,
,
,
NEW Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) chairman Alhaji Ali Modu Sheriff has denied having any ties with Boko Haram stressing that President Muhammadu Buhari would have arrested him if he had any connection with the sect. Alhaji Sheriff, 60, the former Borno State governor elected on the platform of the defunct All Nigerian Peoples Party (ANPP) in 2003, served for two terms until 2011. This week, he was elected as the PDP national chairman having joined the party last year as following the creation of the All Progressives Congress (APC), which his ANPP was part of, he defected to the PDP, claiming he was being marginalised.
Highly controversial, Alhaji Sheriff has come under criticism for his role in the Boko Haram saga, as he has been accused of being behind the group's emergence. It was during his tenure as governor that Boko Haram emerged and his political opponents have accused him of being one of the sect's biggest backers and financiers. Rejecting their criticism, Alhaji Sheriff, stressed that speculation about his sponsorship of terrorists exist only as a figment of the imagination of those blackmailing him and wondered why those behind the rumour did not raise the matter when he was in the APC. He claimed that it was immediately he left the APC that he was labelled a Boko Haram sponsor, reminding Nigerians that he had also been a victim of their attacks which led to the death of his blood brother as well as other relations. “Boko Haram wanted to kill me at a time because they believed that I was the one that reported them to President Umaru Yar’Adua to destroy their enclave. It was after I left government that they moved to their different camps and bushes. "Why should they kill my brother? Why should they kill my family if I am a sponsor of Boko Haram? Is there anywhere in the world that you sponsor people to kill you?" Alhaji Sheriff added. A founding member of the APC, Alhaji Sherriff said nobody in his family or relation is a Boko Haram member or close to any Boko Haram member. He added that up until today, if Boko Haram had the chance, they would kill him because they still think he reported them to Yar’Adua who levelled their places of worship and killed their then leader Mohammed Yusuf. "People that are afraid of me changed the story and they keep on doing it and every day, they write different things but you and I know that nobody is above the laws of Nigeria. I believe that President Buhari, even if it is his son or blood brother that is a Boko Haram, he will arrest and prosecute him, so the allegation is the figment of the imagination of the writers." On what he intends to do to restore lost hope in the PDP, Alhaji Sheriff said he would hit the road as soon he concludes the handing over, pacifying aggrieved members, asking them to come back. He added that he formed a party the UNCP from the scratch that won elections all over Nigeria and plans to do the same again.
Highly controversial, Alhaji Sheriff has come under criticism for his role in the Boko Haram saga, as he has been accused of being behind the group's emergence. It was during his tenure as governor that Boko Haram emerged and his political opponents have accused him of being one of the sect's biggest backers and financiers. Rejecting their criticism, Alhaji Sheriff, stressed that speculation about his sponsorship of terrorists exist only as a figment of the imagination of those blackmailing him and wondered why those behind the rumour did not raise the matter when he was in the APC. He claimed that it was immediately he left the APC that he was labelled a Boko Haram sponsor, reminding Nigerians that he had also been a victim of their attacks which led to the death of his blood brother as well as other relations. “Boko Haram wanted to kill me at a time because they believed that I was the one that reported them to President Umaru Yar’Adua to destroy their enclave. It was after I left government that they moved to their different camps and bushes. "Why should they kill my brother? Why should they kill my family if I am a sponsor of Boko Haram? Is there anywhere in the world that you sponsor people to kill you?" Alhaji Sheriff added. A founding member of the APC, Alhaji Sherriff said nobody in his family or relation is a Boko Haram member or close to any Boko Haram member. He added that up until today, if Boko Haram had the chance, they would kill him because they still think he reported them to Yar’Adua who levelled their places of worship and killed their then leader Mohammed Yusuf. "People that are afraid of me changed the story and they keep on doing it and every day, they write different things but you and I know that nobody is above the laws of Nigeria. I believe that President Buhari, even if it is his son or blood brother that is a Boko Haram, he will arrest and prosecute him, so the allegation is the figment of the imagination of the writers." On what he intends to do to restore lost hope in the PDP, Alhaji Sheriff said he would hit the road as soon he concludes the handing over, pacifying aggrieved members, asking them to come back. He added that he formed a party the UNCP from the scratch that won elections all over Nigeria and plans to do the same again.
No comments:
Post a Comment