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Tag: crisis

  • PDP crisis: Sheriff discontinues appeal at Supreme Court

    PDP crisis: Sheriff discontinues appeal at Supreme Court

    The National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Ali Modu Sheriff, has indicated his party’s decision to discontinue its appeal at Supreme Court against the judgment of the Court of Appeal, Port-Harcourt division delivered on February 17, 2017.

    In the judgment, the Appeal Court upheld the Sheriff-led executive of the PDP as its actual leadership body.

    Sheriff’s decision to withdraw the appeal, marked: SC.133/2017, believed to have been filed on February 27, 2017 the Ahmed Makarfi-led caretaker committee, against the February 17 judgment, is contained in a motion he filed before the Supreme Court on March 16, 2017.

    The motion for discontinuance was preceded by a “Form 19” jointly endorsed on March 15, 2017 by Sheriff, Bashir Maidugu (Acting National Legal Avdiser) and Prof Wale Oladipo (National Secretary, PBP).

    The form was also endorsed in respect of the appeal marked: SC/133/2017, with the PDP as appellant. It states: “take notice that the appellant herein intends and doth hereby wholly withdraws its appeal against all the respondents in the above-mentioned appeal.”

    Respondents in the appeal are Sheriff and Prof Oladipo (sued as representatives of PDP’s National Executive Committee and National Working Committee removed at the National Convention held in Port-Harcourt on May 21, 2016), the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) the Inspector General of Police (IGP) and State Security Service (SSS).

    Sheriff and  Prof  Oladipo argued in the motion for discontinuance that no ground of law supported the appeal.

    They argued that by virtue of the February 17 judgment by the Appeal Court, Makarfi and other members of his committee could no longer take decisions for th party, an as such were incompetent to institute any legal process in the party’s name.

    They said: “More importantly, however, the persons, who have instigated the filing of the appeal and instructed lawyers to act for the appellant (namely Senator Ahmed Makarfi, Senator Ben Obi, and Mr. Dayo Adeyeye, who continue  to style and parade themselves as the ‘National Caretaker Committee of the Peoples Democratic Party’)  do not have the authority or power to do so.

    “Senator Ahmed Makarfi, Senator Ben Obi and Mr. Adeyeye, who seek to hide behind corporate veil of the PDP are, in fact, doing so in furtherance of disregard of the judgment of the lower court, which clearly amounts to exposing the administration of justice to disrepute and public odium as evidenced by their utterances against the Justices of the lower court after the delivery of the judgment of the lower court.

    “The corporate personality of the appellant can only be invoked by its legal alter ego, vide the National Working Committee/National Executive Committee of the Peoples Democratic Party, consisting of the first and second respondents (Sheriff and Oladipo)  and other officers represented by them, not Senators Ahmed Makarfi, Senator Ben Obi, and Mr. Adeyeye who are not officers of the appellant (the PDP) at all, as confirmed by the judgment of the lower court,” they said.

    Oladipo stated, in a supporting affidavit, that a letter has been written  to Chief Wole Olanipekun (SAN), to stop acting as counsel for the PDP. He added that the duo of Lateef Fagbemi (SAN) and Dr. Alex Iziyon (SAN) has been appointed in his (Olanipekun’s) place.

    Oladipo said: “The appropriate alter ego of the appellant and its moving minds (as authorised by the Constitution of the party and confirmed by the judgment and express order of the lower court, which required that parties revert to status quo as at the May 27, 2016, have now directed that a notice of discontinuance of this appeal be filed and instructed Prince Lateef Fagbemi (SAN) and Dr. Alex Iziyon (SAN) to act as counsel for the appellant (PDP) to effect the will of the appellant as expressed in the said notice of discontinuance.

  • A river in crisis

    A river in crisis

    Title: The River Gone Dry
    Author: Toun Olaoye
    Page: 346
    Publisher: Clean Slate Books, Ibadan
    Reviewer: Daniel Adeleye

    When biblical King Solomon said God has pointed times and seasons, the events of our lives, the happy and the sad, the easy and the difficult; the wealthy king must have gone through insurmountable hurdles in the face of the earth. Maybe this is what Toun Olaoye, a promising young writer, was trying to replicate in her debut novel, The River Gone Dry.

    Written in a first person narrative technique, Kunle, the last child in the family of six children, three boys and three girls, of poor but diligent parents in a small village, Ruwa, on the southern bank of the Long River in the middlebelt of Nigeria.

    The author surveys the novel with the theme of love, politics, disappointment, heartbreak, hope, service of humanity to one’s community and invisible line separating the rich class and the poor class, in the case of City-State and Ruwa. The novel also depicts the suffering and hurdles parents can encounter when giving the legacy of education to their children, which may be circumspect with both positive and negative experiences.

