Former Borno Governor Ali Modu Sheriff Set To Defect To PDP
Ex governor of Borno State, Ali Modu Sheriff, today (July 14) revealed he has started defecting to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) from the All Progressives Congress (APC).
Mr. Sheriff had flown in to Maiduguri at around 2pm, accompanied by several members of the National Assembly and was met by APC and PDP supporters.
Mr. Sheriff has been accused as a major financier of Boko Haram terrorist sect. The rumours had started when the former governor appointed a member of the sect as a commissioner in his administration.
However, Sheriff had reportedly had multiple disagreements with the sect, especially after the death of Boko Haram founder Mohammed Yusuf.
It was so controversial that during Federal Government negotiation with the sect they demanded his arrest as they blame him for their ex leader's death.
Mr. Sheriff later told journalists that he was indeed leaving the APC and said he came home to direct his people to the right party.
He said: “There is nothing to hide as you can see, I have come to consult with my people on our resolve to pull out of the APC and join the PDP. But this is just a private visit which turned out to be some kind of rally because our supporters wanted it that way.”
“We are still consulting with the national officers of the PDP on how to go about it, because the pull out is going to be big, and we hope to organise it after fasting. Presently, as you can see, majority of our people are fasting and praying for peace to return to our dear state. But after the Ramadan we would come back and pull our people out of the APC.”
When asked why he was defecting from APC after, as he helped to make the party Mr. Sheriff replied: “The game has changed both in Borno and at the national level. APC has no solid foundation; a party cannot be built around an individual.”
“I have taken time to study the package called APC and come to realise that it won’t work. And any serious politician, who knows his onions would not want to be in a ship that is bound to crash.”
“For now we are in high level consultation with our people and also with the PDP national officers. It is sad that our people here are in serious want; I came and saw many of them in serious difficulties, and we feel pained that we have to do something fast to assist them. We have no option now than to come and tell them that we are sorry, that we brought them a wrong party, but now we have come to correct our mistakes.”
When asked if he would take his godson Kashim Shettima along with him, the ex-governor said:
“Kashim Shettima was my commissioner for four years before God gave us the opportunity of assisting him become the governor of Borno state in 2011. It cannot be doubted that I took him round the 27 local government councils of Borno and sold his candidature to the people before he was accepted and voted as governor."
“But now the game has changed, and we have no choice than to do what the people of Borno State want; we know there was too much sufferings but we call on the people to be patient. We all pray that God should bring us peace so that Borno state can regain its name once again as the home of peace.”
It would be recalled that Mr Sheriff was involved in a near fisticuff with another APC leader and former Lagos governor, Bola Tinubu, at a party leadership meeting last year.
Source: Legit.ng
