TheCable

Ahmed Markafi, chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) caretaker committee, says Ali Modu Sheriff, his rival, is out of the country.

Sheriff and Makarfi have been in the news lately over different court rulings on their status in the party.

But addressing journalists after regaining control of the PDP, Makarfi revealed that the immediate past chairman of the opposition party is not within the shores of Nigeria.

“Sheriff is out of the country… Sheriff would have featured under the BoT and I am not the chairman of the BoT,” he said in response to a question.

Makarfi said the needed interim structures to put the party back on track had been put in place.

He said efforts were being made to reconcile aggrieved members of the party, insisting that there is no faction in the PDP.

“We are coming out of a situation, we are a small caretaker committee. We will put in place interim structures because you know we are looking forward to a national convention that will finally bring national officers into offices but in the interim, we are coming out with an interim structure that will provide the needful services that any political party needs,” he said.

“You know we are one. There is no faction in PDP. There may be aggrieved members but they are party men and women, and we cannot rest on our oars until we follow them and we reconcile with them and bring them back to the fold.

On the meeting, which was attended by governors, former ministers, and members of the board of trustees, the chairman said: “We discussed the way forward and it will be great once again for PDP”.

The Sheriff-led executive council was dissolved at the party’s convention which held in Port Harcourt on May 21.

The decision did not go down well with the former chairman, who described the caretaker committee as “a group of usurpers and a contraption”.

He subsequently filed a suit against committee.