    The narrator, Kunle, revealed the vivid account of his parents’ background and their professions. His father, Kawu, who was born in Lagos, captivated by Ruwa, a small but thriving town worked with Nigerian Railway Corporation. His mother, Keke, who had her origin from Ikirun, got married to Kawu, when she was 23 years old and delved into a petty trading to lend a helping hand to her husband when they started raising children. Although both Kawu and keke did not have formal education they did much in spacing their children with four years.

    Ibidapo’s absence created a large gap in the family, a space that was left wide opened to the end of the novel.

    Kunle narrates his academic life since elementary school at Ruwa up to the time he went to the university of Ibadan where he was admitted to study Medicine.

    The novel noted the culture of not furthering education in many parts of Nigeria, and many promising young children who end up being school dropouts.

    Despite Kawu’s sermon during Ruwa’s annual festival, that parents should strive to give their children legacy of good education, only 10 of Kunle’s classmates indicated interest in secondary school education, one of them was Bayo, Kunle’s friend.

    In the novel, Olaoye exposed how children in Ruwa village, like every other African community engaged in child hawking before and after school hours to raise money for their school financial bills. Besides, the author cast the mind of the readers on how young girls who are supposed to acquire quality education and become important personalities in the society, married off without finishing even elementary school. An example of this can be seen when, Aduke, who wrestled first position from Kunle in elementary school, suddenly married Baba Gudu-Gudu. Aduke was brilliant and had determined to pursue education to a landmark, but her dream became shattered due to poverty and other factors mentioned in the narrative.

    Although the book was set during Nigeria’s second republic, the time when the country was picking its pieces from the military rule that terminated democratic government in 1966, the issue of school dropouts was then very critical. Many young people found it extremely difficult to continue in their education for the issue that might be unconnected with poverty that stared everybody in the face.

    The writer blamed the hardship on the politicians who came to people with sugar coated mouth to get votes from people and abandon them to their fate after election.

    “Good people of Ruwa, you’re all aware that elections are drawing near, we have come to seek your support. Our opponents have nothing to offer you but misery. If you give us your votes, we’ll turn this place around. Your children will attend the best of schools, dusty roads will be expanded and wear tar and we’ll establish more industries,” (page 106).

    The above excerpts are part of promises from the politicians and many of them remain mere promises from one political dispensation to another.

    The author rightly observed this in the novel, when those made to the people of Ruwa became only ‘beer parlor’ promises, none of them was fulfilled until military toppled democratic election in December. And this has dampened the spirits of the people of the community. They were disappointed, especially Kawu, who was used by the politicians as their campaign mobilize and was dumped after the election.

    Kunle, who enjoyed absolute freedom for the first time, when he gained admission into the university, gave account of his life in the university. ‘He makes friends and plays hard.’

    During his fifth year in the university, Kunle met a beautiful young lady, Shade, who was studying Public Administration. The duo have very interesting relationship until, after the two lovers visited Kunle’s parents at Ruwa and things began to go awry between them. Shade started acting strange and avoiding Kunle like he had contagious disease. Less than a week after a visit to Ruwa, the relationship ended with Shade giving an excuse that, ‘she wanted to concentrate more on her studies’. This decision of Shade forms part of the bitter experience and heartbreak encountered by Kunle.

    After the breakup, Kunle met Yemi, who was also his course mate. Through her, Kunle met Efe, Yemi’s prospective sister-in-law who was in the Law school. Kunle and Efe started a new chapter of courtship that lasted for six years before they tied the knot. The journey of courtship between the two young people was characterized with distraction, misunderstanding and jealousy. The climax of this was when Kunle rebuffed everyone’s advice not to work at Ruwa. Kunle had prepared to set up a Clinic in Ruwa, a local community where Efe found it difficult to settle down. She wanted two of them to settle in Lagos, where she was living with her retired civil servant parents.

    The novel also depicts the theme of community development, when Kunle shifted his service to Ruwa to serve his people, to fulfill his childhood promise. He was unperturbed by the fierce pressure from Efe and Kawu, and was able to stay for a period of about one year to lend his own quota of contribution before moving to Ibadan for a job of residency in the teaching hospital.

    It’s also highly commendable the writer’s efforts to showcase the true purpose of the mandatory one year primary assignment of National Youth Service Corps (NYSC). The purpose of which was to entrench love and mutual interaction with people and community of the primary assignment. Kunle demonstrated this when he was posted to Kaduna State, where he met a boy, Yaro, a vulnerable and orphan. Kunle brought him closer and that imparted the boy to start thinking positively and dreaming of becoming a medical doctor someday. This equally resonated community development that Olaoye explored in the book.

    The language is simple but adorned in cultural diction.

     

  • Buhari saved Nigeria from crisis, says IPAC

    The Inter-Party Advisory Council of Nigeria, (IPAC) has commended President Muhammdu Buhari for handing over power to Vice President, Yemi Osibanjo (SAN), to act on his behalf when he was on medical vacation abroad.

    The decision, IPAC said, saved the nation from avoidable constitutional crisis, unlike in the past.

