* Sheriff is advertising his political insanity — Fayose
* Wike Accuses APC Of Sponsoring Sheriff
By Teddy Nwanunobi
Abuja (Sundiata Post) — Former President, Goodluck Jonathan, has dismissed as idiotic claim by Ali Modu Sheriff that he was offered the sum of N50 million to organise the recent Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) stakeholders meeting in Abuja.
Sheriff, who spoke through his Deputy, Dr. Cairo Ojougboh, at a news conference in Abuja, claimed that Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike, and his Ekiti State counterpart, Peter Ayo Fayose, recruited Jonathan into a fake peace effort pre-determined to scuttle the on-going peace initiative in the Party.
“The result is that President Jonathan was lured into committing a serious breach of protocol that led to the failure of the exercise, which was the intended outcome,” he said.
In his reaction, Jonathan noted that it was quite unbecoming of a person, who claims to be the Deputy Chairman of the Party.
“It is unfortunate that a man, who carries himself as the Deputy National Chairman of the PDP, does not show any discretion or circumspection in the kind of things he says or publishes about leaders of the Party. A true party man, who is genuinely interested in the progress of the Party, will not submit himself to despicable conjectures and barefaced lies, in order to score cheap political points.
“It is simply idiotic for anybody to aver that a personality like former President Jonathan could be swayed or recruited by a governor to do his bidding for the price of N50 million.
“If only he knew the efforts the former President put into convincing the Rivers State Governor, Nyeson Wike, to personally attend the meeting. The Governor eventually honoured the invitation as a mark of respect for the former President, but had to leave the venue of the meeting early to be able to meet up with another very pressing engagement,” Jonathan said through a short statement issued by his media aide, Ikechukwu Eze.
Eze had earlier told reporters over the telephone that there was no truth in the claim.
“I don’t think anybody will believe that Jonathan collected money from anybody to organise the meeting. It was out of his genuine concern to bring peace to the Party.
“He has been meeting with members of the Party; he met with Sheriff severally, he also met with Makarfi severally. He met with the governors.
“I don’t see any reason for anybody to say that Jonathan collected money from anybody to organise the stakeholders conference,” Eze added.
Also reacting to the allegation, Fayose observed that Sheriff has taken his desperation too far by accusing the former President of taking bribe.
Fayose (left), Sheriff (middle) and Wike (right)
Fayose, in an SMS message by his media aide, Lere Olayinka, added that Sheriff is only advertising his political insanity.
“If Sheriff has taken his desperation to serve his paymasters in the APC to the level of accusing Jonathan of being bribed to organise peace meeting for the PDP, there is no reason for any sane mind to continue to respond to the continuous advertisement of his political insanity,” he said.
Meanwhile, Wike has accused the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) of using discredited politicians to destabilise the PDP.
Wike, who noted that the All Progressives Congress (APC) is crumbling, said that the Federal Government has resorted to sponsoring Sheriff to cause a leadership crisis in the opposition party.
Wike made the assertion on Thursday at the Sharks Stadium, Port Harcourt, where he received 8,000 members of the APC, who defected to the Rivers State Chapter of the PDP.
He said that the rumours that the PDP was in crisis were orchestrated by the APC, which is bent on destroying PDP in the country.
The governor declared that the PDP keeps growing amidst serious distractions.
He stressed that God would always intervene whenever the Party is under serious attacks from opposition parties.
“Let me tell you, so that nobody will start telling you different stories. There is no crisis in PDP. What the Federal Government is doing is because they have seen that the APC is crumbling and they want to cause crisis in PDP by using Sheriff.
“I can tell you to relax. We believe in God and He has never disappointed his children. With the problems of Rivers State, God will intervene. So, we will continue with what we are doing in the state; we will not be distracted and nobody will distract us. They thought they will distract us but they are shocked that we are not even bothered about what they are doing. We are still moving forward,” Wike said.