Mr. Sheriff condemned as shameful what he described as acts of hooliganism and brigandage being employed by the illegal Makarfi committee.
The embattled National Chairman of the troubled Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Senator Ali Modu Sheriff, has accused the Chairman of the Caretaker Committee of the party, Senator Ahmed Makarfi, of scheming to be the party's presidential candidate in 2019.
The former governor of Borno State, however, vowed to remain on the side of the law to retrieve his mandate from the Caretaker Committee.
Mr. Sheriff condemned as shameful what he described as acts of hooliganism and brigandage being employed by the illegal Makarfi committee.
He viewed the sack of the secretariat of the party in Abuja on Wednesday by hoodlums, who he said were operating under the directive of the Caretaker Committee, as a sad reminder of the days of lawlessness, impunity and brigandage for which he said sponsors of the Caretaker Committee have been known over the years.
Mr. Sheriff said this in a statement released by his media aide, Mallam Inuwa Bwala.
He was reacting to the invasion of the secretariat by supporters of the Makarfi-led faction of the party earlier in Abuja on the same day.
While calling on his supporters to remain calm and law-abiding in the face of the various provocations, Mr. Sheriff implored security agencies to stop taking sides in political matters, as demonstrated by some policemen deployed to secure the PDP secretariat.
He also viewed the acts of desperation on the part of the committee to confer a semblance of legitimacy on Mr. Makarfi and his co-travelers as unfortunate, saying that they have resorted to blatant lies and blackmail.
At a press conference in Abuja on Tuesday, a member of the Caretaker Committee, Prince Dayo Adeyeye, speaking on behalf of Mr. Makarfi, alleged that Sheriff was being sponsored by the presidency and the All Progressives Congress (APC), adding that there was no court order granting him leave to operate his office.
Mr. Sheriff’s spokesperson said, "Ridiculous as it may sound, given the fact that right thinking Nigerians know that Makarfi and the cabal that has been sponsoring him are merely crying wolf where there was none, and having come face to face with the truth, law and reality, it is imperative to state some facts for the records.
"Makarfi and his sponsors want to create the wrong impression that Sheriff is not reliable, whereas it is an open secret that Sheriff has given credible and honest leadership to his State, to Nigeria and to the PDP.
"We wish to challenge Ahmed Makarfi to name the date, venue and names of those in attendance at the so-called meeting Sheriff allegedly had with some governors from the APC.
"Again, how could Sheriff have been a stooge when he remains the only PDP stalwart that speaks out against the APC since the party lost the 2015 elections?
"For the avoidance of doubt, we wish to state that Ali Modu Sheriff left the APC at its formative stage, and has never had anything to do with the party or any of its stalwarts since his departure.
"One wonders how Ahmed Makarfi and his cohorts could tell lies just to divert attention from the real issues at stake.
"There is a cabal in the PDP that is desperately trying to hijack the structure of the party and continue the perpetuation of acts of lawlessness and impunity, which Ali Sheriff resisted.
"While we consider it most uncharitable that Makarfi will attempt to smear our revered National Chairman by leveling frivolous allegations in the hope that he can divert attention from the real agenda of the group leading him by the nose, we make bold to state that his own ambition to become the presidential candidate of the PDP in 2019 is an open secret."
Mr. Sheriff said he was relying on the orders of the Federal High Court in suit number FHC/L/CS/613/2016, delivered on May 24, 2016, to lay claim to the party's national leadership.
