Governors elected on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, have again rejected Senator Ali Modu Sheriff as national chairman of the party.
They made their position known under the aegis of PDP Governors Forum on Thursday.
Arising from a meeting held at the Ondo State governors lodge in Abuja, with the Board of Trustees of the party, the governors vowed not to recognize the leadership of Mr. Sheriff.
The meeting came on the heels of Wednesday’s ugly incident at the National Secretariat of the PDP, where supporters of Mr. Sheriff and the caretaker committee chairman, Senator Ahmed Makarfi, clashed in a battle for supremacy and recognition.
The Makarfi-led caretaker committee is backed by the governors, BoT, National Assembly caucus and major stakeholders but Sheriff, who was sacked at the May 21 national convention of the PDP in Port Harcourt, vowed to remain in office till 2018, citing a court order affirming his leadership.
Speaking to reporters after the meeting, Governor of Ekiti State and one of the former supporters of the embattled chairman, Ayodele Fayose, explained why the PDP Governors withdrew their support for Sheriff.
According to him, the governors were against “anything that will make Sheriff turn such an opportunity (of being national chairman) into telling us that he wants to become President of Nigeria”.
“After caretaker, we intend to make sure we support you to be substantive chairman and you are promising people everywhere that they should come and be your vice president. I can’t be part of it”, he added.
Also speaking, Senator Makarfi, who was at the meeting, told journalists that the crisis in the party is fueled by external forces.
