The embattled chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Ali Modu Sheriff, has issued a Certificate of Return to a parallel governorship candidate in the forthcoming governorship election in Edo state.
This is despite a Federal High Court judgement in Port Harcourt on Monday that sacked his faction of the party.
Mr Ali Modu Sheriff presented the certificate to Mr Matthew Aighuhuenze as the party’s flag bearer, after the chairman of his delegates congress committee, Ahmed Gulak, presented the reports of his primaries to the group in Abuja.
The event is a new twist to the leadership tussle the party is grappling with, as the Ahmed Makarfi-led caretaker committee of the PDP also flagged off the campaign of their own candidate for the same election on Monday in Benin City.
Mr Sheriff says his faction will, in the coming days, flag off a campaign for their own candidate in the same state.
A Federal High Court sitting in Port Harcourt, the Rivers State capital, had granted reliefs sought by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) on the controversies trailing the changes effected in the party’s leadership.
According to Justice Abdullahi Liman of the Federal High Court 1, the national convention held on May 21, 2016 in the state capital which removed Sheriff as chairman, was legal and did not go contrary to any law.
The trial judge also held that the dissolution of the National Executive Committee, the National Working Committee and the constitution of a caretaker committee to oversee the affairs of the party by that convention was valid.
Meanwhile, the embattled chairman has headed to the Appeal Court.
Mr Sheriff told journalists in Abuja shortly after the court ruling that he remained the chairman of the party until the Court of Appeal sets aside an earlier ruling of a Federal High Court in Abuja which was in his favour.
