EMEKA NZE in this piece examines the implications of Senator Ali Modu Sheriff ’s walk-out on former President Goodluck Jonathan during a peace meeting recently
Once again, Senator Ali Modu Sheriff is cynosure of all eyes, as the dust over leadership of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), has yet to settle, Sheriff started another crisis adding to the unsolved issues that have held the once ruling party to ransom since 2015, after it lost control of power at the centre. By this action, Sheriff is at the centre of the storm. Disturbed by this latest action of Sheriff , a political observer asks: “What an eff rontery! How dare Senator Sheriff show disrespect to the former President who was instrumental to his entry into the party in the fi rst place? How can he waste a rare opportunity to resolve this lingering leadership confl ict?” Expectedly, public sentiments have greeted Th ursday’s PDP stakeholders meeting convened by former President Jonathan to end the rifts.
However, only a few have bothered to listen to Sheriff , to know why he pulled this stunt -walk out on the former number one citizen, except to cleave to his egoistic statement that he is currently the party’s national chairman and the most senior person that must be allowed to make an opening remark before the meeting kicks off proper.
Were there other factors that necessitated Sheriff ’’s seeming act of ignominy? If Jonathan’s initiative was the radar towards the attainment of peace in the party, an opening remark by a man the Appeal Court said retains the chairmanship position did not amount to asking for too much.
First, conceding few minutes remarks to Sheriff would have equally given the party chieftains the direction the man was headed and how best to approach the peace deal. Like he and his followers have always said, Sheriff may not be as dogmatic in leading the PDP as some people believe but what matters is how not to further bruise the ego of both sides which is now the crux of the matter. As has been well enunciated, the former Borno state governor had clutched steadfastly to the tacit agreement made before the Appeal Court’s judgement that both parties would not appeal it no matter which side of the coin it favours.
He has repeatedly pointed to this fact and expressed displeasure at his party men and women on the other side that proceeded to Supreme Court to appeal the judgement. Nothing more could have exacerbated mutual mistrust and Sheriff is mere mortal given to counting the visible errors of fellow men.
So when the Appeal Court returned a verdict of “going back to status quo ante May 21”, Sheriff thought that his party men and women would queue behind him for them to organise a convention that would usher in a united party. Were the table turned, if Sheriff had lost at the Appeal Court, though not easy now to read his mind, the question is would he have abide by it?
If he reneged, how would the Makarfi camp have felt? Had he truly made up his mind to abide by the agreement not to appeal the judgement, he would therefore have suffi cient reason to be angry over the decision of the Makarfi – led group to appeal the judgement at the Supreme Court in defi ance of the agreement.
More so, it is only natural for Sheriff to wallow in the euphoria and celebrate, no matter how short-lived, the Appeal Court’s victory which reinstated him as national chairman, after all the fi reworks that ensued prior to his controversial removal at the Port Harcourt convention.
It was also consolatory for him that he was returned as chairman after the eff ort of certain party bigwigs to embarrass and oust him from his seat as PDP national chairman. Th e Appeal Court’s verdict to him was momentous as it vindicated him that he was on the path of the law.
Sheriff has not hidden his desire to oversee a national convention wherein he would handover to whoever emerges victorious. Th is is why he accepted the report of the Gov Dickson’s Reconciliation Committee which recommended a unity convention for the party. While Dr Goodluck Jonathan’s political solution came handy and agreed to both parties, Sheriff and his men did not fi nd him suitable to moderate the two sides to an acceptable condition for peace. Th e former president had allowed sentiments generate in the hall to override the arrangement contained in the programme for the event. For instance, both Sheriff and Makarfi were tipped to talk after the president and the Board of Trustees Chairman, Senator Walid Jibrin.
Th e arrangement was discarded after he (President) was persuaded that their speeches could generate ill-feelings that could further polarize the party.
Th is consideration was the turning point which made Sheriff to insist that the original plan must be adhered to. Th e public sentiment is that if mere remarks by Sheriff and Makarfi will open wounds as argued by some people, where lies the general yearning for peace?
However, the aforesaid are the immediate cause of the walkout, there are also remote issues which observers noted made the parley dead on arrival. According to a source, the composition of names to attend Jonathan’s stakeholders meeting became the fi rst source of trouble.
Th ose loyal to Makarfi were said to have outnumbered the Sheriff loyalists thus, generating suspicion from the Sheriff camp. As both groups were told by the former president to generate 100 names apiece, the Sheriff ’s side had suspected a foul play, when the Year Adua Centre, main hall was fi lled to capacity with mainly the Makarfi supporters who were said to have mobilised more than the required number as well as summoned the PDP national assembly caucus, hitherto, not part of the arrangement to proceed to the venue.
According to the source, the original arrangement was that all party members invited to the stakeholders meeting will bear a name tag while the press will be accredited at the entrance of the hall to forestall infi ltrators. It was equally agreed that both chairmen will make remarks after the former president and the Board of Trustees chairman have spoken.
Th e source stated that it was inability of the former president to maintain a strong grip on the conditions of negotiation as agreed by both camps that led to the hijacking of the process by the Makarfi ’s group, thus, the Sheriff ’s group sensing another bout of humiliation staged a walkout.
Findings indicated that if Sheriff ’s group had agreed to participate in the meeting, the overwhelming number of Makarfi ’s loyalists were said to be ready to conduct a vote in the hall to disband both Makarfi and Sheriff leadership in order to pave way for the setting up of a neutral committee to conduct the convention. Th is is said to be unacceptable to Sheriff . To him, the Dickson’s report is the answer to the elusive peace.
