Modu Sheriff: Who has bewitched the PDP? – Fani-Kayode
On 16th of February, 2016, the
leadership of the Peoples Democratic
Party (PDP) adopted Senator Ali Modu
Sheriff (aka SAS), a two-time ANPP
Governor of Borno state, a former ANPP
senator, the former Chairman of the All
Peoples Congress (APC) Board of
Trustees and the indisputable founder of
Boko Haram as its Acting National
Chairman.
Modu-Sheriff is also the erstwhile
godfather and sponsor of Governor
Shettima Ali, the present APC Governor
of Borno State (until they fell out), he is a
man that has a very deep and profound
relationship and association with Idris
Deby, the President of Chad and he is a
man whose son is married to the
daughter of President Muhammadu
Buhari.
Many have argued that his allegiance is
more to the Republic of Chad than it is to
Nigeria, that he is an agent of the
Chadian intelligence agencies and that
he is a Chadian citizen who often flaunts
his Chadian passport. I cannot confirm
the veracity of these assertions but one
thing that I know is that most of Modu
Sheriff’s funding and stupendous wealth
emanates primarily from the Republic of
Chad and that that country is as much a
home to him as is Nigeria.
Yet it is not his connection with Chad
that give me cause for concern. Rather it
is his role in the establishment of Boko
Haram. The truth is that appointing him
as our National Chairman is like
appointing Jack the Ripper as the leader
of the Conservative party in Victorian
England.
Kudos must go to the elders in the PDP
Board of Trustees, a number of State
Party Chairmen and a number of key
individuals in the PDP Ministers Forum
for taking a courageous and noble stand
by rejecting and resisting the imposition
of this abominable monstrosity.
What Ali Modu Sheriff stands for and
represents is utterly repugnant to every
fiber of my being. Yet I have no
objection to his being a member of the
PDP simply because politics is a game of
numbers. It is a game in which everyone,
no matter how big or small, counts. If
you want your party to grow and make
progress you must accept the good, the
bad and the ugly.
To this end when he left the APC and
joined the PDP sometime back, I was
one of those that gladly welcomed him
into our ranks and defended him in the
public realm. This was at a time when
others criticized the party for accepting
him.
There is however a world of difference
between accepting him as one of the
many leaders of the PDP and appointing
him as the National Chairman. Others
may seek to justify such a course of
action but I cannot, in good conscience,
do so. To me it is a matter of principle. If
we accept this then on what moral
grounds did we condemn or oppose the
APC or the APC-led Federal Government
during the course of the last Presidential
election?
If we are comfortable with the likes of Ali
Modu Sheriff leading us then on what
basis did we criticize and oppose
President Muhammadu Buhari for
appearing to support Boko Haram when
he said ”an attack on Boko Haram is an
attack on the north”? If we insist on Ali
Modu Sheriff being our National
Chairman then we may as well go and
apologize to the APC for all our past
criticisms and condemnations and join
them.
On what basis can we accept as our
National Chairman a man who
established, encouraged, supported and
nurtured an organisation that later
metamorphosised into Boko Haram?
This is a terrorist organisation whose
ultimate objective is to turn Nigeria into
an Islamic fundamentalist state by the
use of terror and the force of arms?
On what basis can we accept a man to
lead us whose Commissioner of
Religious Affairs when he was Governor
of Borno state, one Alhaji Buji Foi, was
the de facto operational commander of
Boko Haram. The man was later
murdered by those closest to him after
investigations into who and how Boko
Haram was founded commenced.
On what basis can we accept as our
National Chairman a man who helped to
create an organisation that wishes to
establish sharia as the norm in our
country, repeal all our criminal and civil
laws, ban all our civil liberties and
human rights, proscribe the teaching of
western education in our schools, turn
our women into 6th century sex slaves
and abrogate the secularity of our state.
On what basis can we accept as our
leader a man who supported a group
that wishes to suspend our constitution,
wipe out the Christian faith and the
practice of moderate Islam in our
country and create an evil ISIL-type
empire in our nation?
I really do wonder whether those that
made this decision have lost all sense of
rationality? I wonder whether they have
lost their ability to see reason properly
and to exercise their discretion in a
logical, responsible and lucid manner?
