The shocking and almost unbelievable news that Ali Modu Sheriff has been appointed the new acting National Chairman of PDP has now been confirmed. With this confirmation, even those who termed themselves die-hard PDP supporters, are aghast, stupefied and speechless at this audaciously toxic decision..

For a party that has made so much noise about wanting to rebrand and return the party to the people, this is a Guinness book of world record level tragic move. If this where a movie script, it will be titled “The Final Insult”

This latest PDP move reminds me of the popular saying that those whom the gods have earmarked for destruction, they first make deaf and mad. This is a public relations disaster of unqualified proportions. For a party whose reputation is already in tatters, this is a political gambit which is sure to drag the party deeper into the tawdry halls of infamy.

The appointment of a man who, rightly or wrongly, has been serially accused of being a major sponsor of the dreaded boko haram terrorist group and has also been earlier accused of being the one that initiated and started the sect that later metamorphosed into boko haram is the craziest thing that has ever happened in politics anywhere in the world. It shows an appalling disdain of public opinion and citizens’s concerns.

With this development, it is now clear beyond every reasonable doubt that, one, the PDP does not seem to understand that perception is reality and that in this age of knowledge, information and communication, leaders and organizations that hope to survive and thrive must solemnly contemplate and take into account public opinion and public perception in making decisions.

Two, it is equally now certain that the PDP has learnt nothing from its comprehensive defeat at the polls in 2015. Impunity, arrogance and corruption still reigns supreme in the party and if anything, impunity and arrogance seems to be digging in in the party.

Finally, it is most certainly now obvious that there is a cabal in the PDP that is working assiduously to ensure that the PDP does not survive its present crisis. Any hope of a resurgence is now gone and the impending demise of the PDP is almost given.

The appointment of Ali Modu Sheriff as acting PDP National Chairman, if only for just one day, is the worst and most brazen thing that has happened to the PDP in its almost 20 years history as a party. It is a classic suicide move.

Here is a man who has moved from ANPP to PDP to APC and the APC found him to be so repugnant that they quickly showed him the door and he scurried back again to the PDP; the EFCC has brought corruption charges against him regarding the expenditure of over three hundred billion Naira that accrued to Bornu State under his watch as governor; he has been accused by the Australian negotiator, Dr. Stephen Davis of sponsorship of terrorism; he was previously arrested in Cameroon in 2012 for alleged links to boko haram terrorists; he is unabashedly celebrated as the owner of the most expensive private jet in Nigeria estimated to be worth 11. 5 billion Naira – this is the qualification, the profile of the man that the PDP chose to lead them at this sober time of national renewal, in this auspicious moment when integrity is the sign and symbol that is sorely needed.

Across the length and breadth of the north east zone which parades an endless list of polished and brilliant political minds, the only person the PDP saw to appoint its acting National Chairman, is the one man who was certain to revolt, repulse, provoke, annoy, dismay, shock and alienate the few remaining PDP members and Nigerians in general.

Behold the PDP undertakers are out in the public square. So let the dance of death begin. It is finished!

– Anthony Ubani