PDP Chairman, Sheriff, plans party restructuring to dislodge Fayose, Wike from prominence

*Says Fayose, Wike brought shame to once Africa’s biggest party

*Regrets they made PDP mistaken for training ground for thugs

*Promises acceptable national convention, personal sacrifices

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP)’s National Chairman, Senator Ali-Modu Sheriff says he will shut out Governor Ayodele Fayose of Ekiti State and the Rivers State Governor Nyensom Wike from the party.

An Appeal Court sitting in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, on Thursday, held that Sheriff remains the authentic Chairman of the PDP.

Reacting to the judgment, Senator Sheriff vowed to put in place a machinery that would not give room to people like Wike and Fayose in any future arrangement in the party.

The former Borno State Governor told reporters, “I will engineer a restructuring of PDP such that characters like Wike and Fayose cannot find a way through to attain any position of prominence in our party in the future.

“They have brought shame and agony through the application of their crude and godless politics which is at variance with the principles upon which our founding fathers built our great party.

“We must find a way to sieve things so that only men of character and integrity can come through for positions of responsibility at all levels of our political engagement in the country.

“We must urgently steer the ship of PDP clear of the path of infamy which Wike and Fayose have brought our party, making Nigerians to mistaken PDP as a training ground for thugs.

“That is the urgent task we have. We cannot continue to advertise thug brand and expect Nigerians to take us seriously,” Sheriff said.

In the meantime, the National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Senator Ali Modu Sheriff has said that he would make sacrifices to ensure that peace return to the party, stressing that the PDP has a great future.

Sheriff, who was declared Friday, as the party’s authentic chairman by the Port Harcourt division of the Appeal Court, told newsmen on Saturday, in Abuja, that the judgment did not call for merriment or mourning but required all hands “to rekindle the winning fire in the PDP.”

He said the APC was campaigning for the PDP, assuring that the PDP would come back to its position of 1999.  He said all leaders of the PDP would be consulted between now and next week in order to “heal all injuries.”

Sheriff, a former governor of Borno State, said people were already looking forward to the return of the “glorious days of a PDP government, when the net worth of life was worthy of human dignity.”

He said he would get an order for the party’s national secretariat to be opened so that normal activities could resume. He assured that within the shortest possible time he would organize a successful national convention where new leaders would emerge.

“Let us be certain about this, no person or group, no matter how powerful can do it alone. We need all hands on deck to rekindle the winning fire in PDP. Divided, we can achieve little or nothing. But united, we can stand like the impregnable Glam Rock and no weapon fashioned against us can prevail.

“I see a very great future for our party, PDP. Our people are already looking forward to the return of the glorious days of a PDP government, when the net worth of life was worthy of human dignity.

“We cannot afford to disappoint the teeming majority of Nigerians who are looking up to us at this despondent hour of our politics and economy. How can we meet their expectations if we remain fragmented and disunited? We must therefore, rise to the occasion and come together as one strong united family.”

He added:”I see the judgement as a golden opportunity for a sincere renewal of our sense of unity and fraternity. No doubt, we have travelled a long and tortuous road, wherein some of us have been bruised or outrightly wounded and are hurting. I understand also that for some of us, our ego has been agitated.  Yet, I dare say that we can put all of that behind us and come together with one accord and move our great party, the PDP forward.  It is not about me or any ambition, it is about the survival of our great party on this score. I can assure you that I shall be willing to make any sacrifice that can guarantee peace in our party.” (Daily Trust/NewsDirect)