Ali Modu Sheriff: Unstable as water!

Ali Modu Sheriff needs no introduction to those who follow political events in the country, particularly since 1999. He served as senator during the Sani Abacha regime and also from 1999 to 2003. He was a two-term governor of Borno State. He was first elected governor in 2003 on the platform of the defunct All Nigeria People’s Party (ANPP) and re-elected in 2007.

The story of the genesis of the Islamist sect, Boko Haram, in Nigeria cannot be successfully told without a mention of Sheriff. In fact, at a point he was accused of being a sponsor to the sect by an Australian hostage negotiator, Stephen Davies.

A man of immense wealth, Sheriff was beckoned by some governors of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) after the 2015 disastrous defeat by the All Progressives Congress (APC) to take over the leadership of the party at the centre.

He is an astute politician and an asset to many parties in the past, even up till 2014. But his inability to manage success appears to be responsible for his receding political relevance.

In the merger that took place in 2014, Sheriff, who was chairman of the Board of Trustees (BoT) of the defunct ANPP, led the party into the APC. He however, dumped the broom party shortly after the party’s national convention in 2014. Pundits said at that time that he was forced out by a strong force that was not comfortable with his strong vibrations.

He was said to have sharply disagreed with Bola Ahmed Tinubu, national leader of the party, over the national chairmanship of the party. While he rooted for Tom Ikimi, Tinubu backed John Odigie-Oyegun. Seeing that he was merely going to be an “O’Yes member” in the APC, he decamped to the PDP. He had an unfettered access to power at the topmost level and needed not to fraternise with the Borno State chapter of the party.

His defection did not benefit the PDP as he was said to have made no impact in the 2015 election for the umbrella party. But he was to make a surprise appearance in February 2016 after months of hibernation after the general election, as the acting national chairman of the PDP amidst stiff opposition.

Under his leadership the PDP nearly went into extinction.

Two months after he joined the PDP from the APC, Kasshim Shettima, governor of Borno State, said that going by Sheriff’s antecedents, he would destroy the PDP.
“He is a very consummate politician who is presiding over a dead horse, and I am absolutely certain that he will see to the total annihilation of the PDP. My boss is a very consummate politician; he can survive in any political terrain. He will certainly find his way and will successfully destroy the PDP to the better glory of the APC,” Shettima said.

True to prediction, Sheriff nearly sank PDP. Like a chimpanzee that refuses to let go a cup peacefully handed to him to have a drink, Sheriff held on to leadership cup handed over to him and refused to release it. He only relaxed his grip by the legal powers of the nation’s courts.

Unlike in 2014 when he returned to the PDP and was received by the national secretariat without any input by the Borno State chapter, this time around, the APC national secretariat pointedly told Sheriff to start the process from the grassroots.

His next step will largely determine his political future. Talk of a rolling moss!