By Henry Umoru & Ben Agande
ABUJA — The new national chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Senator Ali Modu Sheriff, got further entrenched in his position yesterday after critical elders of the party in the Board of Trustees, BoT, recanted on their opposition to his appointment.

Alimodu Sheriff

It was, however, not total respite for Sheriff as some former PDP ministers at the end of a meeting in Abuja stuck to their guns.

The volte-face, Vanguard learnt followed troubleshooting efforts by Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu, who met with different organs of the party in his house between Monday night and yesterday evening.

Ekweremadu, it was learnt also met with the former ministers led by Mallam Ibrahim Shekarau in his Abuja residence, during which he won a concession for Sheriff not to stay more than three months in office during which he, Sheriff will lead the party to a National Convention where a new executive would be elected. The same approach, it was learnt, was adopted in winning peace with the BoT and the National Assembly caucuses.

Chairman of the PDP Governors Forum, Dr. Olusegun Mimiko, who addressed journalists at the end of the joint meeting of the party’s different organs, said it was agreed that Senator Sheriff and his NWC members should organize a national convention of the party within three months.

He said: “As you can see, we are just from a meeting. You are all aware of some controversies generated recently because of recent developments in our party. I am happy to let you know that all the major organs in the party – the Governors Forum, National Working Committee, National Assembly Caucus and the Board of Trustees have agreed to stand by our national chairman to ensure that our party moves forward.

“We have put behind us all the controversies in the press in recent times. I want to assure you that we are together as a party.

“We have also mandated the national chairman and the National Working Committee to put in motion immediately the processes of ensuring that within three months, a National Convention of our party is called, and we will brief all our members nationwide within the next two weeks of the timetable in that direction. ’In the next two weeks, the timetable will be out, all culminating in our National Convention within three months,” he said.

On the insistence of former PDP Ministers that Senator Sheriff was not acceptable to them, Governor Mimiko said the position taken by the BOT, NASS Caucus and the NWC was representative of the position of members of the PDP Ministers Forum.