Name govs backing you, Makarfi tells Sheriff

The Chairman of the National Caretaker Committee of the Peoples Democratic Party, Ahmed Makarfi, has challenged the faction of the party being led by Ali Modu Sheriff to mention governors behind it.

Makarfi said that there was no iota of truth in the claim by the faction that at least eight governors were supporting it.

A key member of the Sheriff faction, Alhaji Ahmed Gulak, had claimed that up to eight governors were behind the faction.

Gulak, a former presidential aide, however, did not mention the names of the governors.

Nevertheless, the spokesperson for the Makarfi’s faction, Prince Dayo Adeyeye, debunked Gulak’s claim.

He said the contention was not true just as he said the faction had been making unsubstantiated claims since the party held its convention in Port Harcourt, Rivers State early this year.

Adeyeye said that the Makarfi’s group would not have dignified Gulak “and his cohorts with a response,” but, said that silence could be misinterpreted as admission.

He said, “We are amused by Gulak’s claims. Since the May 21, 2016 convention which held in Port Harcourt, Ali Modu Sheriff and his renegade band have never missed any opportunity to blame the governors for the problems of the party.

“Only last week, their self appointed Deputy National Chairman, Dr. Cairo Ojuogboh, was still castigating the governors for the party’s woes at a press conference.Why attack those who are supporting you?

“If Gulak wants to be taken serious he should name the governors who are supporting his group. Name names and say the type of support you receive from the governors.”

Adeyeye said Gulak’s claim was like a case of political hallucination.

“I think he actually meant the All Progressives Congress governors who are their sponsors and not our PDP governors,” he added.

Adeyeye, a former minister of state for works, said that Nigerians knew that members of the Sheriff faction were  what he described as paid agents of the APC and were being used to destabilise the PDP.

He insisted that all the PDP governors remain resolute in their support for the Makarfi-led caretaker committee.

Meanwhile,  a former National Chairman of the party, Alhaji Bamanga  Tukur, on Monday said that there was no way the party would die.

Tukur, who spoke with journalists in Abuja,  also said that the clamouring for the formation of a mega party ahead of the 2019 general elections was in order.