Fayose, Wike free to leave PDP — Sheriff

The National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic
Party , Senator Ali Modu Sheriff , has said the party is
ready to call the bluff of its governors that are not
ready to accept him .
He also said the party was not ready to collect money
from the governors to fund the party , saying the
former ruling party would not collect what he called
“ stolen money from the governors.”
He added that the party would not defend any of the
governors when the Economic and Financial Crimes
Commission came after them on how they spent
state money while in office.
Sheriff , who spoke to our correspondent through his
deputy , Dr . Cairo Ojougboh, on the telephone in
Abuja on Saturday, said the party was ready to move
on without the governors who refused to join hands
in rebuilding the party .
Ojougboh, who said he was already in the South -
East , where he said the party was going to
commence its nationwide mobilisation , specifically
said both the governors of Rivers and Ekiti states ,
Nyesom Wike and Ayodele Fayose , were free to leave
the party if they so desired .
Sheriff and members of his team had , on Thursday
in Abuja , walked out of a reconciliatory meeting
called by former President Goodluck Jonathan over
disagreements on how the meeting should be
conducted.
Sheriff had insisted that he would preside over the
meeting, but Wike and Fayose disagreed, saying
Jonathan should preside since it was a reconciliatory
and not a party meeting.
However , members of the National Caretaker
Committee of the party led by Senator Ahmed
Makarfi and other stakeholders did not leave the
venue , even after Sheriff and his team left.
Jonathan , who described the walkout by Sheriff and
his team as unfortunate , said he was going to set up
a committee of not more than 40 persons on how to
resolve the crisis in the party .
Makarfi and members of his team are currently at
the Supreme Court, where they filed an appeal
against the judgment of a Federal High Court , Port
Harcourt , Rivers State, which affirmed Sheriff as the
national chairman of the troubled party .
He said the party would not want to be dragged into
how the governors spent the resources of their
states .
Ojougboh said, “ We are moving on with the
determination to reposition the party . We are not
interested in the funding of the party from the
governors. They are free to leave if they want to ,
especially Wike and Fayose .
“ We are also not interested in their money . The
party belongs to the people, they will finance it . So ,
if the governors want to withhold money from the
party , they are free . We don’ t receive stolen money .
They have not been funding us and we are
surviving. ”
He said the party was already planning a nationwide
campaign, adding that they were already in the
South -East where he said the campaign would start .
“ We are starting with Anambra, Imo, Ebonyi, Enugu
and Abia states , and then we will move to Cross
River State. The party belongs to the people and not
to governors who will want to steal people’ s money , ”
he added.
Efforts made by our correspondent to get the
reaction of Fayose , who is also the Chairman of the
PDP Governors ’ Forum , failed as his aide refused to
speak on the matter.
His Chief Press Secretary , Mr . Idowu Adelusi,
promised to call our correspondent back but failed to
do as of the time of filling this report .