A fresh crisis appears to be brewing within the ranks of the
Peoples Democratoc Party (PDP), following the discovery of a
plan to extend the tenure of the former governor of Borno State,
Senator Ali Modu Sheriff, as the party’s national chairman.
A gentleman understanding among stakeholders, including the
PDP Governors’ Forum, yielded the temporary peace when
Sheriff emerged the chairman in February and he was expected
to leave the stage in May when the party plans to hold its
national convention.
But it was understood, at the weekend, that the zoning
committee of the party, which met in Uyo, Akwa Ibom State, had
zoned the national chairman position to the North-East, a
development that would leave Sheriff in sole position to remain
on his seat.
Sources close to the party alleged that the zoning committee
was working towards the answer, following a plot to retain
Sheriff on the seat.
A member of the committee, which met in Uyo, said the
meetings were being stage-managed to favour Sheriff and
probably other members of the National Working Committee
(NWC).
The member, who did not want his name in print, said some of
the committee members were deliberately left out of the
meeting, adding that betraying the gentleman’s agreement that
brought Sheriff to office could spell doom for the PDP.
“The zoning committee was packaged to deliver Sheriff as the
national chairman and I can assure you, it will lead to the death
of the PDP.
“Maybe we are already working towards the prediction of the
governor of Borno State who said Sheriff would be the
undertaker of the PDP. The APC is fumbling right now and
without a strong opposition, the coast could have been cleared
for the ruling party ahead 2019,” the committee member said.
It was gathered that while some governors of the PDP were
pushing for the retention of Sheriff, some of the other governors
were also kicking against the plot.
Sources, however, said aside the rejection of the idea by the
Board of Trustees (BoT), some stakeholders in the North and the
South were also opposed to the idea of retaining Sheriff on the
job.
It was gathered that some northern stakeholders were opposed
to retaining Sheriff as national chairman, as they think it could
give him undue advantage in the race for the party’s presidential
ticket in 2019.
It was also gathered that the National Assembly caucus of the
party would also pick up its rested opposition if it became
obvious that Sheriff would be retained on the seat.
A source said many of the party’s chieftains might face the exit
if Sheriff retained the seat after the May 21 convention.
“The right thing to do now is to zone the national chairmanship
seat to the South, so as to allow the presidential candidate freely
emerge from the North. But with the plot to retain Sheriff, not a
few members could face the exit door,” a leader of the party
said on Sunday.
Meanwhile, the party will meet tomorrow in Abuja, to finalise the
formula to be used in sharing its elective positions, ahead its
national convention slated for next month.
An informed source told the Nigerian Tribune, in Abuja, on
Sunday, that the committee took the decision at the end of its
preliminary meeting in Uyo on Saturday night, where it also
identified the specific offices available for zoning.
Nigerian Tribune’s source said in constituting the new National
Working Committee (NWC) of the party, the committee was
considering increasing the number of the present 12 by one, by
creating the offices of two deputy national chairmen against the
present one.
According to the source, if the proposal was approved, the party
would now have one deputy national chairman each for the
North and South, as it was during inception.
Also, the Nigerian Tribune gathered that the committee had
divided the country into North and South, while the two zones
would later share the positions given them into three sub-zones.
The source further explained that under the proposed
arrangement, if approved, the deputies would swap zones,
meaning that “if a substantive principal officer comes from the
North, definitely the deputy must come from the South.”
According to our source, “to ensure that all the members of the
committee have an input in the zoning arrangement before
arriving at a final decision, the chairman of the committee, who
is also the Akwa Ibom State governor, Emmanuel Udom,
designed a form which every member is expected to fill against
the final meeting in Abuja, tomorrow.”
The source further added that some members of the committee
even presented position papers on the way forward for the
zoning formula, which was extensively debated and adopted
where necessary.
Nigerian Tribune, however, gathered that if all the feelers from
the Uyo meeting were anything to go by, the position of the
national chairman of the party would still remain in the North for
now, ahead 2019 when the zone was expected to field a
presidential candidate, as already agreed to by all the statutory
organs of the party.
“The debate at Uyo was very frank and all-inclusive. It was open
and cordial. I can now confidently say the PDP is alive again. It
was scientifically done, no one or group can manipulate the
process,” the source declared.