    National Chairman of IPAC, Hon. Muhammad Nalado, gave the commendation at a meeting with political leader, in Abuja.

    Nalado urged Nigerians to continue to pray for the speedy recovery of President Muhammadu Buhari adding that as human everyone is prone to sickness and require medical attention.

    IPAC, he said, met to review its activities in a bid to deepen and strengthen democracy.

    The umbrella body of all registered political party also called on the Constitutional and Electoral Committee to work assiduously with the National Assembly to ensure effective and prompt amendments to the 2010 Electoral Act before the 2019 general elections.

    His words: “We are all prone to sickness and we require medical attention and devein intervention to be restored to health. May the Almighty God remove and expose all those things that threaten lives in our communities, in our states, and in our country.

    “IPAC commend President Muhammadu Buhari for properly handing over to Vice President, Professor, Yemi Osibanjo, SAN to act on his behalf which has saved the nation from avoidable constitutional crisis as obtainable in the past. This is democracy in action that should be emulated by all public office holders.

  • Makarfi slams Dickson’s proposal on PDP crisis

    Makarfi slams Dickson’s proposal on PDP crisis

    Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Caretaker Committee Senator Ahmed Makarfi, has criricised as “selfish” Bayelsa State Governor Seriake Dickson’s proposal on the party’s crisis.

    According to him, the governor took a unilateral decision against the unanimous proposal drafted at a meeting of 11 PDP governors with former President Goodluck Jonathan.

    He said Dickson’s proposal, submitted to court-backed chairman Senator Ali Modu Sheriff, is a mischievous act that does not bode well for the party.

    The former Kaduna State Governor spoke in Kaduna at the weekend when he visited the secretariat of the State Correspondents Chapel of NUJ, which was gutted by fire last week.

    The former Kaduna State Governor said: “Just a week before Governor Dickson submitted his report to Modu Sheriff, the 11 PDP governors including himself; met with former President Goodluck Jonathan and came out with a unanimous proposal on the way out of the crisis in the party. Then, he (Dickson) pulled out and made a proposal, which he presented to Modu Sheriff.

    “Well, for us the issues in the PDP are not just about conducting convention, they are fundamental. How do you go for convention if you don’t address these fundamental issues and achieve reconciliation? You have not talked about the problems, you have not sorted them out and you are more concerned about a committee to organise convention.  That means you will go and do convention while the crisis is still on.

    “Governor Dickson was at the meeting of the governors and the former President where they came out with a unanimous proposal, so, how can he pull himself out a week after and make his own proposal? If he had anything contrary to what they agreed on, why didn’t he suggest it at that meeting? It didn’t make sense. Of 11 governors, you pulled yourself out and you made a separate proposal and presented to Modu Sheriff.

    “The proposal by the former President and the 11 governors was presented to us, to the BOT Chairman and to Modu Sheriff. If anything is going to change, they should go back to former President Jonathan and the other governors to discuss and review the responses from us, from BOT, from Modu Sheriff.

    “But, he spoke with me informally and said he was bringing his proposal, which I never saw. He called the former President and they were to meet on Wednesday, then he also called the BOT Chairman, who gave him appointment for Wednesday, only for him to go and submit his proposal to Modu Sheriff to go ahead and conduct the convention. And that is what Sheriff has been looking for. Now, he got somebody asking him to go ahead and conduct convention.

    “So, what is Governor Dickson up to? I don’t know, but it is definitely an agenda not good for the PDP. His proposal is even a breach of the Court of Appeal judgment, because he is suggesting going for convention in June. Court of Appeal said you cannot hold convention until August this year based on the tenure it recognised”, he explained.

    Makarfi said, even the Sheriff group is not complying with the Court of Appeal judgment, as he (Sheriff) is still parading himself around with party officials he single-handedly appointed after the 21st May, 2016, when the court ordered that the status quo before 21st May should be reverted to.

    He however said the way out of the PDP crisis was for all national officials to resign their positions, sign indemnity not to contest such resignation in court, then form a committee, consisting of members from his and Sheriff’s groups to organise a transparent convention, where there would be a level playing field for all the groups.

    He said the PDP despite its crisis has perfected its strategies, which he said they are keeping to their hearts, ahead of the gubernatorial elections in Ekiti, Anambra and Osun later in the year.

  • Housing crisis

    •Deficit of 17m units is an emergency 

    It is surely no exaggeration to say that Nigeria today confronts a housing crisis, which can only be aptly described as an emergency. The inability of any country to provide adequate, affordable and decent shelter for the vast majority of its population is a key defining feature of its poverty level. Without reasonably comfortable shelter, individuals and families especially are reduced to an existence that is clearly dehumanising and subhuman.

    Homelessness negatively affects the psyches of those who are its victims, leads to the geometric growth of risky squatter settlements and slums while allowing corrosive social vices as well as crime to fester. Thus, the homeless, who cannot in any case be driven away from the face of the earth, become a deadly menace to the rest of society.

