Former Governor of Borno State and founding member of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Senator Ali Modu Sheriff, has said some self-acclaimed leaders of the party do not want him in the party after all the sacrifices he has made towards its formation.
The ex-governor has been linked with plans to defect to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) following some misgivings over the handling of the party’s congresses and national convention.
However, a close associate of the APC chieftain, Dr. Umar Duhu, who spoke in an interview with THISDAY yesterday in Abuja, described the purported plans as a rumour, saying at present, the ex-governor was still consulting across the country.
“To the best of my knowledge, what I know is that after the convention, a lot of things came up and Sherriff understood that the so-called leaders of the party do not want him in the party and with a lot of sacrifice he had made for this party, he now felt if people can come and dine with him and then turned behind him and castigate him, that means APC does not want him,” he said.
Duhu, who is a former interim national vice-chairman of APC for the North, explained that Sheriff had made huge sacrifices for the party, adding that he had donated more than N50 million to ensure the success of the APC registration as a political party during the formative processes last year.
“As I am talking to you today, Sherriff is still consulting with his people so that he can carry everybody along if he is going to dump the party. He is not only the party leader in Borno State but a national leader of the party, he was the chairman, Board of Trustee of ANPP, and so he has people across the 36 state of the federation. He is still talking to a lot of people so that if he is going to dump the party finally, he is going to carry all these people along.
“Sherriff bankrolled the activities of the party particularly in the North-east zone and even in the country because during the registration period, he donated a lot of money running into more than N50 million for the success of the registration processes. I was the one that handed the money personally, so if somebody can commit himself to that extent and you say he has alienation with the party, that shows that something is fundamentally wrong.
“He is an international businessman, two-term governor of Borno State, three times member of National Assembly, so how can somebody of this status not have links with the government?
“He has been in government and you cannot be an island of yourself. Definitely, the president in power, whether from your party or another party, you must be loyal to him, and you will remember that the present president has been deputy governor when Sherriff was governor, so why would he now say Sheriff will not have friendly relationship with him?, he asked.
