– The national chairman of the PDP, Ali Modu Sheriff is said to be moving towards amending the constitution of the party to favour him
– He is said to have added a clause that the body would need to consult him before it could call for any meeting
– A member of the party’s NEC wants to decimate the powers of the BoT
– Some chieftains of the PDP are already threatening to leave the party
Ali Modu Sheriff, the national chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), is said to be making plans towards changing the party’s constitution to favour his ambition to contest the chairmanship of the party at its national convention scheduled for May 21.
The Punch reports that Sheriff had proposed an amendment to the party’s constitution, whereby he added a clause that he would need to be consulted before any organ of the party could call for any meeting.
The proposed amendment which was included as part of the agenda of the party’s last NEC meeting, held in Abuja on Thursday says: “The BoT shall meet at the instance of the Chairman in consultation with the national chairman of the party or at the request of half of the members of the Board or following a resolution of the Board or the NEC request for such a meeting.”
READ ALSO: PDP national chairmanship position goes to Northeast
Prior to the amendment, the BoT of the party did not need the chairman’s permission to hold its meeting.
The current constitution of the party merely stated that the “The Board of Trustees shall meet at the instance of the chairman or at the request of half of the members of the board or following a resolution of the board or the national executive committee requesting for such a meeting.”
Sheriff’s move follows stiff opposition by the Board of Trustees of the party against Sheriff’s goal is to contest the chairmanship of the party
A member of the NEC, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said that Ali insisted that the areas, clauses and pages slated for amendment ought to be printed out separately with the proposed news words, sentences or clauses to be added or removed.
The source said: “Now, he (Sheriff) wants to decimate the powers of the BoT by asking to be consulted before we could hold meetings. He will also be asking for agenda.
“If he’s not around, that means we can’t meet. If he’s not favourably disposed to the issues to be discussed, that means we can’t meet.”
Some of chieftains of the party have threatened to dump the PDP should Sheriff be allowed to continue as chairman at the detriment of the south west, which should ordinarily produce a candidate for the position.
Chief Ebenezer Babatope, a former minister of transport, who is also a member of the BoT, said many people were already preparing to leave the party because of Sheriff and it would have dire consequences for them.
READ ALSO: Ali Modu Sheriff: No politician in PDP can buy me
“I’m ashamed of the party,” he added.
Ibrahim Jalo the deputy national publicity secretary of the party, said that he might quit the party on moral grounds.
“I am the chairman of the House in Gombe State and we did a lot in assisting the state governor to win election. In all the local governments, I have structure. If I’m leaving, I’m leaving with my supporters,” he added.
However, Alhaji Shuaib Oyedokun, a member of the BoT, spoke in defence of Sheriff, saying that though the south west deserved the position of national chairman, the timing was wrong.
Leaders in the south west zone have threatened to dump the party en masse should the zone be blocked from producing the next national chairman of the party. They were said to have met in Ikoyi, Lagos, last week and took a position on how to respond if the zone is “robbed” at the party’s national convention this month.
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