    Among the greatest dangers of inadequate shelter in any population are the health hazards, which threaten the very survival of whole communities. As large numbers of people are forced to crowd into squalid settlements and unsanitary slums characterised by open sewages, refuse dumps and lack of water, for example, mosquitoes and rats breed exponentially leading to threats of such deadly diseases as malaria, diarrhoea and Lassa fever. This results in high child and maternal mortality rates putting additional pressure on already overstretched health facilities and personnel. Furthermore, the scarce resources, which ought to be channelled to positive developmental purposes, have to be diverted to combat the consequences of rampant deviant behaviour, including crime control as well as containing drug abuse and AIDS.

    Against this background, we applaud the recent decision of the Federal Government to abolish the initial payment of 10 per cent equity for mortgages below N5 million. The Minister of State for Power, Works and Housing, Mr. Mustapha Shehuri, who announced this while inaugurating a 125-unit housing estate that was financed by the Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria and developed by Messrs LCK Projects Nigeria Limited in Enugu, said this was part of efforts to ensure the provision of affordable houses to Nigerians, especially low income earners. Even if this is a modest start, it shows a commendable determination on the part of government to confront this menace headlong.

    The Minister of State further stated that in view of Nigeria’s acute housing deficit, the government plans to build mass houses in every state for public workers and other interested parties over the next three years through the Public-Private-Partnership model. This no doubt reinforces the promise last year by the Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Mr. Babatunde Raji Fashola (SAN), that the Federal Government plans to spend N10 billion on low income housing estates in each of the states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT). While we acknowledge that this may be a tall order given the country’s current inclement fiscal position, it is still better that government has a definite spending target on the delivery of affordable houses rather than having no plan at all. This aim should also spur the relevant authorities to put on their thinking caps as regards other sources of revenue for housing development as it is obvious that government cannot bear the burden alone.

    It goes without saying that the country’s current housing deficit put at approximately 17 million units did not spring up overnight. Rather, it is one of the consequences of our lack of a rigorous and scientific planning culture predicated on reliable data. This problem is worsened by the absence of accurate population census figures that would have enabled the country project ahead for housing needs based on estimated annual rate of population growth.

    Going forward, it is critical that the housing authorities seriously begin to research towards new construction methods as well as rethink construction materials to drastically reduce costs, particularly by stemming the current unhealthy and unsustainable reliance on cement.

  • PDP crisis: How far can Jonathan’s intervention go?

    PDP crisis: How far can Jonathan’s intervention go?

    Former President Goodluck Jonathan’s decision to help resolve the leadership crisis in the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has raised fresh hopes, but recent reactions of some stakeholders suggest the new moves may not go far, reports Assistant Editor, Dare Odufowokan 

    Following his defeat at the last presidential election, former President Goodluck Jonathan has not been very visible within his party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). Instead, he had kept a dignified silence over the affairs of the opposition party. Even as the party meandered from one leadership crisis to another, the former President, rather than interfere publicly, reportedly chose to watch as things unfold.

    It would be recalled that Jonathan, shortly after leaving Aso Rock in May 2015, had announced to members of the PDP in particular and Nigerians in general, that he was taking a sabbatical from party politics. And for nearly two years, it appeared that the former President, with his silence and inaction over the crisis within his party, was still enjoying his sabbatical.

    While his silence lasted, many members of the party opined that the party was suffering from Jonathan’s decision to watch while things go wrong. According to this school of thought, as the last President elected on the platform of the troubled party, the Bayelsa State-born politician is still the leader of the opposition PDP.

    Consequently, much was expected from him by many people within and outside the party in the resolution of the crisis that is threatening to force the PDP into extinction barely two years after it left government at the centre. Many people called out to the former President to end his self-imposed political leave and do something about the crisis in his party.

    Engineer Deji Doherty, a former Acting National Vice Chairman of the PDP in the South-West, while speaking on how best the PDP crisis can be resolved, urged Jonathan to break his silence and intervene as the leader of the party. The former governorship aspirant in Lagos State said those struggling to resolve the problems in the party today cannot do as much as the former President will do to bring peace to the PDP.

    “I have said this before and I want to say it again, the major problem with PDP today is that the leader is quiet. I have been talking to a lot of people. I believe the problem is not only about Ali Modu Sheriff and Ahmed Makarfi. It is a rooted problem in the PDP, whereby you have leaders, who think about themselves and nobody else.

    It is because we don’t have leaders, who are selfless in creating a democratic system within the party. You have leaders who want boys who will always do their bids. Dr. Goodluck Jonathan, the last president we had is the leader of the party no matter what anyone thinks. Governors are aspirants, who evolved through the party. They are members of the National Executive Committee (NEC) of the party, so their voice must be heard, but they do not have to say that they are leaders of the party at the national level,” he said.

    And the man spoke

    But a couple of weeks back, Jonathan broke his silence and offered to help resolve the problem within the troubled PDP, provided the warring factions are ready to give peace a chance in the interest of the party. Not only did he host the various factional leaders of the party, the former President offered to midwife a political solution to the lingering crisis.

