The  Peoples Democratic Party (PDP),  under the Caretaker Committee of Sen Ahmed Makarfi, holds an emergency meeting of party stakeholders, today,  over the court ruling that affirmed Ali Modu Sheriff as National Chairman of the party.
It would be recalled that an Appeal Court sitting in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, had last Friday ruled in favour of the former Borno State governor.
But the Makarfi’s faction of the party rejected the ruling, saying it was heading to the Supreme Court to contest the judgement.
According to a notice signed by the faction’s Publicity Secretary, Dayo Adeyeye, the meeting will hold at the International Conference Centre (ICC), Abuja 2pm on Monday.
Adeyeye said the decision of the Appeal Court which gave victory to Sheriff will be discussed.
The notice of the meeting posted on the party’s twitter handle @OfficialPDPNIG mentioned that those invited to the meeting are “members of the National Executive Committee (NEC), members of the Board of Trustees (BoT), National Assembly members, former governors of PDP, former ministers under the platform of the PDP, former National Assembly members and party elders.”
Adeyeye urged all invited guests to attend “unfailingly.”
Even as Senator Modu Sheriff extends olive branch to the National Caretaker committee of the PDP to join him in rebuilding the party, the spokesman of the Committee, Dayo Adeyeye, yesterday insisted that it will appeal the judgment to the Supreme Court. In a statement he issued in Abuja, Adeyeye said apart from being a “ big disappointment” , the judgement delivered by the Court of Appeal, Port Harcourt Division “ is a travesty of justice, a mockery of valid facts and a miscarriage of justice” and “an invidious attempt to destroy the PDP”.
According to him, ‘the Minority Judgement is very sound in law, logic and fact. It gives us hope that we will have our day in the Supreme Court. Whereas the Lead Judgement left out the main issues and laboured unconvincingly to work to a preconceived answer, the Minority Judgement thrashed all the issues and upheld the Judgement of the High Court in Port Harcourt delivered by Liman J on July 4, 2016. We will certainly appeal to the Supreme Court. No reconciliatory effort will stop it.
We need the Supreme Court to make a pronouncement on the issue once and for all. “We maintain that this is a continuation of the attempt to kill the PDP and thereby destroy all opposition in Nigeria.
The rebels in the party who were favored by the two justices of the Appeal Court are snakes within the house working for the Ruling Party, the APC. The great conspiracy to silence the PDP is an assault on the Nigerian democracy. We are however determined to resist this onslaught to the very last.
Meanwhile, the Ekiti State Governor, Ayodele Fayose, has reacted to a statement credited to the National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Ali Modu Sheriff , where he said Governors Ayo Fayose and Nyesom Wike would be pushed out of the party.
Addressing people of his state on Ekiti Radio-91.5FM and EKTV on Saturday, Fayose said he does not talk to “monkeys.”
Quoting a passage from the Bible, the outspoken governor said all things will work for his good and the good of the PDP.
The Chairman of the PDP’s Governors Forum wondered who Sheriff would lead since most members of the party were on the side of Ahmed Makarfi.
He also urged members of the PDP who are aggrieved by the Port Harcourt Appeal Court ruling to “calm down.”
Fayose said, “On that comment by Sheriff that he will kick me and Governor Nyesom Wike out of PDP, I don’t talk to monkeys. That Appeal Court judgement is just a phase, it will fizzle out. All things will work together for good for me, that’s what the Bible says.
“All the governors, National Assembly members, BOT, etc are on this side. So, who is he going to be leading?
“Whether he is being backed by whatever forces, be it external or internal, good luck to him.
“Let everybody in PDP calm down, there is salvation ahead of us.
“I’m aware that some people are apprehensive of 2018 but I want to say it here that they should worry not. What I know that will happen tomorrow is that I will get to greater heights.
“There are three major important factors in elections, the people is number one, followed by the party and the candidate. You can have a party and candidate, if you don’t have the people, you will fail because the power of the people is greater than the power of those of us in power.
“Here in Ekiti, we have the people.
“I am saying it here that we are under the leadership of the Ahmed Makarfi led Caretaker Committee.
“When we got the judgement at the lower court, affirming the Caretaker Committee, Sheriff was still parading himself as the chairman.”