PDP BoT drags Jonathan into leadership war, gives him deadline to reject Sheriff or….

– BoT members and some senators gave Goodluck Jonathan deadline to reject Modu Sheriff as acting chairman

–  Adamu Mu’azu, PDP former chairman was supposed to end his tenure in March

– Sheriff begged BoT members for acceptance but was asked to come back

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) members of the Board of Trustees (BoT) have issued March deadline to former president Goodluck Jonathan to reject Ali Modu Sheriff as the party’s acting national chairman.

READ ALSO: Senators react to Modu Sheriff’s emergence as PDP chairman

The Nation reports that the BoT members and some aggrieved senators have already raised a committee to meet with Jonathan over the issue. The aggrieved members threatened that if Jonathan refuses to reject Sheriff he should be prepared to face mass exodus from the party.

The committee meeting with Jonathan will explain to him the ‘grave implications’ of allowing Sheriff to lead the PDP.

Despite the internal feud the choice of Sheriff had sparked in the party, some members of the national working committee (NWC) are insisting that the tenure of the acting chairman should end in March. Sheriff was supposed to succeed Adamu Mu’azu whose tenure would have ended in March.

The anti-Sheriff forces comprising former ministers and BoT members have vowed not to attend any meeting with Sheriff or his representatives.

“We have asked a team to meet Jonathan and draw his attention to the grave implications of having Sheriff as PDP national chairman. We believe the ex-President was ill-informed. We want Jonathan to withdraw his backing so that Sheriff can step aside in March. We have weighed all options and the only midstream approach now is to prevail on Sheriff to complete Muazu’s tenure and quit in March. So Jonathan has to choose between the larger interest of the party and Sheriff,” a source said.

Speaking also, a former minister who preferred not to be named said: “Well, at our session, some of us made it known that we cannot even wait till the end of March to determine our stay in PDP. Once Sheriff is in charge, we will abandon PDP for another party.

“The truth is dawning even on some of the governors and NWC members that Sheriff’s selection was unpopular among Nigerians. We now have deficit in the opposition politics we are playing because we have to seek equity with clean hands. This is why he should step down in March.”

However, a source within the camp of Sheriff disclosed that the imposed acting chairman is mulling on completing his tenure in 2018, when the party would have been placed on the right track to reclaim power from the All Progressives. Congress (APC) at the 2019 general elections.

“Pro-Sheriff governors and leaders want him to stay till 2018 in line with the “secret agreement” which led to his selection as the new PDP chairman.

“They said they will not allow any subtle plot to force Sheriff to step down in March. This is the situation we are now. No doubt, there is tension in the party. We are sharply divided,” the source said.

Meanwhile, despite the rejection of Sheriff by some top members, former ministers Bala Mohammed and Ibrahim Shekarau have paid him a congratulatory visit.

A source said: “At our meeting, some members expressed reservations on these ex-ministers’ visit to Sheriff.”

It was gathered that Sheriff rushed into a BoT meeting on February 18 to solicit acceptance from the members but they promised to get back to him on his plea for acceptance. A source at the meeting hinted that BoT is determined not to validate Sheriff instead may advertise the job.

Sheriff reportedly implores the BoT members to give him a chance, promising that “PDP will bounce back.”

“Sheriff came to our meeting, unaccompanied by the NWC members. He virtually begged us to give him a chance to lead the party. We listened to him but we were unanimous that he is not the one needed to lead PDP. He wanted our endorsement but we hold him that we will get back to him. We did not make any commitment to Sheriff. At our meeting, we resolved not to accept his candidature,” a BoT member said.

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