Sheriff meets PDP stakeholders in Anambra State

• As Ugwuanyi, Umahi endorse his leadership
• APC, opposition trade words in Kogi over detention of media activist

The factional Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Ali Modu-Sheriff, yesterday met with leaders of the party in Anambra State, ahead of the up-coming governorship election.

He urged them to support the PDP to win the election that would hold in November this year. Modu-Sheriff said the meeting was deliberately held in Enugu to ensure that none of the factions in the crises rocking the Anambra State’s chapter was left out.

“We are determined to do things the right way to ensure that our party remains a strong brand. The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) had written to inform us about the governorship election in November and that is why we must talk to ensure that the mistakes that robbed us of that position are not repeated,” he said.

The meeting, which was attended by the party leaders from 21 local councils of the state, blamed the national leadership of the PDP for the current crisis. A member of the PDP Board of Trustees, Andy Uba, added that the party won the governorship election in 1999 and 2003, warning that one of the party’s problems was the imposition of candidates in elections.

He said he would remain in PDP, which he joined in 1999 and promised to ensure that the party wins the next election. At the meeting, Enugu State Governor, Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi and his Ebony State counterpart, Dave Umahi endorsed the leadership of Modu-Sheriff.

They said he has the potential to transform the country, noting that the party’s problems were manipulated from Abuja. The Chairman of PDP in Oyi Local Council, Collins Iloka, stressed that the party was determined to recover the state from the All Progressives Grand Alliance (AGPA).

Meanwhile, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Kogi State has accused Governor Yahaya Bello and the All Progressives Congress (APC) of dictatorship. In a statement by the state Publicity Secretary, Mr. Bode Ogunmola, he said the frequent arrest of perceived enemies of government, particularly journalists, was a drift to tyranny.

The party demanded the immediate release of a social media activist, Austin Okai, whom he said, has been illegally detained. According to him, security agents arrested Okai, who is the National Coordinator of the PDP Youth Alliance, last Sunday in Abuja on the governor’s order.

He cited others that had been illegally detained to include the Publisher of the Policy and Law Maker magazine, Friday Ogungbemi and McDavis Wonder, a social media activist. He said that they were also detained by the Department of State Services (DSS).

He called for the immediate and unconditional release of the affected persons, adding that the Nigerian Constitution guaranteed freedom of speech.