    Jonathan, who reiterated his readiness to remain active politically on the platform of the opposition PDP, said it is time for the party to put behind it the many problems bedeviling it and prepare to return to its winning ways. The former President said he is now ready to intervene in the crisis and help find a political solution to it.

    True to his words, he quickly met separately with the Senator Ahmed Makarfi-led Caretaker Committee and Senator Modu Sheriff leadership of the troubled party, as well as members of the Board of Trustees (BoT), led by Senator Walid Jibrin. At all the meetings, the former President canvassed for a political solution to the crisis.

    The ex-President also met with State governors elected on the platform of the PDP at his office in Maitama, Abuja, as part of efforts to resolve the issues holding the party back. Governors of Ekiti, Akwa Ibom, Delta, Taraba, Cross Rivers, Abia, Ebonyi, Gombe and Bayelsa states were in attendance while Rivers State was represented by the deputy governor.

    At the end of the meeting between the former President and the PDP governors,,  which lasted for about five hours, the Chairman of the PDP Governors’ Forum and Governor of Ekiti State, Ayo Fayose, announced that as a result of Jonathan’s intervention in the crisis, they have resolved to pursue a political solution to end the crisis.

    Fayose said: “It is my pleasure to tell you that we are here at the instance of the former president. He is genuinely concerned by what is going on in the party. And he thought that an interactive session with the governors will go a long way to dousing tension. “We want to assure all our supporters that we believe in this party, we believe in the success of this party.”

    A source also told The Nation, that “It was gathered that Jonathan, while discussing with the various stakeholders, had stressed that the easiest way out of the melee is for the party to organize a national convention where a new leadership will be elected for the party as soon as possible. And in line with this, he has been urging the two factions to be ready to willingly leave office soon.

    “He made it clear that rather than for the party to continue in unending litigations, it is better that the two factional leaderships give way for a new executive committee that will emerge at a unity convention to be held as soon as possible. He made it clear that the two factional leaderships will have to give way for peace to reign in PDP.”

    Not a few persons have praised the former President’s intervention in the crisis, with many believing that an end is in sight to the unending rancor that has held PDP by its jugular since 2015. To many, chieftains in the two factions should be too willing to cooperate with Jonathan and the governors in their bid to resolve the lingering crisis.

    A member of the Lagos State House of Assembly, representing Ojo Constituency, Hon. Victor Akande, who is a chieftain of the PDP, submitted that Jonathan’s timely intervention is exactly what the party needs as it prepares to give the ruling APC a run for its money at the 2019 general elections across the country.

    ”We thank ex-President Jonathan for this political solution. I am happy he heeded our call. Any PDP leader that claims to love the party will toe the line of peace. We should go for truce and no longer court. If our leaders have the interest of the party at heart, they should look forward to resolving crisis. Everyone should sit down and discuss. Jonathan should find the lasting solution to the party’s problems, he can do it,” he said.

    Fresh uncertainties

    But few days after the President’s swift moves appeared to be yielding positive results, questions about how far he can go to restore PDP to peaceful ways are popping up. This is due to some indications that the two factions may still find it difficult to work together to achieve the unity convention proposed by ex-President Jonathan.

    Signs that Jonathan may have to do more than he has done if he intends to pull through his peace mission emerged after the Governor Seriake Dickson-led Reconciliation Committee of the party, submitted its report to the leaderships of the two warring factions, with the preposition that a national unity convention should hold on the 30th of June, 2017.

    “The Convention Committee shall be responsible for the conduct of the elections to all national offices for the party, including the zoning of such offices. That as part of the sacrifice to be made in order to reposition the party, the Committee is of the view that all national officers who may claim that their tenure still subsists beyond the proposed convention are hereby requested to relinquish their claim in the interest of the party.

    “For the purpose of the convention, all officers, elected at the ward, local, state and zonal levels before the first Port-Harcourt convention of 21st May of 2016, are deemed validly elected except for the election held in some states that were declared by NEC as inconclusive,” Dickson had stated while explaining the contents of the report.

    Sadly for the embattled party, Sheriff and Makarfi have disagreed over the report. While Sheriff accepted the recommendations of the committee, though he said his faction will study it and make amendments where necessary, Makarfi rejected it, describing the report as a breach of the February 17 Appeal Court judgement, which reinstated Sheriff as the party’s National Chairman.

    And while the Sherif faction mandated its National Organising Secretary, Okey Nnadozie, to begin preparation towards the proposed convention, indications emerged that the Makarfi faction may be toying with the idea of boycotting the convention. And public comments by the chieftains of the two factions have only widened the gap in the past few days.

    Makarfi in a statement, during the week, stated that his faction’s National Caretaker Committee disagreed with the recommendations. He said: “I am shocked and disappointed that the Governor of Bayelsa made public presentation of a purported report approved or endorsed by us and other stakeholders as reported.

