Lagos State Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has been embroiled in crisis for some time. Efforts to reconcile the warring factions have proved abortive. MUSA ODOSHIMOKHE examines the challenges facing the party and efforts being made to resolve the conflicts.
THE Lagos State Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has been struggling to find its feet, following the crisis that affected its chances during the last general elections. The party was defeated by the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).
Prior to the 2019 elections, it was hit by internal squabbling. The party leadership tried to paper the cracks, at least, for the sake of the general elections. But, since then, the warring factions have returned to the trenches. At the moment, the chapter has no clear leader, to serve as the voice of the party.
The aftermath of the general elections did not only put the party in limbo, but respected leaders also started calling one another names. The combatants accused themselves of marginalisation, high handedness and financial imprudence.
It was in the wake of the accusation and counter-accusations that the National Working Committee (NWC) waded in, to reconcile the aggrieved parties and bring peace to the fold. The committee was headed by Senator Ben Obi and its mandate was as tall as the challenges confronting the party. Though Obi’s committee met with members on the way forward for the party, preliminary findings showed that members were in no mood for reconciliation.
In the reports submitted by the Obi-led committee, some fundamental steps were enumerated for peace to reign in the chapter. For instance, the committee recommended the reconstitution of the membership of the chapter’s skewed State Working Committee to carry all the stakeholders along.
The report also frowned at the removal of some elected local government chairmen of the party singlehandedly by the chairman, Adegbola Dominic, without the approval of the generality of members. Obi said party members denounced the imposition of candidates. He said the party would bounce back once there is a guarantee of a free and fair process.
The NWC has promised to look into the report and take the necessary action, to restore harmony. The National Chairman, Chief Uche Secondus, said the NWC would come out with what is good for the party. He added that all the party was concerned about was winning Lagos.
Secondus implored members to embrace peace. The chairman said the time to enthrone peace in Lagos has come. He said the task before members was to bury the hatchet and support the peace process. He added that the situation in Lagos was worrisome, because the state was supposed to be the barometer for other PDP states.
The chairman said by the time the PDP sorts out iuts challenges in Lagos, other states with internal challenges would fall into line. He promised to alter the disproportionate and lopsided composition of the BoT membership.
Observers say the reconciliation process has been very slow and that if the process was not speeded up, the party would lose more members. It was in the midst of reconciling aggrieved party members that Senator Adeseye Ogunlewe defected to the APC.
Ogunlewe said the PDP would remain stagnated, because it lacks focus. He said some politicians in the state were only after their selfish interests. Ogunlewe who was received at a grand reception by the Mandate Movement at Ikorodu, a suburb of Lagos, said he could no longer cohabit with members who were not thinking of the overall interest of the people.
The former Minister of Works said another reason for defecting was because the APC would zone the presidency to the Southwest in 2023 and that he would not like to be left out of the arrangement. The Ikorodu-born APC chieftain, who came under criticism for his defection, said his son, Moyosore, and himself, joined people of like minds, where they would serve the people.
Moyosore contested the Lagos State House of Assembly on the PDP platform in 2015 and 2019, but lost to the candidate of the APC. The younger Ogunlewe was received with open arms by the leadership of the Ikorodu APC. Thanking them for their magnanimity, Moyosore said: “I thank you all for accepting me in the party, despite our past political differences. I and my supporters are overwhelmed by the show of love by the APC and I feel at home for this honour.
“I thank Senator Bayo Osinowo and I can say that again and again. The last time I came here was for the victory of Osiniwo and I told the whole house I would come properly to the APC.”
Former governorship candidate Jimi Agbaje is among those waiting for the outcome reconciliation. Sources say for true reconciliation to take place in Lagos PDP, Agbaje and his supporters must be pacified and embraced. The party must clear him of the accusation of wrong doing leveled against him during the last general elections. The accusation centres on running a one-man show during the electioneering campaign.
His accusers said Agbaje ran the governorship race alone, without consulting party leaders.
Agbaje’s response to the accusations was that he owed nobody an apology about how he executed the campaign. He was also accused of not reconciling the money received from the national leadership for the election. He told the chairman that he had been instructed on how to expend the money. Agbaje’s media aide, Mr. Felix Oboagwina, said the national leadership had put in place a structure that would guide the conduct of the electioneering campaign.
