How I was betrayed by PDP’s counterparts at convention– Ali Modu Sheriff

Recall that following the suspension of the national convention of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the sacking of Ali Modu Sheriff as the acting national chairman of the party, the party has named a 7-man caretaker committee to manage the affairs of the party on Saturday in Port Harcourt, Rivers State.

Inuwa Bwala, the spokesperson for Ali Modu Sheriff, provided the details of what had happened at the Port Harcourt convention and explained the situation from Mr Sheriff’s perspective.

“Immediately the chairman (Sheriff) received another court injunction, he called a meeting of the National Working Committee and told them that it wasn’t safe to continue with the convention of the party, especially since the court had forbidden elections virtually into all the offices.

He announced the suspension of the convention at a press briefing, only for some people to go behind and claim that there was convention. There was no organ of the party that was represented at the convention.

The convention was cancelled, and it remains cancelled until such a time the matters in court are resolved, for us to convene another national convention,” he said.

On Mr Sheriff’s current status

“The court had said the office of the chairman would become vacant only in 2018, and that is parts of the reasons we shelved the convention,” said Mr. Bwala.

On relationship and betrayal

Mr. Bwala also commented on the discord between Mr. Sheriff and Nyesom Wike and Godwill Akpabio, the Rivers state governor and former governor of Akwa Ibom and current minority leader of the Senatel, respectively.

He said:

“Some of them wanted to go on with the convention even with the subsisting court orders, and Sheriff said no. And that was their point of departure.

Naturally, you will feel betrayed if you are working with some people, only for them to go behind you to work against what you all agreed to do.”

The proposal to sack Mr. Sheriff and approve the appointment of the National Caretaker Committee of the PDP was moved by Mr. Akpabio and supported by Ibrahim Dankwambo, the governor of Gombe state.The voice vote was conducted by Nyesom Wike, the Rivers state governor, and a seven-man caretaker committee headed by the former governor of Kaduna state, Ahmed Makarfi, was elected.