    “The committee did not see any draft report, although Dickson promised to come with it. In any case, as personal advice I referred him to the organs of the party and the Goodluck Committee. Neither Senator Makarfi nor the Caretaker Committee has given or accepted any terms to or from anybody,” the statement added.

    With these developments, not a few persons, within and outside the troubled party, are once again worried about what will become of the ongoing effort to save the opposition party from its self-inflicted crisis. And the question on most lips is whether the efforts of former President Jonathan will prove efficient enough to end the lingering leadership crisis.

  • PDP’s crisis: Who’s to blame?

    SIR: As the crisis in the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) continues to dominate national discourse, it is useful   to put former President Olusegun Obasanjo’s recent prognosis in perspective. Obasanjo was quoted as praying:  ”May the fortune of Nigeria not collapse like the PDP.”

    The question begging for an answer is:  Who are the dramatis personae responsible for the disgraceful eclipse of PDP? This ponderous question is what PDP has avoided for so long, and instead has chosen to blame every tangential link to the party’s misfortune.

    It is rather strange that nobody in the party has been courageous enough to see Governor Fayose and Governor Wike as major spoilers in the PDP’s conundrum. The governors have been playing Russian roulette with the party in a manner that stupefies dispassionate political observers.

    It was the two governors that magisterially sponsored the recruitment of Sheriff as the chairman, hoping Sheriff would remain a puppet ad infinitum; but when Sheriff proved to be his own man, the governors resorted to a new manoeuvre called Caretaker Committee, an anathema to the constitution of the party.

    Now the same governors are frustrating the innocuous attempt of former President Jonathan to wade in through political dialogue. They have railroaded the caretaker committee to zero in on the legal option.

    The governors’ umbrage against   Sheriff’s faction has to with the latter’s alleged romance with the governing party. This, the committee has made a political capital, without any modicum of evidence.

    Has the committee or the governors identified any surreptitious contact between Sheriff and Oyegun ever since this speculation has been making the rounds? Can the party prove beyond reasonable doubt the way the former Trump’s security adviser was indicted for making inappropriate contact with the Russians before the U.S. presidential election?

    These are issues that beg for empirical evidence and not political shenanigans and rabble-rousing.

    For all intents and purposes, Nigerians would begin to take PDP serious the day it disconnects from the comical politics and negative paradigm of these two governors and starts to focus on developmental opposition based on evidence of performance by PDP-controlled states. Lagos was an indisputable model for the All Progressives Congress (APC) opposition platform that unseated PDP.

    Which PDP-controlled state can be used as evidence in governance index to prove the toga of cluelessness of the present federal administration?

     

    • Bukola Ajisola
  • Why Southern Kaduna crisis may not end, by CAN

    Why Southern Kaduna crisis may not end, by CAN

    The Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) has said failure of security agencies to arrest and prosecute culprits of the Southern Kaduna crisis is a reason why the crisis remains endless.

    CAN advised them to wake up to their responsibilities.

    Despite the curfew and presence of security agents in the volatile zone, CAN said the killings remain unabated. It called on its members to continue praying for the permanent restoration of peace.

    CAN President Rev Samson Ayokunle spoke at the just-concluded meeting of the National Executive Committee (NEC) in Abuja.

    His words: “We should organise prayers again and if possible, with fasting, to seek the intervention of God so that this senseless crisis might stop. I think what has encouraged this type of carnage in Southern Kaduna is the inability of the law enforcement agents to apprehend the criminals responsible for it, and if they were apprehended at all, they were not conclusively prosecuted.

    “We have had these days more often than not, the law enforcement agents saying the criminals are “unknown gunmen”. Whose duty is it to know them? Is it not the law enforcement agents?”

    Ayokunle said CAN plans to provide relief materials for victims of the carnage in Southern Kaduna and the Agatu community in Benue State.

    A statement Ayokunle’s media aide, Bayo Oludeji, said: “We are planning to visit Southern Kaduna to distribute relief materials to victims of the massacre. We planned to do this earlier but we couldn’t because we received security report that it was not safe to do so. We would equally visit the Agatu community in Benue State to distribute relief materials.

    “I urge all of us to pray for Muhammadu Buhari. It is our spiritual and legitimate duty as a people of God. We should also pray for the Acting President, Prof Yemi Osinbajo, that God guide him aright.”

  • PDP leadership crisis: Who is behind Sheriff, Makarfi?

    PDP leadership crisis: Who is behind Sheriff, Makarfi?

    Court decisions notwithstanding, members of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) are still divided over the authentic leader of the main opposition party. Assistant Editor, Dare Odufowokan, uncovers the supporters of each of the two contending national chairmen.

    Who is on our side? That seems to be the most important question now engaging the attention of Senator Ali Modu Sheriff and Senator Ahmed Makarfi and their supporters as the two gladiators step up their battle for the leadership of the former ruling party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

    Prominent and not so prominent members of the party in the 36 states are queuing up behind their choice between the two factions.

