Top officials of the party who took part in the game of intrigues that led to the ouster of the party chairman said Sheriff did not realize the level of conspiracy against him till it was too late.
The officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the coalition that worked against Sheriff also included senior party members led by Prof. Jerry Gana. These party members, the officials added, were the ones who persuaded the governors to send last-minute text messages to their delegates to reject Sen. Modu Sheriff on the convention ground.
One of the text messages read, “Reject Sheriff at the convention by passing vote of no confidence in him and voting ‘no’ on his ballot paper.”
It was learnt that the text message was leaked to Ali Modu Sheriff, who hurriedly left his hotel room and headed to Government House, Port Harcourt.
Senator Modu Sheriff, who had scheduled a press briefing for the early morning of Saturday, was said to have rushed to the Government House where he met the governors, including the host, Nyesom Wike of Rivers State, seated.
One of the governors, who spoke with one of our correspondents on condition of anonymity, said Sen. Sheriff confronted the governors, some senators and members of the Board of Trustees at the meeting, but failed to sway them.
The governor said, “The crisis started when Sen. Sheriff refused to abide by the terms of agreement that he should spend just three months in office and he started maneuvering to remain in office.
“We spoke to our colleagues that we should take a position and ask him to leave, they said no. Even when the party was factionalized, they remained adamant.”
The governor added that two of Sheriff’s main backers and sponsors, Governor Wike and Governor Ayodele Fayose of Ekiti State, abandoned him when they saw the level of opposition against their choice.
The governor added, “Nyesom Wike and Ayodele Fayose went to beg the Gana faction that they should support Sen. Sheriff, but they weren’t successful. The members of the Prof. Jerry Gana faction said ‘over their dead bodies.’
“We then agreed that we (anti-Sheriff governors) would play along and act decisively at the eleventh hour. That’s what we did today (Saturday), by sending text messages to our delegates to pass a vote of no confidence in him at the convention ground.
“Unfortunately, the message leaked and that was why he rushed to meet us at the Government House. We asked him to go and resign in order to save the party, but he refused.
Senator Ali Modu Sheriff, who is also the Former Governor of Borno state said, that he is still in charge, that the meeting was illegal, so it is null and void.
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