The Ahmed Makarfi-led Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) caretaker committee, lost out on Thursday, February 15 in its contest for the leadership of the party, as the Court of Appeal sitting in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, held that Ali Modu Sheriff is the National Chairman of the party.
A three-man panel of judges, which decided the case in a unanimous decision upturned the verdict of Mohammed Liman, of the Federal High Court, Port Harcourt, which had sacked Sheriff, following the controversy that erupted in the party prior to the primaries, late last year.
This puts paid to the contest for the leadership of the party, which has subsisted since some PDP chieftains, led by Governors Nyesom Wike of Rivers State and his Ekiti State counterpart, Ayo Fayose, sacked Sheriff and appointed a caretaker committee, with Makarfi, as chairman.
A similar case at the Abuja Division of the Court of Appeal, filed by the committee against the ruling of Justice Okon Abang of the Federal High Court, Abuja, which similarly sacked the Makarfi team, could not go on, as the appellate court was inclined to allow the Port Harcourt contest be determined first.