PDP threatens Ali Sheriff, his supporters with jail terms

”.PDP-threatens-Ali -Sheriff- his- supporters- with- jail- terms

PDP threatens Ali Sheriff, his supporters with jail terms

Ebuka Onyeji

The crisis in Nigeria’s main opposition party, PDP, continued on Tuesday with a faction threatening the leaders of the other with jail terms.

The Ahmed Makarfi-led faction in a statement, Tuesday, threatened Ali Sheriff and his loyalists with jail terms if he continues to parade himself as the leader of the party.

The spokesperson of the Makarfi faction, Dayo Adeyeye, said the party’s attention had been drawn to “another set of garbage and tissues of lies put together by the discredited loyalists of Senator Ali Sheriff in the name of a press statement.

Mr. Adeyeye described Mr. Sheriff’s consistent claim to the office of the party chairman as a continuation of his plans to sustain mayhem in the party.

“We wish to draw the attention of all Nigerians to the Judgment delivered by Justice Valentine Ashi of FCT High Court in Apo, Abuja on June 29, 2016, which states clearly that Senator Ali Modu-Sheriff was never and is not the PDP National Chairman; and equally, this Judgment was upheld by the Ruling of Justice Nwamaka Ogbonnaya also of the FCT High Court in Kubwa, Abuja on August 17, 2016.

“The Courts have spoken, and their pronouncements are binding. However, those who wish to spend the rest of their lives behind prison bars may continue to utter heresy against the Court. We hope their children would be proud to bear the family names of convicts,” Mr. Adeyeye said.

The Supreme Court had last Thursday struck out all the interlocutory appeals filed by the Ali Sheriff faction of the PDP.

Although Mr. Sheriff insists he is the authentic chairman of the PDP, a Court of Appeal in Abuja on Wednesday declared Ahmed Makarfi the authentic leader.

Mr. Adeyeye also reacted to an earlier statement by Mr. Sheriff’s faction which blamed the PDP’s failure in the Edo and Ondo governorship elections on impunity of its leaders and their lack of respect for the party’s constitution.

The Sheriff faction vice chairman, Cairo Ojougbo, had told journalists in Abuja that leaders of the PDP have refused to learn, even though the party has been paying the price of impunity since 2015.

“…It is also morally wrong to accuse the National Caretaker Committee of being the reason why the Party is facing challenges in terms of unfavourable election results especially in Edo and Ondo States. Everyone knows the real enemies of the PDP,” Mr. Adeyeye said.

“We won’t also forget in a hurry the ignoble role Barrister Jimoh Ibrahim played in scuttling our campaign for the Ondo election. We also know those who pushed him forward for the hatchet job.

“We are amused that the agents of darkness used by the All Progressives Congress (APC) to cause confusion and frustrate our campaign for the Ondo Election, can accuse the National Caretaker Committee of impunity.

“However, we simply want them to define what impunity is, using their acts of betrayal as a case study. What they are doing is the worst form of impunity, lawlessness, greed and avarice.

“Their call on the National Caretaker Committee to self-disband is uncharitable and unconstitutional. If they have any shame, they are the ones that should quietly disband. But honours can’t be expected from impostors.”

This recent upheaval in the party comes in the aftermath of the Ondo state governorship election which the party’s candidate, Eyitayo Jegede, lost to Rotimi Akeredolu of Nigeria’s ruling All Progressives Congress, APC.

Mr. Ibrahim of the Sheriff faction was considered the candidate by INEC until last Wednesday’s ruling by the Court of Appeal