The National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party, Senator Ali Modu Sheriff, on Sunday disclosed that the Court of Appeal ruling in his favour as the authentic leader is a victory for the party.
Sheriff said this when he visited the Hilltop Mansion of former Military President, General Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida, in company with former Niger State Governor, Dr. Mu’azu Babangida Aliyu, in Minna, Niger State, where they had a closed door meeting that lasted for about two hours.
According to him: “My victory is a victory for the PDP all over Nigeria.
“There is no loser.
“It is just a misunderstanding within a family and we are calling on everybody to come together so that the party can be a formidable one once again.”
Babangida had earlier before the closed door meeting commended Sheriff for the manner in which he handled his victory at the Court of Appeal.
He said: “I am very happy with your statement after the court ruling.
“It shows that there is room for reconciliation and unity.
“There is the need to bring everybody back together to make the party a formidable opposition party.”
Speaking to Journalists on the purpose of his visit after the two hours closed door meeting, Sheriff said: “IBB is our father.
“During our meeting, he said he is happy with my statement after the court ruling.
“He told me to continue that way so that I can bring everybody back together to make the party a formidable opposition party.
“What we want to do now is how to put the party back to shape so that everyone that is aggrieved is brought back as one united family once again.
“Look, united we stand, divided we fall.”
When asked if he has reached out to the factional National Chairman, Ahmed Makarfi, Sheriff said: “I have even called Makarfi himself.
“And I have called on everybody to come back so that we can work together.”
Aliyu also called on all members to rally round Sheriff, saying: “He is the Chairman of the party and those of us who love to see solution to this party will continue to find ways of mending.
“Now that we have a legal decision, which supports the position of the matter, even though other people talk about going higher (Supreme Court), others are saying no we should start widening the solution.
“That we don’t waste time in terms of legality.
“That is why for the moment, until anybody is able to go higher and setting aside the decision of the court, for the moment, Ali Modu Sheriff is the Chairman of the party and those of us who love to see solution to this party will continue to find ways of mending.
“I think we should all bury our ambitions.
“You can’t have an ambition without a platform.
“We need to have a platform first of all and we are in the opposition and we need time to organise and reorganise and go back to the people with plausible real solutions to their problems.
“If we don’t get these solutions, then what do we have?
“We need to all come together and appeal to all of us, all PDP lovers and members to really look at the issues objectively so that we have a platform that we can call a party, which can win elections.
“Not a fragmented party.”
Sheriff, however, snubbed the Niger State Chairman of the PDP, Barrister Tanko Beji, who has aligned himself with Makarfi.
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