Reacting to the Supreme Court verdict on Wednesday that declared Ahmed Markafi as the authentic Chairman of the People’s Democratic Party, one of the leaders of the party and former Aviation Minister, Femi Fani-Kayode in a tweet on his social media handle applauded the verdict.
In the said message, he wrote: “Shame on Sheriff” PDP is back in the right hand.
Tweeting further, Fani-Kayode said “Praise the Lord! God has given us victory at Supreme Court. PDP is back in the right hands. Shame on Ali Modu Sheriff! Congrats to PDP!” he wrote.
Also reacting, Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu, urged all members to accept the verdict in good faith.
Ekweremadu who is the highest political office holder under the party at the moment said the ruling ushers in a new dawn of peace, reconciliation and total recovery for the party as it prepares for the 2019 general elections.
“I am happy that the Supreme Court has brought this protracted leadership tussle to an end today. There is no victor and there is no vanquished, but a collective victory for our party and the nation’s democracy.
No democracy can prosper in the absence of a virile opposition or under the extreme hardship Nigerians have faced over the past two years. Citizens deserve a viable alternative.”
According to him, the ruling party has indeed profited from the prolonged power contest. “It is heartwarming that calm is returning after the storm. I salute millions of our party faithful and Nigerians who stood firm to weather the storm for their courage and loyalty, and sincerely appeal to those who left for one reason or the other to return to our big political family.”
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The Supreme Court in a landmark judgement on Wednesday, upheld the Ahmed Makarfi led Caretaker committee of the People’s Democratic Party as the authentic committee.
In its ruling, the Apex Court held that the appeal filed by Makarfi at the Federal High Court in P/H was not an abuse of court process as wrongly held by the majority judgment of the Court of Appeal.
Resolving the preliminary issue, the Supreme Court has dismissed the preliminary objection by the Ali Modu Sheriff faction, holding that the appeal by the Ahmed Makarfi faction was valid.
The second issue formulated is being considered by the Supreme Court. The issue is whether the PDP’s National Convention held on May 21, 2016 and where Sheriff was removed as National Chairman of the party was illegal.
Recall that in February, a Court of Appeal sitting in Port Harcourt, Rivers state affirmed Sen. Ali-Modu Sheriff as the authentic chairman of the PDP.