The former National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Ali Modu Sheriff has described the protests that rocked the party headquarters in Abuja on Wednesday as a “shameful act of hooliganism and brigandage”.

Shortly after the protesters had ended, Sheriff, through his Media Adviser, Inuwa Bwala released statement – where he accused the Ahmed Makarfi-led Caretaker Committee of orchestrating the protests in a bid to undermine his leadership.

He described the protests as a reminder of the days lawlessness and hooliganism “for which the sponsors of the caretaker committee have been known over the years”.

Sheriff asked his supporters to remain calm and not go beyond the bounds of the law even as he accused the caretaker committee of desperation, lies and blackmail.

He also denied being sponsored by the All Progressives Congress (APC) as accused by the Makarfi-led caretaker committee.

“Makarfi and his sponsors want to create the wrong impression that Sheriff is not reliable, whereas it is an open secret that Sheriff has given credible and honest leadership to his state, to Nigeria and to the PDP, even for the short period he has been in the saddle of leadership than Ahmed Makarfi.”

“Be that as it may, we wish to challenge Makarfi to name the date, venue and names of those in attendance at the so-called meeting Sheriff allegedly had with some governors of the APC.”

“Again how could Sheriff be a stooge when he remains the only PDP stalwart that speaks out against the APC since the party lost the 2015 elections?”

“For the avoidance of doubt, we wish to state that Ali Modu Sheriff left the APC at its formative stage, and has never had anything to do with the party or any of its stalwarts since his departure.”

“One wonders how Ahmed Makarfi and his cohorts could tell lies just to divert attention from the real issues at stake.”

“The issues at stake remain the presence of a cabal in the PDP, desperately trying to hijack the structure of the party and continue the perpetuation of acts of lawlessness and impunity, which Ali Sheriff resisted.”

“We consider it most uncharitable that Makarfi will attempt to smear our revered National Chairman by leveling frivolous allegations, in the hope that he can divert attention from the real agenda of the group leading him by the nose.”