A plot by some governors elected on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and a flurry of text messages triggered the revolt that led to the controversial removal of the National Chairman of the party, Senator Ali Modu Sheriff on Saturday in Port Harcourt.
Top officials of the party who took part in the game of intrigues that led to the ouster of the party chairman said Sheriff did not realise the level of conspiracy against him till it was too late...
The officials, who spoke to Punch on condition of anonymity, said the coalition that worked against Sheriff also included senior party members led by Prof. Jerry Gana. These party members, the officials added, were the ones who persuaded the governors to send last-minute text messages to their delegates to reject Sheriff on the convention ground.
One of the text messages read, “Reject Sheriff at the convention by passing vote of no confidence in him and voting ‘no’ on his ballot paper.”
It was learnt that the text message leaked to Sheriff, who hurriedly left his hotel room and headed to Government House, Port Harcourt.
Sheriff, who had scheduled a press briefing for the early morning of Saturday, was said to have rushed to the Government House where he met the governors, including Nyesom Wike of Rivers State.
One of the governors, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said Sheriff confronted all the governors, some senators and members of the Board of Trustees at the meeting, but failed to sway them.
The governor revealed that, “The crisis started when Sheriff refused to abide by the terms of agreement that he should spend just three months in office and he started manoeuvring to remain in office.
“We spoke to our colleagues that we should take a position and ask him to leave, they said no. Even when the party was factionalised, they remained adamant.”
The governor added that two of Sheriff’s main backers and sponsors, Wike and Ayo Fayose of Ekiti State, abandoned him when they saw the level of opposition against their choice.
“We then agreed that we (anti-Sheriff governors) would play along and act decisively at the eleventh hour. That’s what we did today (Saturday), by sending text messages to our delegates to pass a vote of no confidence in him at the convention ground.
“Unfortunately, the message leaked and that was why he rushed to meet us at the Government House. We asked him to go and resign in order to save the party, but he refused.
“When he knew that the game was up, he stormed out of the meeting and rushed down to his hotel to address you people (journalists). He knew that there was no way he would survive the gathering storm. We needed to save our party from disintegration and total collapse. That’s what happened.”
Convention called off — SheriffAt the hurriedly-held press briefing, Sheriff claimed that he was calling off the convention due to series of court injunctions, and those asking the party not to elect officers into some national offices.
But he refused to abide by the same court injunction while he was in Abuja where the order was served.
I’m still in charge of PDP — Sheriff insists
Sheriff has declared the convention as “illegal, null and void.” Speaking through his media aide, Inuwa Bwala, Sheriff said the constitution of the party did not give governors any role in the party’s affairs.
But it was the same governors who imposed him on the part in the first place.
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