Sheriff, who arrived in Minna at exactly 2.30pm on Sunday and received by Aliyu, again described the Court of Appeal’s ruling in his favour as a victory for the PDP. The PDP chairman stated, “My victory is a victory for the PDP all over Nigeria. There is no loser. It is just a misunderstanding within a family, and we are calling on everybody to come together so that the party can be a formidable one once again.” Aliyu later joined Sheriff for a meeting with the former military dictator, which lasted for about 90 minutes. The PDP chairman left the Niger State capital at about 4.30pm on Sunday.
Speaking to newsmen after a closed-door meeting with the ex-military dictator, Sheriff added, “During our meeting, he said he is happy with my statement after the court ruling. He told me to continue that way so that I can bring everybody back together to make the party a formidable opposition party. “What we want to do now is how to put the party back in shape so that everyone, who is aggrieved, is brought back as one united family once again. Look, united we stand, divided we fall.
“I have even called Makarfi himself and I have called on everybody to come back so that we can work together.” Aliyu said, “Now that we have a legal decision even though other people talk about going higher (Supreme Court), others are saying ‘no’, we should start widening the solution; that we don’t waste time in terms of legality.
“For the moment, Ali Modu Sheriff is the chairman of the party, and those of us who love to see the solution to the problems in this party, will continue to find ways of mending fences. I think we should all bury our ambition, you can’t have an ambition without a platform. We need to all come together and I appeal to all of us, all PDP lovers and members, to really look at the issues objectively so that we have a platform that we can call a party which can win elections. Not a fragmented party.”
Meanwhile, the Independent National Electoral Commission has said it will obey the verdict of the Port Harcourt Division of the Court of Appeal, which, nullified the outcome of the May 21, 2016 Convention of the PDP Before, the judgment, the commission, in the list of 40 registered political parties in the country, recognised Makarfi as the National Chairman of the PDP.
The Chief Press Secretary to the Chairman of INEC, Mr. Rotimi Oyekanmi, said the commission would comply with court verdicts on the PDP’s leadership tussle. Oyekanmi told one of our correspondents on the telephone on Sunday that the commission would commence the process of obeying the court directives as soon as it was served with the papers.
He said, “Our position has not changed; we will always comply with legitimate court orders and judgments. So, in this case, when we are served, we will take the necessary steps to obey the judgment. I am not sure we have been served with the judgment
“If they serve the commission with the judgment, absolutely, the commission will recognize Ali Modu Sheriff as the chairman of PDP because that is what the court has said.
“We also know that the other party (faction) has said it will be proceeding to the Supreme Court. Whatever is the decision of the Supreme Court, which is the final verdict, would be obeyed by INEC. But as we speak, the Appeal Court is the superior and latest judgment. INEC will comply with the provisions of that judgment as of today when we are served, and that will affect everything in the PDP as far as INEC is concerned.” Oyekanmi stated that it was the desire of the commission for the PDP to resolve its internal dispute as INEC would always obey whatever the courts ruled on the matter.