I wonder whether they have lost their
fear of God? I wonder whether they
have forgotten the evil that was visited
on our people, and is still being visited
on them, over the last seven years by
Boko Haram? I wonder whether they
know at whose instance it was that
Mohammed Yusuf, the erstwhile leader
of Boko Haram, was killed by our
security forces whilst in police custody in
2009 just so that he wouldn’t live to tell
the whole world who gave him the funds
to set up his murderous cult?
I wonder whether they have forgotten
the terrible havoc that Boko Haram
unleashed on our citizens? I wonder
whether they have forgotten the tears,
wailing and suffering of the bereaved. I
wonder whether they have forgotten the
slaughter of the innocents. I wonder
whether they have forgotten those that
were beheaded, those that were
chopped to pieces and thrown down
wells like dog meat and those that were
burnt alive?
I wonder whether they have forgotten
the savage and bestial rape, murder and
abduction of the Chibok girls and all the
other little girls that suffered a similar
fate in recent times? I wonder whether
they have forgotten that our nation is
still at war with the bloodthirsty
barbarians that committed these
atrocities?
Since when did we, as a political party,
lose our memories and jettison our
moral compass in this way? Since when
did we become so callous, shameless
and insensitive? Since when did greed
and the lust for power and money
determine and motivate our every
course of action? Since when did we
throw away caution, decency and
principle? Since when did we become so
barbarous and uncivilized?
Since when did so few make a decision
that will affect the lives and fortunes of
so many in a profoundly negative way?
Have we forgotten about the priests and
servants of the Living God that were
crucified by Boko Haram at their own
church alters? Have we forgotten those
that had their homes, schools, churches,
mosques and properties pillaged,
robbed and burnt to the ground by this
group of godless Phillistines? Have we
forgotten that the international
community, through the International
Terror Index, has rightly described Boko
Haram as the ”most deadly terrorist
organization in the world”?
Have we forgotten those gallant young
military officers that were killed at the
war front whilst fighting this evil plague,
all in their quest to keep us safe, to
secure our borders and to protect our
property and people? Does all that count
for nothing? Is this the way to pay them
back for their great sacrifice and their
noble courage? Are we prepared to
throw away all decency and morality just
to seek favor with a handful of
misguided mortals and in a futile
attempt to win political power?
Simply put has the leadership of the PDP
gone completely mad or are they
working for elements outside the PDP?
Are they suggesting that you need a
godless Haramite to run the affairs of
the party before we can ever win power
at the center again? Where is the
patience and fortitude that is required
from true leaders? Where is their faith in
God? Where is their sincerity of
purpose? Does the leadership of the PDP
really believe that it has kept faith with
the founding fathers of the party, those
that trusted them with power and those
that bestowed them with leadership?
There were so many other people that
they could have chosen to lead our party
from the north-east. There were people
like Mohammed Wakil, Nuhu Ribadu,
Bala Mohammed, Wilberforce Juta, Aliyu
Modibbo, Ahmed Gulak and so many
others that could have been appointed.
These are all committed people with
impeccable records of public service,
high moral standing and good character.
Instead of doing so the leadership of the
party chose to impose the most
controversial, intellectually-challenged,
morally-depraved and despicable
character that they possibly could to
lead us and when asked why they did so
we were told that it was because ”he has
plenty of money to spend on the party”
and no less than ”5 private jets” to lend
out to those who needed a free plane
ride. Evidently we have sold our
birthright and heritage, not just for a
mess of pottage like Esau, but rather for
a free ride on a private jet.
This is what a party that was once led by
successive groups of seasoned and
formidable intellectuals and great men
of power, vision, courage and good
character has been reduced to. This is
what the party that was founded and
once led by giants like President
Olusegun Obasanjo, Chief Tony Anenih,
General Ibrahim Babangida, General
Aliyu Gusau, Alhaji Adamu Ciroma,
General T.Y. Danjuma, Vice President
Abubakar Atiku, President Umaru
Yar’adua, President Goodluck Jonathan,
Chief Bode George, Col. Ahmadu Alli,
Chief E.K. Clark, Professor Jerry Gana,
Dr. Chuba Okadigbo, Chief Ken Nnamani
and so many others has degenerated to?
What a pity! What a monumental
tragedy!
This is a party that once boasted of
having in its ranks many promising and
dynamic bright young stars that were
collectively capable of shaking the very
foundation of the civilized world and
creating new frontiers and greater hope
for the future of our people and our
beleaguered nation. How are the mighty
fallen.
