Nearly two weeks after the botched Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) National Convention in Port-Harcourt, Rivers State, embattled factional Chairman of the party, Senator Ali Modu Sheriff, has explained why he took a last-minute decision to call off the event. He said he only acted in deference to a court order that elections should not be conducted into three offices of the party – National Chairman, National Secretary and National Auditor.
According to him, if he had not acted swiftly to suspend the convention, it would have been an outright disregard for the judiciary. He referred to an earlier letter addressed to him by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), wherein the party was advised to obey a Lagos Federal High Court injunction.
In the letter, dated 16th of May, 2016 and addressed to Sheriff as National Chairman of the party, INEC had warned that it would not monitor elections into the three seats under contention, pending the determination of the case by the court.
