As a first step, Senator Sheriff appointed some of his trusted and reliable aides to help him in the daunting task of making a difference.
He announced his onetime commissioner, Inuwa Bwala, a consummate journalist as his Special Assistant on Media while another of his trusted aides, Hon. Shettima Shehu, a former member of the House of Representatives, was appointed the Special Assistant to the National Chairman on Special Duties. But beyond the appointment of personal aides, Senator Sheriff has set about reorganizing the secretariat of the party which was moribund after the crushing defeat of the PDP in the last election.
Unlike four weeks ago when the PDP secretariat was a ghost of its former bubbling self, Senator Sheriff has injected a new lease of life to the secretariat.
He has become the rallying point for despondent members of the party who have seen in him, a spirit of rejuvenation and renewal. For many members of the party that already saw themselves as a flock of sheep without shepherd, Sheriff’s emergence provided a rallying point, and members have started trooping in once again. Last Thursday, prominent leaders of the party from across the country opened the floodgates of visits that has become a daily occurrence since Sheriff’s tenuous hold on power was strengthened by his acceptance by the Board of Trustees members.
While the former chairman of DAAR Communications, Raymond Dokpesi and the former governor of Imo state, Achike Udenwa came individually to pay homage to the PDP chairman, former members of the House of Representatives under the platform of the party since 1999 came together to pledge their loyalty to the new chairman of the party. Former deputy speaker of the party, Chief Emeka Ihedioha led the over thirty members of the group to visit the chairman.
For a man who was not a member of the party when most members of the house that came to visit him held sway, there was no other way for him to be reassured that he is fully in charge, even if for just a short period. From individual pledges, state organs of the party have keyed into the new leadership of the party to pledge their loyalty.
The Benue state executive council of the party led by its chairman, Dr. Emmanuel Agbo was among the first to pledge loyalty. The significance of Dr. Agbo’s visit is not so much that he led members of his executive to pledge loyalty to the chairman, but the fact that he is the chairman of state chairmen of the party sends a strong message that perhaps, the earlier dissension against the emergence of Sheriff was at the point of being overcome. For Sheriff, the present assignment as the chairman of the PDP has the potentials of rewriting his political history. He has sufficiently reawakened the consciousness of the members of the National Working Committee of the party, most of whose members had stopped going to the office before the emergence of Sheriff. His emergence has once again brought the PDP back to national discourse, even if for negative reasons.
Founding fathers
Even though some of his predecessors had tried, without success to woo back members of the party who had left in disenchantment, Senator Sheriff has set in motion machinery to bring back some founding fathers of the party who left in frustration. With only three months in office, Senator Sheriff has a Herculean task ahead of him. He is saddled with the responsibility of organizing the national convention of the party.