By Omoniyi Salaudeen
Former deputy national chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (South), Chief Bode George, has described the ruling of the Court of Appeal in Port Harcourt, which affirmed Senator Ali Modu Sheriff as the acting Chairman of the party, as a dark day for Nigeria’s democracy.
Reacting to the judgment at a press briefing at his Ikoyi office in Lagos, George maintained that the ruling was a brazen muzzling of the opposition, adding that the trend could lead to political instability.
“This is the voice of Jacob and a hand of Esau. Whatever it is, it is a very dark day for our democracy. It was a bad decision of the court. That is a complete direction towards instability,” he warned.
According to him, the judgment was a total disregard of the party’s constitution, which places high premium on convention as the supreme authority of the party. “The convention which the court nullified was the basis on which Ahmed Makarfi emerged as Chairman, Caretaker Committee. Are they saying we did not hold the convention? Are they saying the convention was not organized? Whatever it is, the shock is worse than Hiroshima bomb,” he declared.
George further warned that Nigeria might be heading towards the tyranny of a one-party state with the trend of political development in the country. “A lot of people expected a vibrant opposition. Now, they have taken the opposition from vibrancy to an appendage of the ruling party. I feel very sad. This is nothing but a complete muzzling of the opposition” he added.
Friday’s ruling of the Appeal Court was an anti-climax of the prolonged leadership tussle between Ahmed Makarfi-led Caretaker Committee and its rival faction led by Senator Modu Sheriff.