The emergence of former Borno state governor, Ali Modu Sheriff as the new People’s Democratic Party chairman as thrown up more questions than answers. OLUJIDE OLUSOLA writes.
On February 16, 2016, the People’s Democratic Party announced Ali Modu Sheriff as its new chairman to the delight of some people as well as anger to others.
His emergence was designed to help the party regain its lost power, glory ahead of the 2019 General Elections but so far, this is not the case. Rather, he is battling with certain strong members of the party who are threatening fire and brimstone to decamp from the party if he doesn’t quit the post.
In his defence, the PDP governors who were the brains behind his emergence said he is the right man for the job as his stupendous wealth and experience will help steer the party out of its current quagmire.
According to the Ekiti State governor, Ayodele Fayose, he said said the choice of Senator Ali Modu Sheriff was in the best interest of the party.
He said; “I have always defended the party even at the risk of my position, personal security and comfort. I have always stood for the truth, and I cannot now be part of any decision that won’t represent the party well.
“I supported the processes that led to the emergence of Ali Modu Sheriff because I believe in him and for those who may be aggrieved for one reason or the other; I plead that they should sheath their swords in the overall interest of our party.
“Most importantly, the reality that we must all face is that we are in a peculiar situation and such a situation deserves a peculiar approach.
“What the party leaders have done therefore is to tackle the present situation in our party with the most appropriate solution and we must all stand by Senator Ali Modu Sheriff, who is our present solution to our present situation.”
He further said, “the All Progressives Congress (APC) knows Senator Ali Modu Sheriff’s capacity in terms of political network, being a three term senator and two term governor, and must be afraid that with such a person as the PDP Chairman, their regime of lies will be over soon.”
Just before he decamped to the People’s Democratic Party, he was a founding member of the ruling All Progressives Congress and the APC has been accused of being the brains behind the boko haram sponsor tag placed on Sheriff.
According to insinuations, his deep knowledge of the inner workings of the APC is making the party afraid of losing power in 2019, hence the statements that he is a Boko Haram sponsor.
The common sense senator, Ben Bruce as his widely known now lampooned the APC for not tagging him Boko Haram sponsor until he joined the PDP.
Now the crux of the matter is that Ali Modu Sheriff has many rivers to cross before he can make any headway. He has to convince the current National Assembly members who have threatened to decamp and woo them to his side.
The battered image of the PDP will be a source of worry to the new chair. Several leaders of the party are under the EFCC probe over corruption matters. The party has also been accused by the APC for being responsible for the rot in the economy. The PDP had been in power for 16 years prior to the 2015 Elections,
It will be recalled that the former President Goodluck Jonathan in his capacity as a leader in the party has been asked not to accept Sheriff or will leave the party and join another. Knowing well that politics is the game of numbers, the former president may have to do way with Sheriff and placate many founding members.
He also has Femi fani-Kayode and Doyin Okupe to deal with. The two Jonathan’s loyalists through separate media have rejected Ali Modu Sheriff. The former boldly castigated him and insisted he is Boko haram sponsor and saying Sheriff plan is to hijack the party for his presidential ambition in 2019.
He also said that the new chairman was allegedly appointed because “‘he has plenty of money to spend on the party” and no less than “5 private jets” to lend out to those who needed a free plane ride”. He wondered why the party did not settled for a northeast candidate with good track records and antecedent like Nuhu Ribadu, Bala Mohammed, Mohammed Wakil, Aliyu Modibbo, Ahmed Gulak and Wilberforce Juta instead of Sheriff, who he said cannot be separated from Boko Haram insurgency that has been causing great havoc to the country.
His Boko haram links
In the early 2000s a group appeared, called the Yusufiya (followers of the charismatic Mohammed Yusuf) or Nigerian Taliban and later Boko Haram. It rejected secular authority.
Over time its position hardened. In 2002, a more radical faction split and was led by Abubakar Shekau and Aminu Tashen-Ilimi. They accused Yusuf of being too soft. They went underground after they attacked two communities in Borno state, Dapchi and Kanamma, where adherents had tried to live an ascetic life, but were disrupted due to conflict with locals.
Yusuf, who had fled to Saudi Arabia in 2003, was declared a fugitive by the police. He claimed he had nothing to do with Abubakar Shekau’s attacks on the two Borno villages.
