Barely 48 hours after walking out on former President, Goodluck Jonathan, in a peace parley, the embattled factional National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Ali Modu-Sheriff, has said that the Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike, his counterpart from Ekiti State, Ayodele Fayose, and others, are free to quit the PDP.
Ali Modu-Sheriff, had earlier threatened that the PDP under his watch, will have nothing to do with Jonathan and his cohorts.
Recall, that Sheriff and members of his team, had on Thursday, in Abuja, walked out of a reconciliation meeting called by Jonathan, over disagreements on how the meeting should be conducted.
Sheriff had insisted that he would preside over the meeting, but Wike and Fayose disagreed, saying Jonathan should preside, since it was a reconciliation and not a party meeting.
Sheriff, who spoke through his Deputy, Dr. Cairo Ojougboh, on Saturday night, said the party was ready to move on without the Governors, who refused to join hands in rebuilding the party.
He also said the party was not ready to collect money from the Governors to fund the party, saying the former ruling party would not collect what he called “stolen money from the Governors.”
He added that, the party would not defend any of the Governors when the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, came after them on how they spent State monies while in office.
Ojougboh said: “We are moving on with the determination to re-position the party. We are not interested in the funding of the party from the Governors. They are free to leave if they want to, especially Wike and Fayose.
“We are also not interested in their money. The party belongs to the people, they will finance it. So, if the Governors want to withhold money from the party, they are free. We don’t receive stolen money. They have not been funding us and we are surviving.”
He said the party was already planning a Nationwide Campaign, adding that, they were already in the South-East, where he said the Campaign would start.
“We are starting with Anambra, Imo, Ebonyi, Enugu, and Abia States, and then we will move to Cross River State. The party belongs to the people and not to Governors, who will want to steal peoples’ money,” he added.