not going to be part of it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Asked if he had not disrespected Jonathan by storming out of the meeting,
\nSheriff said he respected the former president but that respect\u00a0 must be
\nreciprocal. According to him, Jonathan should not have called the meeting
\nwithout consulting him.<\/p>\n
Said he: \u201cWell, I respect him but calling for the meeting. He is a former
\npresident. But as of today, I am the most senior member of the party.<\/p>\n
\u201cTherefore, if I respect him, the respect must be reciprocated. You can\u2019t
\ncall me for a meeting of PDP and say I cannot address the meeting as
\nnational chairman of the party.\u201d<\/p>\n
Asked on the way forward, Sheriff said he was sticking with the Dickson
\nrecommendation, which proposed a national convention under his watch.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs the National Chairman, we move on.\u00a0 We have a programme initiated by
\nDickson. And we are continuing with that. Anything outside that, I am not
\na party to it,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
In his opening address, Jonathan said he had been working with key party
\nstakeholders back stage and that the meeting was his first major political
\nouting since he left office about two years ago.<\/p>\n
He acknowledged the crisis that has plagued the party for almost two
\nyears, saying the development was not new in democracies the world over,
\nincluding the United Kingdom (UK) and the United States (U.S.).<\/p>\n
Jonathan said: \u201cI will like to point out that every election cycle throws
\nup a challenge as well as opportunities for a political party; a test to
\nre-evaluate its performance, and an opportunity to reform its processes
\nand programmes towards rediscovering itself to become even more appealing
\nto the electorate in its next outing.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is obvious that some of our people see this development as not only
\ndisappointing but discouraging for our great party. Although I can
\nunderstand this sense of loss, I always prefer to align myself with those
\nwho choose to see it differently, given the positive impact our conduct
\nand disposition has had in deepening our democracy.<\/p>\n
\u201cAll over the world, political parties lose elections, not because they
\nhave entirely failed, but because, in most cases, the people who gave them
\npower in the first place, have decided to hand it over to another party,
\nin order to experience a different kind of leadership.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn Africa and other emerging democracies, the challenge has always been
\nwith the disposition of the party in power to allow the people the
\nopportunity to freely exercise this right.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis obviously is the area where we have excelled. The fact that we
\nallowed this process to take place peacefully, and freely handed over
\npower to the opposition did not only lift the profile of our party, but
\nalso elevated our country to the status of one of the world\u2019s stable and
\nreliable democracies.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor this gesture alone, the whole world has continued to applaud our
\nparty and its leaders as icons of democracy on the continent.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe were able to achieve this because our government really reformed the
\nelectoral and political process, by giving the electoral bodies their true
\nindependence which subsequently opened up the political space for free and
\nfair elections.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe may have had shortcomings while in power, but we also recorded
\nsignificant achievements and great milestones. Through purposeful
\nleadership, we reformed our institutions, rebuilt the nation\u2019s confidence,
\nregained international goodwill and rekindled hope in our people.\u201d<\/p>\n
The former president encouraged the gathering not to despair over loss of
\npower and enjoined them to make sacrifices by putting the interest of the
\nPDP above their personal interests.<\/p>\n
Describing the PDP as a leading light in constitutional democracy,
\nJonathan said the party cannot be allowed to continue to drift, adding
\nthat the gathering was designed to stem the drift.<\/p>\n
He urged the stakeholders to bury their differences, to ensure a quick
\nresolution of the leadership problems in the party, stressing that there
\nis no sacrifice too big to make.<\/p>\n
Jonathan said a 40-member committee would be set up to finetune decisions
\ntaken at the meeting with a view to resolving all outstanding issues.<\/p>\n
He continued: \u201cAs politicians, with the zeal to lead our people, we must
\naspire to higher offices or identify the people we believe have leadership
\nqualities and encourage them to aspire to those positions. But one thing
\nis very clear: you cannot, as the polity is configured today, be elected
\ninto a higher office on the platform of a weak party.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe must all, therefore, work to rebuild the PDP and strengthen the party
\nin line with the vision of our founding fathers, and the mission to
\ncontinue to provide for the good of the people of our great country,
\nvaluable leadership in a stable democracy rooted in the rule of law.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have to remind ourselves that the prolongation of the crisis in our
\nparty may have cost us so much in election fortunes, in recent time. The
\nloss of Edo and Ondo gubernatorial elections is still fresh in our memory.
\nIt goes without saying that we cannot afford to have a repeat of that in
\nthe forthcoming elections in Anambra, Ekiti and Osun states.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is high time we buried the hatchet, suppressed our ego and prepared to
\nmake sacrifices in the interest of our party and, in deed the country.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur ambitions therefore must come second, otherwise we will only be
\nbuilding castles on quick sand. We must realise that, as they say,
\neverybody is nobody without a platform. So, why destroy the platform?<\/p>\n
\u201cI urge our teeming members to remain steadfast and continue to believe in
\nthe PDP. As I said earlier, it is true that we suffered a setback in 2015,
\nbut the fact remains that the PDP is still the largest party in our dear
\ncountry.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere is no doubt that the PDP will emerge from this moment of trial to
\nregain its position as the greatest party on our continent.\u201d<\/p>\n
At the meeting were Governors Ayo Fayose (Ekiti), Nyesom Wike (Rivers) and
\nDarius Ishaku (Taraba). Deputy Governors of Gombe and Ebonyi states were
\nalso there.<\/p>\n
Others at the meeting were the chairman of the party\u2019s Caretaker
\nCommittee, Senator Ahmed Makarfi, Prince Uche Secondus, Olisa Metuh, among
\nothers.<\/p>\n
Dickson was among the party\u2019s governors who did not attend the meeting and
\nwere not represented by their deputies.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Embattled National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party, Senator Ali Modu Sheriff, thursday stormed out of a reconciliatory meeting convened by former President Goodluck Jonathan, declaring no meeting of the…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":46684,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-57113","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-exclusive"],"yoast_head":"\n