Sheriff rejects outcome of Port Harcourt meeting, says it's illegal

dimeji akinloye

August 17, 2016 7:48 PM

In reaction to the convention, Sheriff said the meeting breached section 31 sub section 4 of the PDP constitution.

Ali Modu Sheriff

The embattled Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP),

At the party's aborted convention of Wednesday, August 17, it was decided that the Ahmed Makarfi-led caretaker committee will oversee the affairs of the party till the next 12 months, with the hope that the ongoing power tussle in the party would have been resolved by then.

The party did not elect members of its National Executive Council (NEC) at the purported convention due to conflicting court orders which trailed the event.

In reaction, Sheriff said the meeting breached section 31 sub section 4 of the PDP constitution.

The section provides that: “The NEC shall meet at least once in every quarter at the instance of the national party chairman or at the request of two-third of its membership, who shall notify the chairman at least seven days prior to the meeting; and an emergency meeting be summoned by the national chairman having regard to all the circumstances of the agenda.”

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Speaking through his spokesman, Mallam Inuwa Bwala, Sheriff urged PDP members to ignore the NEC resolutions.

He said: “Even in an emergency situation, one week notice must be given to the national chairman, who has the sole responsibility to convene the NEC meeting.

“It is sad that, in the face of obvious disregard to court orders, which halted the convention, some individuals are bent on perpetrating impunity by taking steps to install another contraption on the PDP.”

However, a Federal High Court sitting in Abuja, today, August 17, re-affirmed the sack of Sheriff as the PDP Chairman.

The presiding judge, Justice Nwamaka Ogbonnaya reaffirmed the sack on the ground that the judgment of Justice Valentine Ashi, which nullified his appointment on June 29 has not been set aside or vacated and is therefore subsisting.

dimeji akinloye