Ali Modu Sheriff as PDP Chairman

Reason seems to have prevailed and peace and quiet have returned to the folds of the PDP following the apparent acceptance of Senator Ali Modu Sheriff as chairman by the various caucuses of the opposition party, the PDP. To many political watchers, wisdom seems to have deserted the PDP immediately Ali Sheriff was announced as […]

Reason seems to have prevailed and peace and quiet have returned to the folds of the PDP following the apparent acceptance of Senator Ali Modu Sheriff as chairman by the various caucuses of the opposition party, the PDP. To many political watchers, wisdom seems to have deserted the PDP immediately Ali Sheriff was announced as chairman. For a party that has been suffering a crisis of leadership after its loss of the presidency in last year’s election, what was expected was that if any man, not to talk of a man of Sheriff’s status, was announced as an interim chairman, the various stakeholders in the party will put up a united front in accepting him whatever may be their private reservations about him or his suitability. But quite surprisingly, strident noises of objection greeted Sheriff’s ascendance as the party’s helmsman. It is common knowledge that in any political party, especially one as big and as diverse as the PDP, there will be many tendencies, factions and wings within it with sometimes common and sometimes diverse and conflicting interests so no one really would expect t absolute unanimity on the choice of Sheriff or anyone else as chairman.
But the disagreement was so violent and so unsettling to a party that was trying to get its acts together so that it can bounce back to reckoning that many observers wondered if there were fifth columnists or moles in the fold of the PDP working against its interests. Some of the reasons offered for the opposition to Sheriff bordered on defaming his person and character and showing that indiscipline was still a big problem with the party itself. Some alleged he was the sponsor of the Boko Haram terrorist group even when it is well known that several times, he was the target of assassination by the same group he is said to be a sponsor of. Even when the man has not been convicted for any known crime, some self-appointed, self-righteous souls in the PDP said he lacked the integrity to be chairman. How can members of a party be so mindless in doing this to one of their own? In fact, PDP stakeholders did to themselves and their party what a rival party would have done against it but which even the ruling APC showed no inclination of doing to it.
It is obvious that it is the governors group within the party who are the financiers, and more or less, the greater ‘’owners’’ of the party, who recruited Ali Sheriff and brought him on board. And in doing so, they exhibited shrewd calculation and abiding love for their party. They know the weight of Ali Sheriff in terms of political experience and expertise.  With the possible exception of Ogbonnaya Onu, Bukar Abba Ibrahim and the late Governor Abubakar Audu, no Nigerian politician has seen it all in Nigerian politics like Ali Modu Sheriff. He has been around even before the birth of this Fourth Republic and knows anyone that needs to be known and dealt with to advance a political cause. Such a man can be a big asset to any party, not to talk of a party like the PDP that needs to urgently re-invent itself. Do not also discountenance Ali Sheriff’s worth in solid gold. If it comes to it, the man has the financial muscle to underwrite a large chunk of the party’s expenses to save it from financial embarrassment.
The governors probably reasoned that before his former party will have a fast re-think and seek to lure him back to his former fold, they should reach out to him quickly and make him an offer that will commit him to his new party. For a man whose trajectory in Nigerian politics has seen him being Senator Ali Sherriff (SAS)and Governor Ali Sheriff (GAS), the idea of becoming Chairman Ali Sheriff (CAS) will be a fitting tribute to a political treasure trove that says he has seen it all in politics. The only battle yet to fight for will be President Ali Sheriff (PAS)!
Insiders in the know say that on the night preceding his eventual election; Ali Sheriff was one of the leading stakeholders from the North East who endorsed Senator Girigiri Lawan from Yobe State as candidate for chairman. But as fate would have it, it was the fast-thinking governors led by Ekiti Governor, Ayo Fayose, who intervened and turned the endorser into the endorsed. For a man who did not show any ambition for a position but was recruited for it by those who saw him as a worthy asset to be pilloried the way Ali Modu Sheriff was is simply unfair.
While the PDP has been criticizing the APC saying that the party did not think it will win and eventually form a government and so did not prepare a comprehensive blueprint for subsequent governmental action, the PDP can similarly be accused of not thinking it could be defeated and suddenly become an opposition party and can become rudderless in the process so there is need for discipline and a sense of cohesiveness among its ranks in order to remain a great fighting force.
As a patriot, my own politics is that all should be well with an opposition party. For our democracy to thrive, we must have in place a regime of effective checks and balances. The APC should not be allowed, by acts of omission or commission, to constitute a near one-party  state the type that the PDP became  at one time in the country before a well-crafted alliance ousted it from power. The danger of that to our democracy is well known. If the APC becomes an all-conquering hegemonic group, those governing will become complacent. The people will be the loser for that. The PDP must be a ready alternative that will constantly put the APC on its toes to serve Nigeria better. In Chairman Ali Sheriff, the PDP has a man who can provide it the leadership its needs to be an effective opposition. He has the money, the experience, the expertise and the charisma to lead the party.