What on earth has happened to us? As
the Book of Galatians in the Holy Bible
asks, ”who has bewitched us”? Over the
the course of the last 17 years, in terms
of the quality of party leadership, the
PDP has gradually descended into the
unceremonious cesspit of mediocrity.
Worst still, with the recent appointment
of Ali Modu Sheriff as our National
Chairman, we have chosen to spit in the
wind, sleep with the dogs, dance on the
graves of our fallen heroes, piss on the
blood and bones of the slaughtered
innocents and wallow in the filthy pool of
compromise, deceit, doublespeak and
shame.
As a consequence of this calamitous
decision we have, literally overnight,
become a shell, nay a shadow, of what
we used to be. Unfolding events will
prove my assertion true. I have no doubt
that time will eventually prove me right
and vindicate me.
The bitter truth is that this arrangement
is an affront against the Living God and it
cannot stand. Yet if it does stand the
party will pay a heavy price for it
because it will inevitably lead to the end
of the PDP as we know it.
Imposing Ali Modu-Sheriff is an insult to
all those that have fought for, led,
served, defended, supported and risked
everything for the party, at every level,
over the last 17 years. Only the deeply
malevolent can be comfortable with
such an arrangement.
It is evil. It is godless. It is indefensible. It
is shameful and as long as it stands the
PDP does not have the moral standing or
authority to criticize or condemn others.
Those that made this decision behind
closed doors and without proper or wide
consultations have murdered sleep.
They have not only betrayed the
confidence that the rest of us bestowed
upon them but they have also prepared
the coffin for our great party and dug its
grave. It is a tragedy of monumental
proportions and I have little doubt that
God will judge them for what they have
done.
Ali Modu-Sheriffs long-term plan to
hijack the leadership of the party for as
long as possible, remain as National
Chairman indefinitely and emerge as the
Party’s presidential candidate in 2019
will fail because it does not have the
blessing of God. Time will prove me
right.
Femi-Fani Kayode is a lawyer, a Nigerian
politician, an evangelical christian, an
essayist, a poet and he was the Special
Assistant (Public Affairs) to President
Olusegun Obasanjo from July 2003 until
June 2006. He was the minister of
culture and tourism of the Federal
Republic of Nigeria from June 22nd to
Nov 7th 2006 and as the minister of
Aviation from Nov 7th 2006 to May 29th
2007. He tweets from @realFFK.
leadership of the Peoples Democratic
Party (PDP) adopted Senator Ali Modu
Sheriff (aka SAS), a two-time ANPP
Governor of Borno state, a former ANPP
senator, the former Chairman of the All
Peoples Congress (APC) Board of
Trustees and the indisputable founder of
Boko Haram as its Acting National
Chairman.
Modu-Sheriff is also the erstwhile
godfather and sponsor of Governor
Shettima Ali, the present APC Governor
of Borno State (until they fell out), he is a
man that has a very deep and profound
relationship and association with Idris
Deby, the President of Chad and he is a
man whose son is married to the
daughter of President Muhammadu
Buhari.
Many have argued that his allegiance is
more to the Republic of Chad than it is to
Nigeria, that he is an agent of the
Chadian intelligence agencies and that
he is a Chadian citizen who often flaunts
his Chadian passport. I cannot confirm
the veracity of these assertions but one
thing that I know is that most of Modu
Sheriff’s funding and stupendous wealth
emanates primarily from the Republic of
Chad and that that country is as much a
home to him as is Nigeria.
Yet it is not his connection with Chad
that give me cause for concern. Rather it
is his role in the establishment of Boko
Haram. The truth is that appointing him
as our National Chairman is like
appointing Jack the Ripper as the leader
of the Conservative party in Victorian
England.
Kudos must go to the elders in the PDP
Board of Trustees, a number of State
Party Chairmen and a number of key
individuals in the PDP Ministers Forum
for taking a courageous and noble stand
by rejecting and resisting the imposition
of this abominable monstrosity.
What Ali Modu Sheriff stands for and
represents is utterly repugnant to every
fiber of my being. Yet I have no
objection to his being a member of the
PDP simply because politics is a game of
numbers. It is a game in which everyone,
no matter how big or small, counts. If
you want your party to grow and make
progress you must accept the good, the
bad and the ugly.
To this end when he left the APC and
joined the PDP sometime back, I was
one of those that gladly welcomed him
into our ranks and defended him in the
public realm. This was at a time when
others criticized the party for accepting
him.