    The state branches of the party have  also been making their voices heard on whose  side they are although that does not  tell all the story as many of the state branches themselves are divided.

    Despite the Court of Appeal’s decision confirming Sheriff as the rightful National Chairman of the party, state governors, elected on the platform of the party and the Board of Trustees (BoT) of the party, have pitched their tents with Makarfi, who also has the backing of ministers in the Goodluck Jonathan administration.

    However, The Nation gathered that Sheriff is “not without government’s support in  Gombe and  Taraba states,” especially after the Court of Appeal’s verdict.

    The situation is no less delicate in the National Assembly where the majority of the members elected on the platform of the party are supporting Makarfi.

    While the Minority Leader of the House, Hon. Leo Ogor, named Makarfi as the rightful leader of the party, a member from Ogun State, Hon. Adesegun Adekoya, said Sheriff, having won in the court, is the National Chairman of PDP.

    Reacting to reports that the PDP caucus under his leadership is factionalized on account of the crisis in the party, Ogor told The Nation that there is no division within the caucus.

    “Yes, some people are merely seeking attention with the issue you raised. But that is not enough for you to say there is crack in the caucus,” he said in response to a question.

    He added: “What you are seeing should be expected. Whenever there is a new development, some people will always want to seek attention by causing trouble.

    “We are not surprised. What is important is for you to know that the caucus is made up of over a hundred honorable members of the National Assembly elected on the platform of our party, the PDP.

    “The caucus met and took a position. We all agreed that Makarfi is the one in charge of affairs of the PDP and we are with him. So, if we now have a few people raising their voices high against a collective decision of our caucus, it simply means they are against the majority and should not be taken serious. All these people talking about cracks or division should be ignored.”

    Senator Ben Bruce from Bayelsa State is one of the minority members of the National Assembly backing  Sheriff as the legitimate leader of the party.

    “I am supporting Ali Modu Sheriff because it is the only way to preserve the party,” Bruce said.

    “We will work with Ali Modu Sheriff and go to a convention. Right now, PDP is on a course towards destruction and abiding by the judgement of the court is the only thing that can save us.

    “I therefore call for an end to the fighting. And I am supporting Ali Modu Sheriff because it is the only way to preserve the party. Right now, what Nigeria has is a one-party state, there is no opposition. Enough is enough.

    “This is the time for PDP to unite, we are a formidable force.”

    With Makarfi in the Caretaker Committee are Senator Ben Obi, who is the Secretary of the faction, Senator Odion Ugbesia, Senator Abdul Ningi, Barrister Kevin Usman, Prince Dayo Adeyeye and Mrs. Aisha Aliyu.

    Also with him are Ekiti, Ondo, Rivers, Delta, Cross Rivers, Akwa-Ibom, Bayelsa, Enugu, Abia and Ebonyi States chapters.

    This is largely on the strength of the support the faction enjoys from the serving governors of these states.

    The Makarfi faction is also enjoying the support of the party’s Board of Trustees. The chairman of the board, Senator Walid Jibril, has been very consistent in rejecting Sheriff.

    Ex-Senate President Adolphus Wabara, Senator Ahmadu Alli, Inna Ciroma, Bode George and many others are strongly with Makarfi.

    With Sheriff are Dr. Cairo Ojuogbo, who is Deputy Chairman, Professor Wale Oladipo, who is National Secretary, Benard Mikko , Acting National Publicity Secretary, Adewole Adeyanju, Financial Secretary and Dennis Alonge-Niyi, National Youth Leader.

    While the Sheriff faction cannot boast of enjoying the open support of any of the PDP governors, there are indications that it is not without the sympathy of one or two of the state helmsmen, especially after its string of judicial victories.

    “In Gombe and Taraba states, the Sheriff faction is not without government’s support. This is largely because the party in those two states is more open to finding solution to the whole crisis than supporting any of the factions,” a source said.

    Even the BoT is not 100 percent with Makarfi. Former Deputy Senate President, Ibrahim Mantu, leads the pack of BoT who are with Sheriff.

    The rest are Chief Shuaib Oyedokun, Alhaji Mohammed Abba Gana and Senator Chris Anyanwu. The faction is also said to be enjoying the support of some former ministers in the immediate past administration.

    The zones

    The two factions command a sizeable followership in the South-West amongst party chieftains.

    While the party chairmen in five of the six states in the zone recently paid a solidarity visit to Sheriff, most of the notable leaders of the party in the zone prefer to be counted on the side of Makarfi.

    These include Chief Bode George, Chief Ebenezer Babatope, Otunba Gbenga Daniel, Hon. Dimeji Bankole, as well as the only PDP governor in the zone, Ayodele Fayose of Ekiti State.

