Inspite of efforts to close ranks, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Ogun State is yet to get its acts together. Correspondent ERNEST NWOKOLO examines the root of the crisis rocking the chapter and why it appears intractable.
The crisis that rocked the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), prior to the 2011 general elections was a major factor that propelled the All Progressives Congress (APC) to regain control of Ogun State. It was a proxy war between former President Olusegun Obasanjo and former Governor Gbenga Daniel over the control of the party. Obasanjo had insisted that former Sole Administrator of Ekiti State General Tunji Olurin should get the party’s ticket for the governorship. But, Daniel preferred the ex-Managing Director of the Gateway Holdings, Prince Gboyega Isiaka, for the role. At the end, the party became polarised, with the Daniel faction breaking away to contest the general elections on a different platform. The rest is history.
The party re-united in the build-up to last year’s elections. The grouping brought together all the PDP factions and groups Daniel, Prince Buruji Kashamu, supporters of former Speaker Dimeji Bankole and ex-Minister Tunji Ishola came together to fight the ruling APC.
But, the re-union did not endure. The cracks that were hurriedly mended for the sole purpose of returning to power became widened; with the gladiators pulling it apart in different directions. This became evident when the three major gladiators in the chapter conducted separate ward, local government and state congresses last month. The arrowheads of the battle were: Hon. Ladi Adebutu, who represents Remo North, Sagamu and Ikenne Constituencies at the House of Representatives; Senator Buruji Kashamu, who represents Ogun East District at the Senate; and Bankole, who hails from Ogun Central.
The implication is that multiple chairmen and other officers emerged. Bayo Dayo was re-elected for the second term in the congress conducted at the party secretariat, Oke-Mosan, Abeokuta, the state capital, by the Kashamu group, while Sikirulai Ogundele emerged Chairman in the Adebutu camp. The congress that produced Ogundele as the Chairman was conducted at the auditorium of the Olusegun Obasanjo Presidential Library (OOPL), Abeokuta. The Bankole faction had its congress at the Centennary Hall, Ake, Abeokuta, with Wale Egunleti emerging as the Chairman and Hon. Tolu Fatoki the Secretary.
According to observers, the precursor to the parallel congresses is to be found in the emerging clash of interests towards the 2019 general elections, which is three years away.
The Adebutu and the Bankole camp are not happy with the way and manner Kashamu is trying to take over the structures of the party. The senator emerged as the major financier of the party in 2011 when he took the structures from Daniel. Since the 2011 debacle, he has been determining – almost singlehandedly — who gets the PDP’s tickets for various elective offices, to the detriment of the party electorally.
In the opinion of these camps, Kashamu appeared to be succeeding in his unilateral moves. Their argument is that, if they did not rise up now to challenge the ‘one-man-takes-all’ style of Kashamu, the electoral fortune of the chapter may dim the hope of capturing the state from the APC in 2019.
Fatoki, the Secretary of the faction loyal to Bankole, said divergent interests were fuelling the internal rancour in the Ogun PDP. He noted that his camp obtained its nomination forms on which congresses were conducted from the national body in Abuja and that the crises are the handiwork of contending interests over the 2019 general elections. He said: “It is about interests; some people want to use their interest to overshadow that of the group. So, I do not rule out 2019 connection in the internal rancour in Ogun PDP.”
As things stand today, the party is in disarray. No one is sure which group conducted the authentic congress or which set of executives is the authentic one. Each of the factions continues to lay claims to legitimacy and authenticity.
But, as far as the party’s National Congress Committee Chairman for Ogun State, Mohammed El-Yakub, is concerned, there was no such thing called separate or parallel congresses, let alone parallel executives. He told reporters after the conclusion of the congress of the Kashamu-led faction that the Dayo-led executive is the authentic one.
El-Yakub said based on the party’s constitution and guidelines for the congresses, the accreditation and voting took place at the designated centres approved by the National Working Committee (NWC), with officials of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) observing the exercise.
His words: “I am not aware of any parallel congress in Ogun, because we have designated centres and the congresses my committee monitored took place in those centres. Members of the committee monitored the exercise across the three senatorial districts and it was peaceful and smooth.
“We carried all the members along and asked any intending contestant to approach the party secretariat to obtain forms. We gave everybody a level-playing ground and equal opportunity. What I know is that some people cannot consider themselves as having conducted authentic congress without nomination forms.”
Few days to the congress, an ominous cloud had hovered over the party. Some chieftains had obtained an injunction from the High Court, in Abeokuta, ordering the chapter to put on hold, its planned ward, local, as well as the state congresses. The ex-parte motion for the order was brought before Justice Mobolaji Ojo. The chieftains got among other things, an order restraining the Dayo-led State Executive Committee from conducting or superintending the supervision of all the congresses.