Don’t contest, honour your words, Babatope cautions Modu-
Sheriff
Ahead the national convention of the party, a former Transport
minister, Chief Ebenezer Babatope, on Sunday, cautioned the
national chairman of the party, Senator Ali Modu Sheriff, not to
seek for tenure elongation or contest for same office again, in
his own interest and integrity.
In a statement made available to newsmen in Abuja, Babatope, a
member of the Board of Trustees (BOT) of the party, said the
honourable thing left for Senator Modu Sheriff now was not to
contest, but to honour his words and leave by May 21 date set
for him by the National Executive Committee (NEC) of the party.
Babatope vowed that if Senator Modu Sheriff tried anything
funny by manipulating himself into the office, the democrats in
the party would mobilise and force him out of office.
According to him, “I do not believe Alhaji Ali Modu Sheriff will
seek for tenure elongation. I hope he will honour his words not
to contest at the Port-Harcourt national convention.”
S/ West deserves PDP national chairmanship -George
Former deputy national chairman of the party, Chief Olabode
George, said the South West zone deserves the position of
national chairman, contending that the zone remained the only
one that had not got the position since 1999.
George said this while addressing newsmen after his return
from private visit overseas, just as he urged the PDP national
chairman, Alhaji Ali Modu Sheriff, to honour his word and hand
over to an elected chairman at the national convention
scheduled to hold on May 21.
The PDP chieftain, in his address, entitled: “Our party at
crossroads,” said the national chairmanship position of the party
should come to South-West now.
According to George, this was the right thing to be expected in
the spirit of equity and fairness, “which is the foundation and
principle of our founding fathers.
“The South West is a significant zone for the Nigeria federation
which cannot and must not be treated with levity.”
Commenting on the delegation that went to the NEC of the party
to pronounce that the South-West was not interested in the
national chairmanship position, George said he was very sad
when he heard of it.
He said the delegation did not consult with the elders of the
party in the South-West before embarking on the misadventure,
saying that “my reaction is that when we started the journey to
rebuild the PDP in the South West, none of those people was a
member of the party. None of them.
“Some of them, along the line, jumped on board the ship. The
constitution, the foundation, the wherewithal which attracted
them to join the party, they had no understanding of any. How
can anybody in a family be washing his dirty linen in the market?
It is like one bringing curse home.
“Let them come and tell Yoruba people that they don’t want
something good for them and see what would happen.

They
were even saying that the chairmanship should remain in the
North, are they really Oodua sons?”, George said.
George asked that the zoning committee should be allowed to
do its work, adding that the report must be based on justice and
equity.
He, however, said the national chairman, Senator Sheriff, had a
very significant role to play in the crucial transitional process
about to begin in the party.
Sheriff, Oladipo set to return as national chairman, secretary
Notwithstanding the zoning of the PDP national officials to the
six geopolitical zones by a committee headed by the Akwa Ibom
State governor, Udom Emmanuel, on Saturday, the party’s
national chairman and national secretary, Senator Ali Modu
Sheriff and Professor Wale Oladipo respectively, are set to retain
their seats in the May 21 national convention.
Investigations by the Nigerian Tribune revealed that the zoning
of the party positions, which allotted the chairmanship post to
the North while giving the posts of national secretary, national
publicity secretary and national auditor to the South-West, were
grand plots to have Oladipo and Sheriff returned to their
respective offices during the convention.
The posts of deputy national chairman, national organising
secretary and youth leader were zoned to the South-East by the
committee, it was gathered.
But an insider in the party, who spoke on a condition of
anonymity, said the zoning committee’s position was like
working to the answer, as it was already clear that the way had
to be paved for the duo of Sheriff and Oladipo to retain the posts
of national chairman and national secretary.
He noted that those who got wind of the plot ahead last
Saturday’s meeting were behind the publication in a national
newspaper (not Nigerian Tribune), which claimed that the
national chairmanship post had been zoned to the South-South,
while the North was to get the national secretary and presidential
candidate’s slots, adding that the publication was to preempt
the scheme for Sheriff and Oladipo’s return.
That publication, which the leadership of the party discredited,
had also maintained that the party had placed a ban on any
current member of the National Working Committee (NWC) of
the party from contesting any post in the forthcoming
convention.

I cant read any stupid long post about PDP cos all is full of lies and more so why must we be concern abt u ppls problem if una like scatter if u like dismantle as far as u no affect nigeria and buari's presidency then yamayama is allowed