EXTRA: Buhari’s aide congratulates Sheriff as PDP chairman

Lauretta Onochie, personal assistant on social media to President Muhammadu Buhari, has congratulated Ali Modu Sheriff who was declared the legitimate chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) on Friday by the court of appeal sitting in Port Harcourt.

PDP chieftains had accused the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) of being the brain behind the leadership crisis in the opposition party.

“The Judgment has finally shown that the ruling Party, the APC is out to create a one party state in the country,” the PDP tweeted immediately after the judgment, with Ahmed Mohammed Markafi, the factional leader, announcing the he would head for the supreme court.

But Onochie has tweeted her congratulations, calling Sheriff the “authentic” chairman of PDP and hoping that his leadership “will bring back a civilised form of opposition in Nigeria”.

Congrats to Alh. Modu Sheriff, d authentic Chairman of PDP.
Hoping your leadership will bring back a civilised form of opposition in Nigeria pic.twitter.com/sVcP3tLLhh

— Lauretta Onochie (@Laurestar) February 17, 2017

Sheriff, a former governor and senator, was a founding member of APC but defected to PDP in 2014.

The APC welcomed his departure then, declaring that he was a PDP mole in their midst, an allegation he denied.

Sheriff has since been involved in a power struggle within the PDP, leading to insinuations that he was being used to destabilise the party to prevent the opposition from being active.

He has denied the allegation.

Sheriff has several times been accused of being the brain behind Boko Haram, but he has consistently denied the claim.