FORMER National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Senator Ali Modu Sheriff, has given reasons for his absence at the expanded caucus meeting of the party held at the PDP secretariat on Monday night.
The meeting which attracted prominent party members including the immediate past President, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan, past and serving state governors, past and current members of the National Assembly as well as the women wings of the party, was the first of its kind in the past 13 months of a lingering legal tussle which was terminated last Wednesday with the Supreme Court ruling which recognized the Senator Ahmed Makarfi-led National Caretaker Committee.
A prominent absentee at the meeting was Senator Modu Sheriff, his deputy, Dr. Cairo Ojugboh and a host of others loyal to his leadership.
But advancing reasons for his absence yesterday, Sheriff said he was not in the country, adding that he got no invitation to the well-attended event. In a statement by his spokesperson, Honourable Bernard Mikko, Sheriff pledged to address a world press conference to point the way forward for his supporters ‘nationwide.’
“Senator Modu Sheriff was neither in the country nor invited to the assemblage at Wadata Plaza yesterday evening. However, he will address a world press conference to throw light on the way forward after we have received and studied the full judgment of the Supreme Court and analyzed its import on our democracy.
“We therefore appeal to all our loyal supporters nationwide not to defect as we are still committed to bringing the party back to the grassroots. We assure them that we will not only give them a voice, but they will also be heard.
“We will collaborate with global anti-corruption networks to bring all corrupt politicians in Nigeria to book, including PDP members having criminal cases bordering on dishonesty and malfeasance. Never again will corrupt politicians use the platform of our major political institutions to stardom. The party is for all and no one’s enterprise as government is conceived as an administrative state where dishonest politicians bask in democratic corruption,” the statement reads.
