Former Governor of Borno State and one of those touted as being the brain behind insurgency in the troubled state, Senator Ali Modu Sheriff, has declared that he was returning to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), not for personal interest, but the interest of the country.
Sheriff had issued a notice of his intention to dump the All Progressives Congress for the PDP some weeks ago. He was given a presidential welcome with the closed airport in Borno state opened for his sake and closed again immediately he left the state.
Speaking with journalists at the State House, Abuja on Friday after meeting with President Goodluck Jonathan, he said he was focusing on helping to move the country forward since he had been a governor twice and a senator three times.
It is believed that his meeting with President Jonathan had to do with his concluded plan to leave the APC as well as issues relating to the 2015 general elections in the country.
However, the former governor maintained that “Nigeria is a very interesting country and people like us who the nation has done everything for, both as individuals or collectively, need to pay back.
“By the grace of God, in Borno State, I have been made governor twice which is the maximum any one can get in terms of the limits imposed by the Constitution. I was elected into the Senate of the Federal Republic of Nigeria thrice.
“This means that in every aspect of life, I am one of the stakeholders in Nigeria because if by the help of God, the people of Nigeria had placed me in that position at every time, my interest now should be on how to move the nation forward.”
He said his interest should now be on what makes the nation move forward.
“My decisions will be guided by the interest of the nation first. My thinking of moving to the PDP is also in the interest of the nation,” he said as he added stressing that all Nigerians must be ready to contribute to ending the Boko Haram insurgency that has taken a toll on the country.
He said: “I’m not a security man or personnel. Whatever that as civilian I can do using my position as the chief executive of the state for eight years, what I have seen during my tenure I will contribute to the security agencies through whom I got those information.
“What you have to understand is that this country is a big country and Borno State is a different state from any other state in Nigeria.”
Sheriff noted that Borno state has the biggest land mass bordering Niger, Chad and Cameron and that it is an open border and that as a result, it is not like the Republic of Benin with only one entrance into Nigeria.
“In Borno, you can enter from 20 different points to the country. Therefore, you need a perfect understanding of the terrain.
“You need every knowledge that any politician has particularly any politician that operated in Borno state,” he said.
