PDP will replace Buhari in 2019 – Modu Sheriff

Newly sworn-in national chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Ali Modu Sheriff, on Wednesday vowed to lead the party to take over from President Muhammadu Buhari  in 2019.

Senator Sheriff said nothing would stop his party, which lost power in 2015, from ousting the current All Progressives Congress (APC) from power.

A founding member of the APC, the new chairman defected to the PDP in 2014 ahead of national elections in 2015. This was after previously been accused of sponsoring the terrorist group, Boko Haram.

Sheriff made the vow on Wednesday in Umuahia, the Abia State capital, during a thanksgiving service organised to mark the victory of Governor Okezie Ikpeazu at the Supreme Court.

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The court had on February 3 affirmed Governor Ikpeazu’s victory in the April 11, 2015 governorship election.

Said Sheriff: “We are here today, we are starting from here, and we are going to Aso Rock, Insha Allah by 2019. We will head from here and we will do it together. This my long cap is prepared to lead my colleagues and brothers to Aso Rock, Insha Allah.

“By the grace of Allah nothing will deter this party from going to Aso Rock in 2019. By the time we put down our master-plan I am sure they (APC) will go back to where they came from. And Insha Allah, nothing will stop us.”

Although President Muhammadu Buhari has not indicated whether he would seek a fresh term at the expiration of his office in 2019, the new PDP chairman was emphatic that the APC would be upstaged.

Sheriff expressed delight at the crowd he saw at the stadium where the event held, noting that it was clear that the governor was popularly elected.

He said, “I missed the speech of my younger brother the governor of Abia State who stayed in Maiduguri, who I have known in Maiduguri. But I am sure he said all the right things.

“From what I have seen in the stadium, it is clear that his election is the election of the people. It is election that God has destined. It is not election that we call it election by air, election by writing. This is the election of the people.”

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Earlier in his remark, the Deputy National Chairman of the PDP, Uche Secondus, congratulated the governor on his victory at the Supreme Court.

He said it was clear that the governor came to power by popular mandate.

Speaking on behalf of his colleagues, the governor of Ekiti State, Ayo Fayose, said the change the nation expected could turn out to be “chance”.

Governor Ikpeazu said since he assumed he has provided infrastructure in the state, including the construction of about six roads in Aba.

Other PDP governors who attended the event include Nyesome Wike (Rivers), Ifeanyi Okowa (Delta), Udom Emmanuel (Akwa Ibom) and deputy governor of Ebonyi State, who represented the state governor, David Umahi.

The four governors like Ikpeazu had their elections confirmed by the Supreme Court.

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