Former ministers, who served under the
Peoples Democratic Party-controlled Federal Government, have convened an
emergency meeting, where the plan by the National Chairman of the
party, Senator Ali Modu Sheriff, to stay beyond May 21 will be
discussed.
Also, elders of the party have called
another meeting where they will also discuss the implication of Sheriff
not honouring his words to leave office on the agreed date.
Investigation by our correspondent in
Abuja on Sunday showed that the former ministers had initially agreed to
meet on Thursday this week in Abuja, but shelved the meeting in order
to allow the elders meet first.
Apart from this, it was gathered that
the Chairman of the former Ministers’ Forum, who was also a Minister of
Special Duties, Mallam Taminu Turaki (SAN), also asked that the meeting
be shifted to give the members an opportunity to attend.
The meeting, it was gathered, would hold next week.
A member of the forum, who is a former
Minister of National Planning, Dr. Abubakar Suleiman, confirmed the
former ministers’ meeting.
He said it was almost certain that
Sheriff was hell bent on perpetuating himself in office, adding that the
former governor of Borno State had tried in vain to infiltrate the
forum.
Suleiman added, “We were to meet this
Thursday, but the meeting was shifted due to logistic issues. We are now
meeting next week Thursday.
“We will deliberate on the plan by the
chairman of our party to hold on to power despite the assurances given
to us by the (former) governors that he would hand over on May 21 during
the national convention and other issues.
“He knows that the former ministers are
men and women of integrity and that we are not shifting our opposition
to his continued stay in office; that’s why he has tried to divide the
forum, but he has failed because we are still one.”
It will be recalled that the former
ministers had opposed the emergence of Sheriff as the national chairman
of the party, claiming that he did not have the experience and ability
to lead the party.
Our correspondent reports that during
the inauguration of the four committees the National Executive Committee
of the party directed him to set up, Sheriff did not give the zoning
committee a deadline to submit its report.
The zoning committee is expected to
allocate national offices to all the six zones in the federation and
later submit its recommendations to Sheriff, who, in turn, will submit
it to NEC for approval.
When our correspondent asked the
National Publicity Secretary of the party, Chief Olisa Metuh, about the
deadline for the zoning committee, he said the committee would submit
its report in 10 days from Tuesday’s inauguration date.
“The zoning committee, because of the urgency of the job, will submit its report to the NWC in 10 days’ time,” Metuh said.
However, Sheriff later overruled him, saying the committee was free to submit its report anytime it wished.
Our correspondent gathered that the
decision of the leaders to convene the emergency meeting was informed by
Sheriff’s latest position.
Among those expected at the meeting are a
former chairman of the party’s Board of Trustees, Chief Tony Anenih; a
former Minister of Transport, Chief Ojo Maduekwe; a former Minister of
the Federal Capital Territory, Mr. Bunu Sheriff, and Alhaji Adamu
Ciroma.
One of the governors, who spoke on
condition of anonymity, said at least, “five of us are now regretting
that we didn’t allow the BoT and the former ministers to have their way
now.”
He added, “We won’t kept quiet, because
this was how we kept mum when (former) President Goodluck Jonathan
refused to abide by the one-term agreement he had with us. That action
led to where we are today.
“If we need to be taken seriously in
2019, we need to have a credible party now and a credible presidential
candidate that can match President Muhammadu Buhari in terms of
integrity and so on. For now, we don’t seem to be serious.”
The governor said the antecedents of Sheriff did not portray him as someone who could be relied on.
He said, “When he was in the defunct All
Nigerian Peoples Party, he was working for former President Olusegun
Obasanjo. Later, he also worked for President Jonathan in the same
party. We can’t be sure that come 2019, he won’t be in PDP and be
working for President Buhari.”
Sheriff’s Media Adviser, Mr. Inusa
Bwala, said his boss had said he wouldn’t stay beyond the date permitted
by the party’s constitution.
Meanwhile, leaders of the PDP from Kwara
State have protested to the national leadership of the party over the
non-inclusion of any party member in the state on the membership of the
four committees set up by PDP recently.
The committees are those on zoning, finance, reconciliation and national convention.
It was gathered that no indigenes of the state was among the 250 members of the four committees.
Two members of the party from the state,
Suleiman and a former Special Adviser to Jonathan on National Assembly,
Sen. Suleiman Ajadi, faulted the omission.
Suleiman, who confirmed the protest,
said, “Kwara PDP feels marginalised. We have protested to the office of
the National Organising Secretary, who promised to make amends.”
When contacted, Metuh expressed surprise that the state was omitted on the list.
He said, “Are you sure that the state is
not represented on the list? If that’s true, then it must be a mistake
which we have to rectify. We will look into it.”
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