One of the leading All Progressives Congress (APC) stalwarts and former governor of Borno State, Ali Sheriff, may defect to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) this week.
Nigerian Tribune learnt that the former governor is expected to defect this week with 21 members of the state House of Assembly.
Sources have it that the former governor had been seen as a “PDP agent in APC cloth” since the fall out of the last national congress. Sheriff was said to have been angered by the way some national officers of the party emerged at the party’s congress, which he claimed had left his fate hanging in the balance in the power game in the party’s hierarchy.
Feelers in the state had it that a close deal had been reached between the former governor and the PDP to ensure that the embattled governor of the state is impeached or intimidated to forfeit his second term ambition. If this could not be achieved, sources said another game plan was to put all resources together and ensure that Shettima is defeated at the polls, if he eventually decides to contest.
The 21 lawmakers, who are to work with the former governor in the scheming, were also expected to defect to the PDP with him to ensure a hitch-free process.
But in a swift reaction, the chairman of the APC in the state, Alhaji Ali Bukar Dalori, in a statement issued at the weekend on the speculation, maintained that the party had not been briefed about the said plan to defect. He noted that all he got was a text message circulating that some key party members were putting pressure on Sheriff to defect from APC.
He said he was aware “that some aspirants have been putting pressures on a key leader of the APC, Senator Ali Modu Sheriff, to defect to the PDP, thinking they (the aspirants) will have ready-made tickets to become PDP candidates ahead of the 2015 elections.But Dalori said the aspirants would realise that they were wrong when it would, however, be too late.
He said: “Sheriff has not told us he is going to the PDP, but then, these assembly members are very loyal APC members. Any member of the APC in Borno who defects to the PDP will be making the worst political calculation, because there will be very limited options there.
“I saw a bulk SMS last night saying 21 members of the Borno State Assembly under the APC are following Sheriff to PDP, what a joke? Sheriff has not told us he is going to the PDP, but then, these assembly members are very loyal APC members. And let me even ask, does anybody think they are crazy? If they leave the APC and they are looking for tickets, how can PDP give 21 tickets of the House of Assembly to defectors, give governorship, senate and House of Representatives tickets to the same group?”
Source: Tribune
