The ruling All Progressives Congress in Borno State on Wednesday rolled out the drums to celebrate the Supreme Court judgment that removed Ali Modu Sheriff as National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party.
Sheriff was the former governor of Borno who handed over to the incumbent governor, Kashim Shettima, in 2011. He was sacked as national chairman of the PDP by the Supreme Court on Wednesday and Ahmed Makarfi declared the authentic chairman of the party.
Both men parted ways shortly after the 2011 election and clashed over the control of the then new APC in Borno State before Sheriff defected to the PDP in 2014.
His emergence as the National Chairman of PDP in 2016 had since been a source of concern for the APC in Borno State.
With the ouster of Sheriff by the Supreme Court on Wednesday after over one year of an uneasy reign, Borno APC feel their fears over the control of the state’s politics have come to an end.
Gathered in their hundreds at the APC party secretariat, supporters heartily chanted anti-Sheriff slogans as they sang and danced to local beats.
The state party leaders, members of the National Assembly and other state actors told the crowd that the thorn in their side has been removed.
“We are here to show solidarity for our able Governor Kashim Shettima and the people of Borno State over the defeat of Ali Sheriff whom the Supreme Court finally removed as National Chairman of the PDP,” the state chairman of APC, Ali Dalori, said.
“Henceforth, no one would brag at us any longer. And come 2019, it is the APC that will form the state government by the grace of God.
“It is now time to show Ali Sheriff the true side of politics; we are 100 per cent behind Governor Shettima, our true leader”, he said.
The member of the House of Representatives for Maiduguri metropolitan federal constituency, Abdulkadir Rahis, said, “With the defeat of Sheriff at the Supreme Court, the APC will become stronger and more capable of winning elections in the state.”
All efforts to get Sheriff’s men to speak on the developments proved unsuccessful.
The PDP office in the state was quiet when PREMIUM TIMES visited on Wednesday afternoon.
A local party official at the secretariat who, spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not allowed to speak to the media, said “it does not make sense for the APC to celebrate over our own internal party affairs; besides the court only removed him as the national chairman but not as one of the leaders of the party”.
The last political face-off between Sheriff and Governor Shettima was in Osun State where the two went to campaign for their respective parties ahead of the bye-election for the Osun West senatorial district. The PDP eventually won the contest.
*PREMIUM TIMES