There is however a world of difference
between accepting him as one of the
many leaders of the PDP and appointing
him as the National Chairman. Others
may seek to justify such a course of
action but I cannot, in good conscience,
do so. To me it is a matter of principle. If
we accept this then on what moral
grounds did we condemn or oppose the
APC or the APC-led Federal Government
during the course of the last Presidential
election?
If we are comfortable with the likes of Ali
Modu Sheriff leading us then on what
basis did we criticize and oppose
President Muhammadu Buhari for
appearing to support Boko Haram when
he said ”an attack on Boko Haram is an
attack on the north”? If we insist on Ali
Modu Sheriff being our National
Chairman then we may as well go and
apologize to the APC for all our past
criticisms and condemnations and join
them.
On what basis can we accept as our
National Chairman a man who
established, encouraged, supported and
nurtured an organisation that later
metamorphosised into Boko Haram?
This is a terrorist organisation whose
ultimate objective is to turn Nigeria into
an Islamic fundamentalist state by the
use of terror and the force of arms?
On what basis can we accept a man to
lead us whose Commissioner of
Religious Affairs when he was Governor
of Borno state, one Alhaji Buji Foi, was
the de facto operational commander of
Boko Haram. The man was later
murdered by those closest to him after
investigations into who and how Boko
Haram was founded commenced.
On what basis can we accept as our
National Chairman a man who helped to
create an organisation that wishes to
establish sharia as the norm in our
country, repeal all our criminal and civil
laws, ban all our civil liberties and
human rights, proscribe the teaching of
western education in our schools, turn
our women into 6th century sex slaves
and abrogate the secularity of our state.
On what basis can we accept as our
leader a man who supported a group
that wishes to suspend our constitution,
wipe out the Christian faith and the
practice of moderate Islam in our
country and create an evil ISIL-type
empire in our nation?
I really do wonder whether those that
made this decision have lost all sense of
rationality? I wonder whether they have
lost their ability to see reason properly
and to exercise their discretion in a
logical, responsible and lucid manner?
I wonder whether they have lost their
fear of God? I wonder whether they
have forgotten the evil that was visited
on our people, and is still being visited
on them, over the last seven years by
Boko Haram? I wonder whether they
know at whose instance it was that
Mohammed Yusuf, the erstwhile leader
of Boko Haram, was killed by our
security forces whilst in police custody in
2009 just so that he wouldn’t live to tell
the whole world who gave him the funds
to set up his murderous cult?
I wonder whether they have forgotten
the terrible havoc that Boko Haram
unleashed on our citizens? I wonder
whether they have forgotten the tears,
wailing and suffering of the bereaved. I
wonder whether they have forgotten the
slaughter of the innocents. I wonder
whether they have forgotten those that
were beheaded, those that were
chopped to pieces and thrown down
wells like dog meat and those that were
burnt alive?
I wonder whether they have forgotten
the savage and bestial rape, murder and
abduction of the Chibok girls and all the
other little girls that suffered a similar
fate in recent times? I wonder whether
they have forgotten that our nation is
still at war with the bloodthirsty
barbarians that committed these
atrocities?
Since when did we, as a political party,
lose our memories and jettison our
moral compass in this way? Since when
did we become so callous, shameless
and insensitive? Since when did greed
and the lust for power and money
determine and motivate our every
course of action? Since when did we
throw away caution, decency and
principle? Since when did we become so
barbarous and uncivilized?
Since when did so few make a decision
that will affect the lives and fortunes of
so many in a profoundly negative way?
Have we forgotten about the priests and
servants of the Living God that were
crucified by Boko Haram at their own
church alters? Have we forgotten those
that had their homes, schools, churches,
mosques and properties pillaged,
robbed and burnt to the ground by this
group of godless Phillistines? Have we
forgotten that the international
community, through the International
Terror Index, has rightly described Boko
Haram as the ”most deadly terrorist
organization in the world”?
Have we forgotten those gallant young
military officers that were killed at the
war front whilst fighting this evil plague,
all in their quest to keep us safe, to
secure our borders and to protect our
property and people? Does all that count
for nothing? Is this the way to pay them
back for their great sacrifice and their
noble courage? Are we prepared to
throw away all decency and morality just
to seek favor with a handful of
misguided mortals and in a futile
attempt to win political power?
Simply put has the leadership of the PDP
gone completely mad or are they
working for elements outside the PDP?
