Sheriff risks jail claiming party chairmanship – PDP

…Caretaker Committee is jail bound – Sheriff

Claimant to the office of the national chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Senator Ali Modu Sheriff, risks being jailed if he fails to desist from parading himself as the chairman.

This is the view of the national leadership of the party led by Senator Ahmed Makarfi which pointed out in a statement in Abuja on Tuesday that Sheriff’s claim to the office was against the judgements given by the courts.

Signed by the National Publicity, Dayo Adeyeye, the statement pointed out that several court rulings had confirmed the National Caretaker Committee as the authentic leadership of the party.

Reacting to what it termed “another set of garbage and tissues of lies put together by the discredited loyalists of Senator Ali Modu-Sherif,” in a recent press statement, the PDP argued that the former Borno State governor had sustained his illegal claim to the leadership of the party.

The statement added: “First and foremost, we wish to state categorically that in consonance with judgement of various courts, which Ali Modu-Sheriff and his team of confused travellers have not bothered to appeal, the former Borno State governor is not the chairman of our party, the PDP.

“His consistent claim to the office is a continuation of their plans to sustain mayhem in our party, but nature and fair justice have taken care of his desperation.

“We wish to draw the attention of all Nigerians to the judgement delivered by Justice Valentine Ashi of the FCT High Court, which states clearly that Senator Ali Modu-Sheriff was never and is not the PDP national chairman.

“It is instructive to note that Senator Modu-Sheriff and his team of circus performers have not deemed it fit to appeal the court judgements. It is trite in law that a judgment not appealled is binding on the defendant.”

Noting that the courts have spoken, the statement argued: “However, those who wish to spend the rest of their lives behind prison bars may continue to utter heresy against the court. We hope their children would be proud to bear the family names of convicts.”

The PDP rejected Sheriff’s allegation that the National Caretaker Committee was responsible for the loss of Edo and Ondo States in the last gubernatorial elections, declaring that “Everyone knows who the real enemies of PDP are.

“We won’t also forget in a hurry the ignoble role Barrister Jimoh Ibrahim played in scuttling our campaign for the Ondo election. We also know those who pushed him forward for the hatchet job.

“We are amused that the agents of darkness used by the All Progressives Congress (APC) to cause confusion and frustrate our campaign for the Ondo election can accuse the National Caretaker Committee of impunity.

“However, we simply want them to define what impunity is, using their acts of betrayal as a case study. What they are doing is the worst form of impunity, lawlessness, greed and avarice.

“Their call on the National Caretaker Committee to self disband is uncharitable and unconstitutional. If they have any shame, they are the ones that should quietly disband. But honours can’t be expected from impostors.

“No matter what they say, we are determined as a political party to forge ahead and put our house in order even without their inputs.

“The National Caretaker Committee has not called for their expulsion against the claims they are making, the time for that has not come. But the rain of vengeance will not hang forever in the clouds.”

While praising its loyal members, the party urged them to keep the faith “as the Appellate Courts will do justice to the various appeals pending before it at the appropriate time; to put an end to the antics of these enemies of progress masquerading as members of our party.”

In a reaction to the PDP’s statement, Deputy National Chairman of the Sheriff faction, Dr. Cairo Ojuogboh, said it was National Caretaker Committee that risked jail.

“It is the Caretaker Committee that is actually playing with jail term because there is a form 48 and 49 already issued against them from the Federal High Court that is waiting for them. The effort to serve and arrest them was aborted because they evaded the law,” he said.

He added: “Justice Mohammed J of Abuja High Court ruled that the tenure of NWC expires in 2018 and therefore, Sheriff remain the only and authentic National Chairman.

“The judgement Adeyeye and co. is talking about has nothing to do with Sheriff.”