Ex-gov Aliyu receives Sheriff in Minna, both meet ex-dictator

Senator Ali Modu Sheriff, who was recognised as the authentic National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party, on Friday, arrived in Minna, the Niger State capital, on Saturday, to see a former Governor of the state, Dr. Babangida Aliyu, and a former military dictator.

This came two days after the appeal court recognized Sheriff, a former Governor of Borno State, as the chairman of the PDP.

The appellate court, on Friday, recognized Sheriff as the National Chairman of the PDP, throwing away the claim of the Senator Ahmed Makarfi-led National Caretaker Committee of the party to the leadership of the PDP.

Sheriff, who arrived in Minna at exactly 2:30pm on Sunday and received by Aliyu, again described the Court of Appeal’s ruling in his favour as a victory for the PDP.

The PDP chairman stated, “My victory is a victory for the PDP all over Nigeria. There is no loser. It is just a misunderstanding within a family, and we are calling on everybody to come together so that the party can be a formidable one once again.”

Aliyu later joined Sheriff for a meeting with the former military dictator, which lasted for about 90 minutes.

The PDP chairman left the Niger State capital at about 4.30pm on Sunday.

Speaking to newsmen after a closed-door meeting with the ex-military dictator, Sheriff added, “During our meeting, he said he is happy with my statement after the court ruling. He told me to continue that way so that I can bring everybody back together to make the party a formidable opposition party.

“What we want to do now is how to put the party back in shape so that everyone, who is aggrieved, is brought back as one united family once again. Look, united we stand, divided we fall.

“I have even called Makarfi himself and I have called on everybody to come back so that we can work together.”

Aliyu said, “Now that we have a legal decision even though other people talk about going higher (Supreme Court), others are saying ‘no’, we should start widening the solution; that we don’t waste time in terms of legality.

“For the moment, Ali Modu Sheriff is the chairman of the party, and those of us who love to see the solution to the problems in this party, will continue to find ways of mending fences.

“I think we should all bury our ambition, you can’t have an ambition without a platform.

“We need to all come together and I appeal to all of us, all PDP lovers and members, to really look at the issues objectively so that we have a platform that we can call a party which can win elections. Not a fragmented party....

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