I don’t want to behave like makarfi- Sheriff

THE factional National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Alhaji Ali Modu Sheriff, has voiced his willingness to reopen reconciliation talks with the Ahmed Makarfi-led Caretaker Committee of the party.

Speaking at a political gathering in Abuja yesterday, Sheriff said he had no intention to sit tight as the party’s chairman, adding that given the right circumstances, he would not remain in office a day longer than necessary.

To buttress his point, Sheriff said he had, a few months ago, impressed it on Makarfi for the two of them to relinquish their claims to the leadership of the party and pave the way for the election of a new set of leaders.

Said he: “I told Makarfi that the two of us should resign. I even asked him to let us set up a committee that would organise a proper convention for the party. But he insisted that he wanted to stay in office till 2018.

“Since then, Makarfi has been blackmailing me all over the place; that Sheriff wants to be President, Sheriff is working for the APC to build a one-party system, Sheriff is Boko Haram. But I will continue to insist that the PDP must be given back to the people”.

The former Borno State governor said he had in all sincerity tried to resolve the leadership crisis in the party. But that the Makarfi led Caretaker Committee had thwarted all his efforts.

He added that with the disposition of the caretaker committee and the situation of things in the party, the only choice open to him is to allow the courts to determine his fate.

Sheriff however said he has been reaching out to individuals and groups that defected from the PDP to other parties, with the view to bringing them back to the fold.

“We are discussing with key stakeholders, who are willing to return to the party and we are making steady progress. The stakeholders understand that their return to the party will also take into consideration party members who are on ground.

“We must avoid the Ondo scenario where Governor Olusegun Mimiko returned and everybody left the PDP for him,” he added.

On the just concluded legislative rerun election in Rivers State, Sheriff said he had already set up an 11-man committee to review the conduct of the election and the claims and counter claims by the various interested parties.

“I am waiting for the report of the committee before I can comment on the election. It is better for me to speak based on facts. I will comment after receiving the report. I don’t want to behave like Makarfi,” he said.