Are they suggesting that you need a
godless Haramite to run the affairs of
the party before we can ever win power
at the center again? Where is the
patience and fortitude that is required
from true leaders? Where is their faith in
God? Where is their sincerity of
purpose? Does the leadership of the PDP
really believe that it has kept faith with
the founding fathers of the party, those
that trusted them with power and those
that bestowed them with leadership?
There were so many other people that
they could have chosen to lead our party
from the north-east. There were people
like Mohammed Wakil, Nuhu Ribadu,
Bala Mohammed, Wilberforce Juta, Aliyu
Modibbo, Ahmed Gulak and so many
others that could have been appointed.
These are all committed people with
impeccable records of public service,
high moral standing and good character.
Instead of doing so the leadership of the
party chose to impose the most
controversial, intellectually-challenged,
morally-depraved and despicable
character that they possibly could to
lead us and when asked why they did so
we were told that it was because ”he has
plenty of money to spend on the party”
and no less than ”5 private jets” to lend
out to those who needed a free plane
ride. Evidently we have sold our
birthright and heritage, not just for a
mess of pottage like Esau, but rather for
a free ride on a private jet.
This is what a party that was once led by
successive groups of seasoned and
formidable intellectuals and great men
of power, vision, courage and good
character has been reduced to. This is
what the party that was founded and
once led by giants like President
Olusegun Obasanjo, Chief Tony Anenih,
General Ibrahim Babangida, General
Aliyu Gusau, Alhaji Adamu Ciroma,
General T.Y. Danjuma, Vice President
Abubakar Atiku, President Umaru
Yar’adua, President Goodluck Jonathan,
Chief Bode George, Col. Ahmadu Alli,
Chief E.K. Clark, Professor Jerry Gana,
Dr. Chuba Okadigbo, Chief Ken Nnamani
and so many others has degenerated to?
What a pity! What a monumental
tragedy!
This is a party that once boasted of
having in its ranks many promising and
dynamic bright young stars that were
collectively capable of shaking the very
foundation of the civilized world and
creating new frontiers and greater hope
for the future of our people and our
beleaguered nation. How are the mighty
fallen.
What on earth has happened to us? As
the Book of Galatians in the Holy Bible
asks, ”who has bewitched us”? Over the
the course of the last 17 years, in terms
of the quality of party leadership, the
PDP has gradually descended into the
unceremonious cesspit of mediocrity.
Worst still, with the recent appointment
of Ali Modu Sheriff as our National
Chairman, we have chosen to spit in the
wind, sleep with the dogs, dance on the
graves of our fallen heroes, piss on the
blood and bones of the slaughtered
innocents and wallow in the filthy pool of
compromise, deceit, doublespeak and
shame.
As a consequence of this calamitous
decision we have, literally overnight,
become a shell, nay a shadow, of what
we used to be. Unfolding events will
prove my assertion true. I have no doubt
that time will eventually prove me right
and vindicate me.
The bitter truth is that this arrangement
is an affront against the Living God and it
cannot stand. Yet if it does stand the
party will pay a heavy price for it
because it will inevitably lead to the end
of the PDP as we know it.
Imposing Ali Modu-Sheriff is an insult to
all those that have fought for, led,
served, defended, supported and risked
everything for the party, at every level,
over the last 17 years. Only the deeply
malevolent can be comfortable with
such an arrangement.
It is evil. It is godless. It is indefensible. It
is shameful and as long as it stands the
PDP does not have the moral standing or
authority to criticize or condemn others.
Those that made this decision behind
closed doors and without proper or wide
consultations have murdered sleep.
They have not only betrayed the
confidence that the rest of us bestowed
upon them but they have also prepared
the coffin for our great party and dug its
grave. It is a tragedy of monumental
proportions and I have little doubt that
God will judge them for what they have
done.
Ali Modu-Sheriffs long-term plan to
hijack the leadership of the party for as
long as possible, remain as National
Chairman indefinitely and emerge as the
Party’s presidential candidate in 2019
will fail because it does not have the
blessing of God. Time will prove me
right.
Femi-Fani Kayode is a lawyer, a Nigerian
politician, an evangelical christian, an
essayist, a poet and he was the Special
Assistant (Public Affairs) to President
Olusegun Obasanjo from July 2003 until
June 2006. He was the minister of
culture and tourism of the Federal
Republic of Nigeria from June 22nd to
Nov 7th 2006 and as the minister of
Aviation from Nov 7th 2006 to May 29th
2007. He tweets from @realFFK.
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