Sheriff to run as sole candidate for PDP chair

Ali Modu Sheriff

Reprieve on Monday came the way of the embattled National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Alhaji Ali Modu Sheriff.

The various party organs and stakeholders who were hitherto calling for his ouster gave him the nod to run as sole chairmanship candidate at the national convention billed to hold in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, on Saturday.

At a broad based meeting at the party’s secretariat in Abuja, the stakeholders, including the Board of Trustees (BoT) unanimously endorsed Sheriff for the job, with the various dissenting groups in agreement.

Confirming the development, Sheriff, in a chat with journalists at the party’s secretariat, said his candidacy was first endorsed by the party’s Northeast zone and his home state of Borno in a unanimous voice vote.

He said, “Yes, I am contesting for the position of chairman at the convention. I have been unanimously endorsed by the Northeast zone and Borno State as sole candidate.

“The Taraba State Governor, Darius Ishaku, moved the motion for my adoption and his Gombe State counterpart, (Ibrahim Dankwabo) seconded the motion.”

Sheriff had, after an earlier meeting with the party’s BoT, said the party had dropped its plan to amend the PDP constitution which had been one of the sources of disagreement among party stakeholders.

He, however, clarified that the decision to amend the party’s constitution was not his idea, saying that he only inherited the recommendation as contained in a report by the Ike Ekweremadu committee.

Sheriff confirmed the party’s decision to zone the PDP’s presidential ticket to the North for the 2019 general election.

The chairman also assured the BoT and other stakeholders that disagreements arising from the conduct of ward and zonal congresses across the states would be looked into, with a view to addressing areas of conflict.

The party also confirmed Senator Walid Jibrin as newly elected chairman of the BoT, with Chief Ojo Maduekwe as secretary.

Source