The deputy governor of the time, Adamu Dibal, met Yusuf while on Haj and used contacts with the security agencies to obtain permission for him to return to Maiduguri, Borno’s capital. After his return, Yusuf called for an internal truce with Shekau in December 2004. Yusuf’s preaching became more radical.
The truth isn’t far that Ali Modu Sheriff is the brain behind the emergence of Boko Haram till they got out of his hand. According to reports, Sheriff used the Boko Haram as political tout and empowered its leaders such as Alhaji Buji Foi was the Commissioner of Religious Affairs in his government who resigned from the Sheriff government before joining the Boko Haram sect. He too was extra-judicially killed after his arrest by the soldiers.
In 2012 Modu Sheriff, a former senator, was arrested upon entering Cameroon from Chad. He was arrested by neighbouring Cameroon’s security forces, allegedly for his link with Boko Haram. But after some time he was just escorted back to the border of the country
The leader, Mohammed Yusuf rose to greater prominence when he reportedly formed an alliance with Ali Modu Sheriff. The connection allegedly also generated resources for Yusuf and his followers. In a press conference recently, Sheriff claimed that he only met the late Mohammed Yussuf, the leader of the Boko Haram sect after he had been arrested by the army.
Just as every other Nigerian had said, FFk said Sheriff had a hand in the death of Boko Haram founder, Mohammed Yusuf, who was well on his way to revealing his sponsors and backers before he was killed in army custody in 2009.
Quoting an unnamed friend who now oversees the affairs of Kaduna State, Fani Kayode said only an investigation into those who were responsible for Yusuf’s death will reveal the sponsors of Boko Haram.
The former aviation minister reiterated that Modu Sheriff put together Boko Haram and funded the deadly sect to meet political aims before it metamorphosed into the monster it now is.
It will be recalled that an Australian negotiator, Rev Stephen Davis, engaged by the federal government to dialogue with the Boko Haram sect to secure the release of the abducted Chibok girls accused the PDP chairman and former army chief, General Ihejirika as sponsors of the Boko Haram sect.
Expectedly, he had on several times denied the allegation levied against him by the Australian negotiator who indicted him along with former retired Army chief, Ikejirika as Boko Haram sponsors.
Ali Modu SheriffSheriff said records of his activities as governor of Borno State showed that he was against the sect, adding that anybody who links him with Boko Haram must be insane.
His words: “The Boko Haram war as we know it today, started in 2002 in Yobe State. The first attack of Boko Haram was in 2002 in Kanama, from there they ran to Borno State. And in 2002, where was I? I wasn’t a governor. There was a sitting governor in Borno State, and there was Boko Haram. They ran away from Kanama and moved to Gwoza hill!
“But come to think of it, who is Mohammed Yusuf ( first leader of the group)? Yusuf had been in Maiduguri, doing his preaching and later taken to court by the Federal Government, and prosecuted in Abuja, ever before I became a governor. And who was the first casualty of Boko Haram in Borno State? It is me.
“I was the first victim of Boko Haram in Borno State. In their first attack, they killed my brother, the same father and mother with me. That was when they fought with the military in Borno.
“The first casualty was me. Then, they killed my cousin. They killed my candidate for governorship; they killed my party chairman. Two of them were direct relations of mine. Why did they do that? Because I made a law prohibiting Boko Haram in the domain of Borno State.
“The law said anybody practising or associated with what Boko Haram was doing, was banned by law from so doing, and if caught, will be prosecuted and jailed for 25 years”.
On the story by the Australian negotiator, Sheriff said he was shocked as the whole thing looked senseless and baseless.
His words: “The man that purportedly gave the interview said he was an Australian, who said he came to Nigeria, and spoke to Boko Haram. I thought that really, if he is a professional mediator or negotiator, or whatever he calls himself, his report would have been given to the security agencies of Nigeria. That is number one. Number two, also, if at all he spoke to Boko Haram, before making his views public, he should have known that I have a right of reply. He should have asked for my reaction or views on his findings, because I am a Nigerian, I am in Nigeria, I didn’t go anywhere. Number three, I was the governor of Borno State for eight years”.
Ali Modu Sheriff in April 1999 was elected Senator, Borno Central on the platform of the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP) and in 2003, became Borno State’s first governor to serve two consecutive terms (2003–2011) Though Sheriff had held two elected offices as a member of All Nigeria People’s Party, he would later join the All Progressives Congress becoming a founding member of the party. He decamped to the PDP recently.
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