The chieftains, who filed the application, are: Wasiu Sanni, Alhaja Nike Odutola, Mr Semiu Babatunde, Semiu Adesanya and Elder Shola Soledolu. The defendants are: the PDP, INEC, Dayo and Semiu Sodipo, who emerged Secretary of the Kashamu group.
According to the applicants, the tenure of the executive had lapsed last February, adding that Dayo lacked the power to conduct any congress or supervise it.
Ogundele, the Chairman of the Adebutu faction, maintained that the officers produced are the authentic ones. The former elected Chairman of Ifo Local Government Council said theirs is the the constitutionally-recognised one and that it emerged to arrest the drift foisted on the party by the Dayo-led executives under the prompting of one man (Kashamu). He faulted congress that produced the Dayo-led executives, saying it was an exercise in futility, because it was founded on illegality.
According to him, they had already gotten a court injunction, restraining the faction from conducting or supervising the congresses.
The Stakeholders Committee was put in place by the party at the expiration of Bayo’s tenure on February 28. The committee, headed by Chief Iyabo Apampa, with Yemi Akinhonmi, Hon. Layi Taiwo, Semiu Babatunde and three others as members, conducted the congress, where Ogundele emerged.
Ogundele also condemned the congress that returned the Dayo describing it as illegal. He said: “I’m saying this confidently that we are the authentic executives of the party in Ogun State. We are also recognised by the zonal (Southwest) body of the PDP. A stakeholder constituted by the party conducted our congress where I emerged chairman and that makes it legal and authentic.
“We are on board to getting the lost glory of the party back. With what is happening in the state today, the PDP is capable of bouncing back to power in Ogun in 2019. After the election, we went back to the drawing board.
“We found out that somebody has sort of commercialised the party and he gives the party tickets to whoever pleases him. We had a situation where two or more candidates got tickets for one elective office during the last general elections. Our members and supporters could not determine who the authentic candidate. This time, we resolved to stand up and challenge such shennanigans. We are the only one recognised by the zonal executives.
“One person or camp cannot continue to disturb the progress of a party through court injunctions obtained at odd hours. The Illegal congress of the Kashamu group was held, so that they would put in place structures to commercialise who gets what, ahead of 2019. They tried it in 2011 and got away with it, because we did not challenge them. But, this is not the case now. We want to do things the right way, so as to return our party to power.”
But, the Publicity Secretary of the Dayo- led executives, Bolaji Adeniji, exonerated Kashamu of any wrongdoing. He said there are no parallel executives in Ogun PDP except dissident groups brought about by the inordinate ambition of certain individuals within the party”.
Adeniji urged Bankole, Adebutu and others to subsume their personal interests in the larger interest of Ogun PDP. He accused the latter of fragmenting the party because of his ambition to govern Ogun in 2019. He added that the federal lawmaker had not effectively demonstrated quality representation of his constitiency since he got to the National Assembly about a year ago.
Adeniji said: “After 2015 general elections, the chapter was united as one. Everybody or group worked for the PDP, except the Bankole group, which chose to align with the APC. I think the architect of the balkanisation is Adebutu, who is nursing an ambition to be governor in 2019. He wants to seize the control of the party to win the ticket; that is why he is balkanising the party.
“Senator Kashamu has been financing the party. He had earlier called on Adebutu and other groups to discuss the sharing formula for the party structure with them. But, they proceeded to do their own thing out of ego and selfish interests. We have been talking to them on the need to swallow their pride and join the mainstream of the party. We will accommodate everybody’s interest. but, we don’t want the ambition of any person to scatter the party again.
“Bankole’s problem is that of ego. We do not know what he wants or what his ambition is. It is indecipherable. They should come down from their high horse and join the mainstream. Our doors are opened for them.”
Dayo, has however, pledged to bring all aggrieved members back to the fold and re-invigorate them for a successful outing in 2019. He described the trio of Bankole, Daniel and Ishola as people who were quite helpful to him and the party. He passionately appealed to them to return to their rightful political home.
Can Ogun PDP be ever united? Or will her parallel congresses and the attendant division end? Fatoki believes that they will settle their differences at the end of the day. But, the Labour Party (LP) believes the PDP has lost its potency and slipped into political irrelevance, because of the inordinate ambition of its leaders.
The Acting Chairman of the LP in Ogun, Arabambi Abayomi said the PDP is in a recession. He is also wondering if it would ever recover again. Arabambi said: “The PDP in Ogun State is faced with imminent destruction, as the party is gleefully sliding into political recession, due to lack of cohesion, absence of leadership capability, incompetence and inept political technique on the part of its leaders.
“The PDP has ceased to be a viable opposition party to the ruling APC, because of the expansionist tendencies, inordinate and crude ambition of its leaders in their bid to control the party structures.”
