The Unlikely Pacifist?
Amidst a leadership tussle that has given him the edge in wresting control of the Peoples Democratic Party from his opponents, the decision by Ali Modu Sheriff not to contest the party’s leadership shows uncommon sportsmanship,
It is said that the margin of victory in life can sometimes be measured in inches. This is what Ali Amodu Sheriff, the Court of Appeal-declared Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) may have done when in apparent victory he openly foreclosed any desire to contest the chairmanship of the party again.
He also said he would leave the decision on whether to run for the office of the president on the platform of the PDP or not in the hands of God. That certainly is beyond anybody at the moment.
They say that life is the best teacher, and that we never stop learning; that every experience we go through teaches us something new. But that is not to say every lesson learnt is of the life-changing variety.
This certainly can be said of Sheriff because recent activities in the party he leads have shown how quick friends can become enemies, especially in a party like the PDP.
Following a report by the reconciliation committee set up to finally resolve the party lingering crisis, which suggested he be allowed to conduct a new convention of the party tentatively scheduled for June 30, 2017, Sheriff had suddenly taken up the toga of a statesman.
While promising not to contest, he however will not abandon his supporters in the battle that has pitched members in factional war as he made it clear those members of his National Working Committee (NWC) whose tenures are still running should still have the right to re-contest for offices at the party’s convention.
The position of the chairman came just as the leadership of the National Caretaker Committee led by Senator Ahmed Makarfi condemned the stance of the Bayelsa State Governor, Seriake Dickson, chairman of the party’s reconciliation committee which it said, is one-sided and in favour of Sheriff. The Makarfi group sees Sherrif as a usurper and could not fathom why the Dickson committee would suddenly confer legitimacy upon him.
At a press conference in Abuja where he made his decision known, Sheriff noted that every position he had occupied so far in his political career, came from God, adding that it was God that made it possible for him to lead the PDP at the moment.
“Every position I occupy in life, God made it possible. I am a firm believer in the will of God. The issue of the presidency is not for me to decide. I told you I will not run for the chairmanship position, the rest we leave to God,” he said.
According to him, as soon as the party concludes its ongoing consultations; it will set up a convention committee which will fine-tune the modalities for organising the event.
Sheriff also commenced talks with the Board of Trustees (BoT) through its Chairman, Senator Walid Jubril, who promised to get back to him in order for them to schedule a formal meeting with the members.
“Everywhere in our party, we are working across board; everybody is working for the party to come back to its position as in 1999. We are for peace, but that does not mean that we are afraid of anybody; we will not be relenting, we need our party back in power and we will carry everybody along that mean well for PDP.
“I assure you that PDP will not be destroyed; PDP is a creation of God and cannot be destroyed by anybody. We are on course and we will go as planned. For anybody who believes that it is not political solution, they are on their own,” Sheriff stated.
But the National Caretaker Committee (NCC) headed by his rival, Ahmed Makarfi is not impressed with his statesman-like posture. Instead, it picked holes in Sherrif’s speech at every turn, adding that the report of the reconciliation committee headed by Dickson was a subterfuge to give the man a soft landing and save him from the impending embarrassment which will follow if the Supreme Court gives judgment and set aside the judgment of the Court of Appeal which recognised Sheriff as the authentic chairman of the party.
The NCC condemned the call by Dickson for its disbandment, describing it as improper and biased. According to its spokesman, Dayo Adeyeye, position expressed by the Bayelsa State governor where he called for the resignation of the National Caretaker Committee as a way out of the present impasse in the party is wrong and biased.
Adeyeye said the proper thing to do if Dickson wants the caretaker committee to be disbanded is to persuade and convince the 80 per cent of the members on the merits of his point of view.
He disclosed that former President, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan had suggested the resignations of Sheriff and that of the NCC as a solution to the crisis in the context of finding a suitable political solution to the crisis but that while Makarfi accepted it in the interest of peace, Sheriff bluntly refused.
Stressing that it was not proper to ask the caretaker committee to surrender the destiny of the party to Sheriff who brazenly and without any remorse destroyed the chances of the party in the Edo and Ondo State governorship elections.
It is true that man does not often change his deepest convictions, but it is not unusual for a man to change his calculation of risk. This it seems, is what Senator Ali Modu Sheriff may have done and it is paying up for him. In the crisis rocking the party, he is no longer seen as the clog in the wheel of the party’s progress but as the man whose actions and statesman-like behaviour may save the PDP from impending doom.
In declaring his intention not to contest, he said he had already written to the different organs of the party to nominate members that would serve in the convention planning committee.
Sheriff also begged members of the NWC “to forfeit their unexpired tenure for the general good and unity of the party.”
Sheriff’s position is coming four weeks after the Appeal Court in Port Harcourt affirmed him as the authentic chairman of the PDP.
Sheriff is Borno State’s first governor to serve two consecutive terms (2003–2011). Though Sheriff had held two elected offices as a member of All Nigeria People’s Party (ANPP) , he would later join the All Progressives Congress (APC) becoming a founding member of the party.
In 2014, Sheriff switched affiliation to the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) . He acted as the National Working Committee chair from February 16, 2016 until the national convention, when he was removed and replaced by Ahmed Makarfi, a decision that triggered the crisis in the party today.
Ali Modu Sheriff was born in Ngala town, Ngala local government area, Borno State in 1956. His father, Galadima Modu Sheriff was a business tycoon. He attended Government Secondary School, Bama ( 1974– 1979). He later attended the London School of Business, where he studied Insurance, Banking and Finance. In 1981, he joined his father’s construction company as a Director, later becoming Managing Director. In 1985, he registered his first company. His companies include Meroil Organisation and Union Chase.
He was elected as a senator from Borno during the Third Republic under the banner of the National Republican Convention (NRC). His opponent then was Kolo Kingibe, wife of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) chairman, Babagana Kingibe. He was also a member of the Constitutional Conference and chaired the committee on states and local government.
Ali Modu Sheriff was elected Senator representing Borno Central on the platform of the United Nigeria Congress Party (UNCP) during General Sani Abacha’s military regime. After democracy was restored, in April 1999 he was again elected Senator, Borno Central on the platform of the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP).
In 2003, he ran for governor of Borno State on the ANPP platform and won. He was re-elected in 2007 and sworn in on 29 May 2007. In both cases, he defeated the PDP candidate Kashim Ibrahim-Imam.
During 2014, Sheriff switched affiliation to the Peoples Democratic Party. On 16 February 2016, he became the chairman of PDP National Working Committee. The Court of Appeal sitting in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, on Friday 17, February, 2017 declared Sheriff as the authentic National Chairman of the PDP.
Sheriff is not new to crisis and political intrigues. Sometimes ago, when the activities of the notorious fundamentalist group, the Islamic sect, Boko Haram was at its peak in Bornu State, he was accused of being a sponsor by an Australian hostage negotiator, Steven Davies. He denied the allegation. Despite several insinuations linking him to the sect, he remained unscathed and had survived the accusation only to emerge the chairman of the party.
That the PDP needs a new leadership selection system is no longer news, but surely not the one that followed the last national convention of the party that threw in Ahmed Makarfi as the caretaker chairman and the crisis that followed when Sheriff refused to step down. Unless the process is refined, the leaderless party may again find itself in murky water in no distance future.
But with magnanimity of Sheriff who has displayed maturity, it is time to return to the table of politicking. The party needed a leader fast and immediately as the 2019 general election draws near.
Unless the process is refined, the leaderless party may again find itself in murky water in no distance future. But with magnanimity of Sheriff who has displayed maturity, it is time to return to the table of politicking