A fresh round of crisis in brewing in the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, following the formal handover of the party to the Ahmed Makarfi-led caretaker committee on Tuesday in Abuja.
The embattled national chairman of the party, Ali Modu Sheriff, who Makarfi replaced as interim national chairman, described the handover as a “charade”.
Our correspondent reports that the handover notes were delivered by Prince Uche Secondus, who was Sheriff’s deputy.
Makarfi’s assumption of office at the national secretariat of the PDP yesterday followed his endorsement by the party’s Board of Trustees (BoT), Governors Forum, National Caucus and some members of Sheriff’s dissolved National Working Committee (NWC) at a late night meeting on Monday at the Ondo State Governor’s Lodge in Abuja.
Reacting to the development, the former PDP chairman said the caretaker committee was “illegal, null and void”.
Sheriff, in a statement issued yesterday by his Special Adviser on Media, Inuwa Bwala, said he did not authorise Secondus to handover to Makarfi.
He, therefore, called on loyal party members and the general public to disregard the “so-called handover” of the PDP to some people.
The statement noted that the matter was still in court and that Sheriff remained the national chairman.
The statement reads in full: “Our attention has been drawn to the activities at the National secretariat of the PDP to the effect that some individuals masquerading as leaders have handed over to Ahmed Mohammed Makarki under a contraption called “caretaker committee”.
“We state as a matter of fact that going by proceedings still pending in the courts to the effect that Senator Ali Sheriff remains the National Chairman, whatever transpired was null, void and of no effect whatsoever.
“Sheriff has not mandated anybody, nor was his authority obtained by Uche Secondus, who has been parading himself as acting on behalf of the National Chairman.
“While we await the verdicts of the courts, we wish to state that Senator Ali Modu Sheriff is and remains the National Chairman of the party, until otherwise declared by the courts.
“We allowed the charade to go on at the secretariat without any form of challenge in strict obedience to careful pronouncement on the matter, but we must also state that there is no gathering of groups or individuals, however powerful, such groups or individuals may be, that can be said to take precedence over the law.
“For the avoidance of doubts, we state categorically that what took place at the PDP secretariat on Tuesday June 7, 2016 was a total disregard to court orders. And an extension of the impunity for which the party has been accused of and which has taken the party to where it is today.
“The public should disregard all the actions and pronouncements”, Mr. Bwala said.
Speaking in the same vein, the erstwhile National Secretary of the party, Prof Wale Oladipo, said the caretaker committee remained illegal and lacked powers to run the affairs of the party.
In a statement he issued in Lagos, yesterday, Oladipo described the caretaker committee as a group of “lawbreakers”.
“It was very wrong for the committee to take over PDP’s headquarters (also known as Wadata House). Sheriff is out of the country and will be back tomorrow (today). The law breakers are in Wadata deceiving themselves. The law will take its course in the next one week”, he assured.
