Sheriff: Jonathan ministers, others threaten to dump PDP

Some former ministers, who served under the Peoples Democratic Party-controlled Federal Government have threatened to leave the party if its current National Chairman, Senator Ali Modu Sheriff, returns to office on May 21.

Investigations by our correspondent showed that some of the ministers insisted that they would not be in a party that would be led by the former governor of Borno State from that date.

They also considered the preliminary reports from the zoning committee of the party.The former ministers met in Abuja on Thursday where they reviewed activities in the party, with particular attention to its forthcoming national convention.

The zoning committee, headed by the Governor of Akwa Ibom State, Mr. Udom Emmanuel, was said to have zoned the office of the national chairman to the North-East.

It was generally believed that the committee, which has the Governor of Ekiti State, Mr. Ayodele Fayose, as deputy, zoned the office to Sheriff.

Fayose and the Governor of Rivers State, Mr. Nyesom Wike, were said to have sold the candidacy of the former governor to the party in February.

They were also said to still be backing him to continue in office despite a barrage of opposition to his candidacy.

But the PDP governors, led by the Governor of Ondo State, Dr. Olusegun Mimiko, had given assurance to those opposed to Sheriff then that the former governor would only be in office for three months.

The forum of the ministers at its different meetings, had insisted that Sheriff must leave at the expiration of his tenure in May as stated by Mimiko.

Strategically, Sheriff was said to have appointed some of the former ministers into some of the committees like zoning, finance, convention and reconciliation with the aim of breaking their ranks.

However, sources at the Thursday meeting said the debate on Sheriff was tough and that the seven-point agenda of the meeting nearly tore the ranks of the ex-ministers.

Reliable sources said some former ministers, after listening to the contributions of their former colleagues, felt betrayed and threatened to leave the party if Sheriff was made the chairman.

Some of the affected ministers were those from the North-Central, North-East, South-East and North-Central.

It was learnt that a particular former minister, who served under the regime of former President Goodluck Jonathan and another former female minister, said they would not sit at a meeting to be presided over by the former Borno State governor.

One of the former ministers, who was at the meeting but spoke on condition of anonymity, said, “It was so funny the way our colleagues were trying to defend the former governor despite the collective decision we took before.

“Some came to say we should give him the chance and that we should not be seen to be opposing him as a person.

“But it was gratifying to note that the majority of us have said there and then that we would leave the party for them. Our aprons are not tie to the PDP.

“We told them that Sheriff had always worked against his party. He worked for former President Olusegun Obasanjo; he worked for the late former President Umaru Ya’Adua; he worked for former President Goodluck Jonathan, who were all in our party.

“This was when Sheriff was in the opposition. Now, tell me: is there anything to suggest that he won’t work against us in 2019?”

He said rather than see reason with this, some of the former ex-ministers, who were said to have been promised structures in their states by Sheriff, said “it was because Sheriff loved the PDP, that was why he worked against his party in those years.”

Already, he said the forum might be heading for the rocks because of the threat to defect unless the zoning committee took the position out of the North-East.

It was, however, not clear when the committee would be meeting, as mounting criticisms that trailed the zoning of the office of the national chairman to the North-East had forced it to adjourn sitting till further notice.

The National Publicity Secretary of the party, Chief Olisa Metuh, told our correspondent on Sunday that he did not know when the committee would be sitting again.

But he said the party was consulting widely with the hope of making sure that there would be no rancour before, during and after the convention.

He said, “The committee ought to meet on Tuesday, but I’m not sure whether they will meet again. I need to confirm this.

“Consultations are ongoing and I can assure you that by the time the committee submits its reports, all caucuses of the party, all the zones and all the stakeholders would be satisfied.”

The National Secretary of the party, Prof. Wale Oladipo, who is a member of the reconciliation committee, said his committee was already discussing with aggrieved members and groups within the party.

“Very soon, Nigerians will hear from us. But let me say that we are already working. We are talking, meeting and discussing with our members already on the need to come together and confront the All Progressives Congress,” Oladipo added.

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