As the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) gets set for its national convention, slated for February this year, former Borno State governor and national chairmanship aspirant, Senator Ali Modu Sheriff has cautioned stakeholders in the ruling party to be conscious of post-convention crises that could deprive it of victory in the 2023 general elections.
Senator Sheriff gave the admonition on Friday while addressing journalists in Abuja.
The former Borno state governor alerted chieftains of the ruling party that members of the main opposition party, the People’s Democratic Party are waiting in the wings and watching for the outcome of the national convention of the APC scheduled for next month.
He warned that the poor conduct of the election and management of crises that might arise could lead to a gang up and sabotage of its chances at the polls.
He said: “We have a task to ensure a smooth convention.
“The moment we finish our convention, the opposition will go to the drawing board and start planning how to undermine us. But we know ourselves. They know that it is APC and the others. We came as an underdog to remove a sitting President in 2015.
“But my view is that we will get it right. By the special grace of God, we will get it right.
“APC as a party, as you see, all the flaws that people have, they are talking to themselves. Everybody is talking. Because we have suffered to form the party that today became a national party and all of us collectively we will get it right.”
The former Borno State governor also dismissed as mere speculation, a report in a national newspaper that the office of national chairman has been zoned to the North Central.
Senator Ali Modu Sheriff who incidentally is from the North East alleged that some of his opponents who are apprehensive of his growing acceptance are pushing the narrative to preclude him from the race.
“Party is run by human beings, the party is run by the party leadership. The party leadership, as of today, has not even constituted any committee. They were meeting for the last three or for days, to even come up with a committee for everything – for the zoning, for the election, for everything. So, the party came up and said we have not even sat. There are no more questions to ask.
“So, it clearly shows you that those that are writing this are afraid of the man called Ali Sheriff. They are afraid, Ali Sheriff is the target, they don’t probably want to go to the convention with Ali Sheriff, they are afraid, period. Once the party has given you those answers, there is no cause for alarm.”