The factional National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party, Ali Modu Sheriff, has said he is ready to vacate office.
But he said he would do that when the national leadership of the party asked him to leave.
Sheriff spoke in Abuja on Tuesday when some state chairmen of the party paid him a solidarity visit.
The former governor of Borno State said that it was wrong for a faction of the party to attempt to push him aside when he was elected by the members of the party at its National Executive Committee meeting.
He said, “I’m ready to go. I’m not saying I must be the national chairman at all costs. I was invited to lead the party and the election that brought me to office was done at the NEC Hall of the party at its national secretariat.
“Four other aspirants contested against me at the NEC meeting.
The governors invited me among others to be considered by the NEC and the NEC sat and elected me as the national chairman of the party.
“There’s nothing personal about my being there or individual pride about it. It is about the rule of law and the rule of law must not give way to illegalities.”
He told the state chairmen and his supporters that he did not on his own call off the party’s national convention at Port Harcourt of May 21.
He said he took the action because of the several court pronouncements on the convention.
Already, he said he was aware that his tenure would end in 2018, saying that the former chairman that he replaced, Ahmed Mu’azu, was elected in 2014.
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“Ahmed Mu’azu got his election when former President Goodluck Jonathan was elected as the party’s presidential candidate in 2015. I replaced him. So, my tenure would expire after four years in office,” he added.
He said he could not violate the court pronouncements on the convention because of its legal implication.
“I have no immunity, I was just a former governor and I didn’t want to go to jail for refusing the order of the court,” he added.
Three of the state chairmen, who spoke at the occasion, said they were in support of the faction being led by Sheriff.
One of them, who is the chairman of the party in Ogun State, Mr. Adebayo Dayo, said he and his five other colleagues from the South-West, were committed to the national leadership of the party under Sheriff.
He said, “I’m here on behalf of the six chairmen from the South-West. Sheriff was elected. We were at Port-Harcourt and we left when the convention was cancelled.
“We have decided to follow the rule of law. The six of us have agreed to follow the law. There’s no caretaker committee in our constitution, we, the South-West chairmen are with Sheriff.”
His counterpart from Adamawa State, Abdulrahman Boboye, said the state chairmen agreed to meet Sheriff and the chairman of the party’s National Caretaker Committee, Ahmed Makarfi, with the hope of finding a lasting solution to the crisis in the party.
He said, “We met yesterday and we resolved that we would speak to Makarfi and Sheriff. Makarfi told us that he was ready to step aside as well if the party decides so.”
Meanwhile, the Sheriff faction of the party has appointed Dr. Cairo Ojougboh as the Acting Deputy Chairman.
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