PDP Crisis: Modu Sheriff Sets New Date For Another EdO Governorship Primary Election

photo credit: Premiumtimes

Days after the opposition Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, picked Ize Iyamu as its governorship candidate in the forthcoming election in Edo state, factional national chairman, Ali Sheriff, has also fixed a date to conduct his faction’s primary election.

Mr. Sheriff, who addressed a press conference on Thursday at his residence in Abuja, also said he decided to stay away from the national secretariat of the party because of an attempt on the life of ousted national secretary, Adewale Oladipo, by thugs hired by the faction led by Ahmed Makarfi.



According to Mr. Sheriff, his faction’s governorship primaries is slated for Wednesday, June 29, while screening appeal is billed for Friday, July 1.

 He also said the three-man Ad-hoc delegates’ election is scheduled for Saturday July 2 and the three-man ad-hoc delegates’ panel appeal committee will sit on Monday July 4, 2016. A nine-man gubernatorial primaries committee which he inaugurated has Hope Uzodinma as chairman and former presidential aide, Ahmed Gulak, as secretary.

The screening appeal committee has Jide Damazio as chairman, while the three-man ad-hoc delegates’ panel and the 3-man ad-hoc delegates’ panel appeal committees have former deputy governor of Oyo state, Hazeem Gbolarumi, and Benard Mikko as chairman respectively.

The former Borno governor said the primary election held by the Makarfi faction was not supervised by the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC. He also said that a Federal High Court sitting in Abuja had earlier ruled that Mr. Makarfi’s faction cannot submit any candidate for Edo and Ondo governorship elections.

“The deception of Makarfi that INEC monitored their election is false, they gathered some people in Edo and said they are INEC staff. Nobody from INEC monitored their primaries,” he said. The Wadata Plaza secretariat of the PDP is currently sealed again by police after thugs from both factions clashed last week.

Mr. Sheriff said they decided to “stay away from the national secretariat because the National Secretary, Professor Wale Oladipo was almost killed by Fulani thugs brought to the secretariat by Ahmed Makarfi”. “Former Inspector General of Police, Solomon Arase, advised that for security purpose, why don’t you allow us to close the secretariat, and I obliged.

“We chose to stay away because we don’t want break down of law and order,” Mr. Sheriff said. Mr. Sheriff vowed that “very soon, I will go back to the secretariat and operate from there”.

The chairman of the screening committee, Mr. Uzodinma, in a remark, pledged the committee’s readiness to bring a candidate that can win Edo election. “We have been challenged with this assignment and will not disappoint you,” he said.