Those who rooted for former Borno State governor, Ali Modu Sheriff to be National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) sure knows who they had pushed forward as the leader of the opposition party. Though many will admit that Sheriff has a baggage as exemplified in the allegation, which has refused to go away, that he founded the notorious Islamic sect Boko Haram, the embattled PDP chairman is a bundle of political wisdom. He is adept in political brinkmanship. The various organs in the party namely the Governors’ Forum, National Working Committee, Board of Trustees, National Assembly Caucus had all agreed for Sheriff to hold sway as chairman for three months after which a national convention will be organised to pick a substantive chairman and other executives of the party, though in the nature of politics, that three months may be extended as it is not cast in iron. But the point here is Sheriff himself has moved to take his fate in his hands. What did he do? He quickly announced some appointments in his capacity as chairman and some of the appointees included those who battled for the chairmanship with him. Sheriff announced the appointment of Inusa Mohammed as his Principal Secretary, Uche Nnaji as Political Adviser while an ex-Senator, Saidu Kumo, who also wanted to be the party’s chairman, was picked as Special Adviser on National Assembly Relations. Another former Senator, Ighoyota Amori from Delta State, emerged as Special Adviser on Reconciliation and Conflict Management. The appointments take immediate effect,” the party said in a statement last week. If what Sheriff has done is not political brinkmanship, what then do you call it?
Sheriff was appointed by the National Executive Committee (NEC) of the party in its 68th meeting after series of intrigues and horse-trading. His emergence was pushed by the party’s governors, particularly Nyesom Wike of Rivers and Ayo Fayose of Ekiti but other prominent organs like the BoT, National Assembly Caucus and Forum of PDP Former Ministers all initially opposed his appointment, but all that thawed after a 3-month window opened for him.
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