Members of the Board of Trustees of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) ended a meeting in Abuja on Monday and declared that the party’s recently chosen national chairman, Senator Ali Modu Sheriff, was not qualified to lead Nigeria’s major opposition party.
The members of the PDP’s Board of Trustees (BoT) stated that Mr. Sheriff, a former governor of Borno State, was unacceptable as their party’s national chairman.
Today’s meeting was the first time the Board has met since PDP governors, led by Governors Ayodele Fayose of Ekiti and Nyesom Wike of Rivers respectively, last Tuesday foisted Mr. Sheriff on the party as national chairman.
Senator Walid Jibril, acting chairman of the PDP’s BoT, read the resolution after today’s meeting. He disclosed that the meeting was well attended, with more than 55 members in attendance.
Those who participated in the meeting included two former ministers, Jerry Gana and Ojo Madueke, as well as Stella Omu, Adamu Maina Waziri, former Senate President Adolphus Wabara, Abdullahi Kure and Shaibu Oyedokun.
Calling the BoT the PDP’s conscience, Mr. Jibril stated, “It is of the view that Ali Modu Sheriff is not suitable as national chairman of PDP.” He added that the board had “proposed [a] viable solution tonight.”
Mr. Jibril declined to take questions from reporters after he read the board’s resolution, adding that the board was still going to meet.
However, in a reaction to the day’s development, Mr. Sheriff insisted that he had no intention of resigning. He made the declaration at the party's national secretariat when he received some members of the party from his home state of Borno.