Court appointed Chairman, Ali Modu Sherif of the PDP is fast becoming an enigma wrapped in a puzzle in the current crises rocking the Peoples Democratic Party. How else can one put it; for a one-time Governor of Borno State, to display the kind of political naiveté he has displayed lately is to wonder in amazement what school of political studies he attended. Definitely not the Nigeria School of Politics where you learn that quickly that: [i] anything and everything are possibilities, and [ii] where saints tread very, very carefully!
Having been declared Chairman by a court decision, which was promptly appealed by his adversary, Sherif has embarked on a path that is very insulting and unwise, for a political veteran like him, to the party elders.
Former President Goodluck Jonathan and other party big Whigs called a reconciliation meeting that was held in Abuja sometime last week. Being a reconciliation meeting, the former president presided and prevented the two factional Chairmen from addressing the meeting. Ali Modu Sherif and his pitifully outnumbered cohorts walked out on everybody and held a press conference at which he berated the efforts of the party elders who were gathered there, including four PDP Governors and the BOT Chairman.
After they left, the meeting went ahead and decisions critical to the party’s survival were taken and the elders patted themselves on the back, thanked the former president and others in attendance for their yeoman efforts and a job well done.
A few days later, apparently relishing his spoiler role in the party, a wide grinning Sherif held another press conference where he vowed never to attend any such meetings called by the party elders again. Whatever Sherif’s objectives are, one thing is certain: he has made sure that PDP is no more!
What an outside observer needs to know is that there are two competing factions in the PDP presently; the Markafi and Ali Modu Sherif factions. The Markafi faction is the larger and more popular faction among PDP aficionados. This faction dominated the party’s affairs and structure previously, you guessed it, based on a court ruling. The latest court ruling, based on an appeal of the previous court’s ruling by Sherif, swung the pendulum into the Ali Modu Sherif’s faction. This new decision is under appeal to the Supreme Court, after which all appeals go to God in heaven!
Some interesting facts in all of these; [1] the PDP State caucus in Ali Mode Sherif’s Borno State, where he was Governor, are not in his camp. One may now wonder how someone whose charity has not started at home intends to run a party nationally. [2] All the party chief Whigs are in Markafi’s faction. These are the same people he walked out on. How does he get their blessings to do anything in the party?
Everybody is now awaiting the Supreme Court’s decision. From the vantage point at which I have been observing the shenanigans, two scenarios will result after the much-awaited Supreme Court decision. Neither will be favourable to Sherif!
Scenario one; if he loses. Well, the party will freeze him out of any contention and existence in its activities. He will have no recourse or party Whigs to turn to. End of Ali Modu Sherif story!
Scenario two; if he wins. In this case, the Markafi faction by virtue of its being larger, with the backing of the elders and possession of the party structure will reorganize and emerge as a new party. Ali Modu Sherif will be handed a dead PDP’s cadaver for burial. Ebora Owu’s prediction, made directly to Sherif himself when he visited Abeokuta to seek Chief Obasanjo’s support in the crises, that Ali Modu Sherif would be the undertaker of PDP’s funeral will come into fruition.
All I am trying to say here in a nutshell is either way all Ali Modu Sherif would get for his cantankerous efforts would be either a Peoples Disintegrated Party or a Peoples Dead Party. Hmmm!
