Former Minister of National Planning, Dr. Abubakar Sulaiman, says with the appointment of former governor of Borno State, Ali Modu Sheriff, as new chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), the mission to rescue the party has failed.

Sulaiman said those who were part of the decision to name Sheriff as chairman did not have the interest of the party at heart. The PDP chieftain in Kwara State said some of them would have to consider their membership of the party, stressing that the fifth columnist had hijacked the party.

In a statement emailed to our correspondent in Lagos, the former minister said: "Our rescue mission has failed. The redemption boat has capsized and our journey to recovery has come to an end. Whosoever partook in the decision does not mean well for the party and democracy in Nigeria.

"It is obvious the fifth columnist had hijacked the party and they are hell bent in sinking it deeper into irrecoverable level of the pit. Some of us would rather review our membership than subject ourselves to selfish interests of some cabal, whose main goal is political profiteering. After all, our umbilical is not tied to any party."

However, a PDP chieftain in Lagos and former minister of Works, Senator Adeseye Ogunlewe, told our correspondent that Sheriff's emergence should be supported by all party members.