He said: “The national leadership of the party put in place a structure in all the states for holding 2019 elections. The structure is called the Campaign Council headed by governorship candidates. The instruction is that it should be headed by the governorship candidate in the state, while the state chairman will serve as vice chairman.”
The crisis in the party came to the head, when Agbaje was accused of disrespecting the former Deputy National chairman, Chief Olabode George. At a conference, Dominic said the party would sanction Agbaje, if it continues to engage in anti- party activities.
Agbaje has accused George of being behind the rumour that he had left the party. IA statement by Agbaje’s aide, in respect of the rumour, said: “People should tell Bode George to shut up and leave the PDP, if he lacks any value to add to the party.”
Read Also: Lagos PDP members defect to APC
Reacting to the statement credited to Agbaje, Dominic said the party was shocked by the former governorship candidate’s disposition. In reference to Agbaje’s statement, he said: “The false narrative is a product of sick mind, or how else do you describe someone who just sits down to concoct fictions and market it as a reality.”
But, Dominic said that the party expected Agbaje to show respect for the leadership in the state, as well as elders. He added: “What he said is not expected of him. We will not condone this act of indiscipline.”
The George camp said Agbaje was an ingrate and that he was a threat to the progress of the party in the Southwest. George’s media aide, Uthman Shodipe, said the statement credited to Agbaje was sickening for a Yoruba person, very disrespectful and unacceptable.
Shodipe said: “As Omoluabi in Yorubaland, we do not throw stones at elders. What Agbaje has done is basically to throw a sledgehammer at his benefactor, by referring him as a sick mind.”
He said George nurtured Agbaje’s political career in the PDP and that his statements were not only disrespectful, but portrayed him as an ingrate.
Analysts said with the bottled up anger from every department of the party in Lagos that the reconciliation committee has an uphill task ahead of it. They believe that the problem of the PDP in the state was self-inflicted and that the struggle for the party leadership position would remain, except it embraced internal democracy and proper way of doing things.
Factional leader, Mr. Segun Adewale, said, to end the leadership struggle, those working against his interest must bear in mind that the party belong to all members. He added that genuine reconciliation would happen if some people no longer assume that the party is their fiefdom.
Adewale said the key step to reconciling the different interest groups was to give every member a sense of belonging.
Though, the party appeared to be rudderless, without clear leadership control, die hard members believe that peace will eventually reign in the fold.
A visit by our correspondent to the party’s secretariat at Shogunle showed that the party is in tatters. It was like visiting a grave yard. Most of the offices are under lock and key. Security officers at the secretariat said no activity has been going on, because the top party hierarchy hardly comes there.
Some of the staff said Dominic has not been around for some time and that the last time they collected salary was in March. Further inquiry showed that the secretariat’s rent has started accumulating again. It was the party’s presidential candidate iun the last general elections Alhaji Atiku Abubakar paid off the accumulated bill prior to the election.
Atiku paid the bill when he was seeking the ticket of the party to vie for the presidency in the 2019 election. Sources, said the party was on the verge of being thrown out of the secretariat by the landlord, when Atiku intervened.
A staff at the party secretariat, who craved anonymity, said the crisis was hitting hard, because activities were at the lowest ebb due to the conflict. He said: “The last time we received salary was in March this year. We are really feeling the pain, because party leaders don’t come to the secretariat anymore.
“Dominic remains the party chairman, but he hardly comes to the secretariat. We are praying that things get better, so that we can get our salaries and be able to meet with family obligations.”
Former chairman Moshood Salvado said his exit from the party was the end of the road for it. He defected with thousands of followers to the APC. He said the PDP will never be the same again in Lagos, because he was not just a great mobilizer for the party, but also one of its strongest financiers.
While the PDP members hopefully await the outcome of the reconciliation move, skeptics are still wondering how the party will achieve it. They believe with the Supreme Court judgment putting an end to their hope, the party’s journey to peace would be a herculean task, as most of its financiers are now watching from the sidelines.
‘ Prior to the 2019 elections, it was hit by internal squabbling. The party leadership tried to paper the cracks, at least, for the sake of the general elections. But, since then, the warring factions have returned to the trenches. At the moment, the chapter has no clear leader, to serve as the voice of the party. The aftermath of the general elections did not only put the party in limbo, but respected leaders also started calling one another names ’
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