    Other political bigwigs in the zone supporting the Makarfi faction are Prince Iyiola Omisore, Alhaji Lasisi Oluboyo, Sen. Adesewe Ogunlewe, Jumoke Akinjide, Mulikat Akande, Jumoke Akindele, Alhaji Jelili Adesiyan, Segun Adegoke, Doyin Okupe , Mr. Jimi Agbaje, Engr. Jide Adeniji, Dr. Saka Balogun, Prof Taoheed Adedoja and Engr. Clement Faboyede.

    Also in this category are Elder Joju Fadairo, Akogun Bisi Jinadu, Engr Bashir Awotorebo, Senator Adeseun Ayoade, Barr. Ojo Williams, Barr. Niyi Owolade, Chief Folorunso Akintade, Barr. Gboyega Oguntuwase and Chief Bola Olu-Ojo.

    Factional South-West Zonal Chairman, Chief Makanjuola Ogundipe, and Senator Buruji Kashamu are the commanders of the Sheriff forces in the region.

    The faction, it was learnt, has the support of Shuaib Oyedokun, Barrister Jimoh Ibrahim, Pegba Otemolu, Prince Adekola Razaq, Senator Teslim Folarin. The faction however appears to be in firm control of the party in Ogun and Osun states, while it also boasts of factional members in the other South-West states.

    In the South-East states of Enugu, Abia and Ebonyi, the Makarfi faction is in firm control owing to the support it enjoys from the state governors. But in Anambra and Imo states, where the PDP is not in government, the party is factionalized and divided into camps loyal to the two factions.

    The situation has sparked a mass defection of PDP members to the rival All Progressives Congress (APC) in this zone.

    The scenario in the South-South is not different from what is happening in the South-East.

    The Makarfi faction has the support of the PDP governors of Rivers, Cross Rivers, Akwa Ibom and Bayelsa.

    However, the situation is different in Edo State which is not under the control of the party.

    Here, the PDP is factionalized although the Makarfi faction loyal to Chief Tony Anenih is stronger in the state while the Sheriff faction has its men on the ground too.

    The bad blood generated by the last governorship primaries underlines how badly fragmented the party is in Edo State.

    There appears to be less interest in either of the factional chairmen among members of the party in the North-Central, North-East and North-West.

    Expectedly, the two men enjoy support in their home states (Kaduna for Makarfi and Borno for Sheriff), but beyond that, there seems to be no particular interest for any of the two leaders.

    “Maybe because the two gladiators are from the region, there is no much rancor over who should lead the party here in the North,” a party chieftain told The Nation.

    “Save for a few people who are directly involved, most of us are more interested in seeing the crisis resolved than pitching tents with either of the claimants. Don’t also forget that the party is struggling to win back its support base here in the north,” the source said.

    Hon. Adekoya, who represents Ijebu North/East/Ogun Waterside Federal Constituency in Ogun State, said the decision of the Court of Appeal has provided a lasting solution to the PDP crisis as many of the party’s chieftains have decided to be law abiding in their approach to the issue.

    The legislator, who belongs to the Kashamu faction of the party in Ogun State, said the Makarfi faction should accept the verdict in the interest of the party.

    “You can quote me anywhere, any day: the court has spoken,” he said.

    “Sheriff is the authentic chairman of our party. We are for Sheriff. As a lawmaker, I should not be a lawbreaker. All the people in my constituency, down to the last councillor, are for Sheriff. If you go to Osun State, Hon. Wole Oke is for Sheriff. Go and check in all the states, you will find out that many of us are for Sheriff.”

    But a member of the PDP Board of Trustees, Chief Bode George, disagrees, insisting that Makarfi was duly elected as the chairman of the party’s caretaker committee at a convention called by Sheriff himself. The PDP chieftain said Sheriff ceased to be chairman of the party after the said convention, in line with the rules of the party.

    His words: “Makarfi was duly elected as the caretaker committee chairman. Sheriff became the National Chairman of the party after his predecessor, Adamu Mu’azu.

    “The moment he convened a convention, he ceased to be the chairman. So, Sheriff has ceased to be the chairman by the virtue of that arrangement. This is the problem. I told him privately and publicly to step down.

    “As far as I am concerned, handing back the leadership of the party to Sheriff is a step backwards from repositioning the PDP. The judgment reminds me of the decimation of the old Action Group and that does not portend a good omen for democracy.”

    States not spared

    In Ogun State, there are two factions of the party, each of which supports Makarfi and Sheriff.

    Members of the party loyal to Senator Kashamu are supporters of the Chief Bayo Dayo-led faction. This faction is the more visible than the other.

    Pegba Otemolu, Semiu Shodipo, Fatai Adeyanju, Segun Seriki, Daisi Akitan, and Bowale Solaja among others are other leading lights of the Sheriff faction of the PDP in the state.

    The faction, which occupies the state secretariat of the party in Abeokuta, the state capital, is locked in a battle with the other faction loyal to the Makarfi camp.

    The Makarfi faction in the state is chaired by Sikirulai Ogundele and operates from the secretariat of the party in another part of the city.  It is the faction patronized by Daniel, Adebutu and many other chieftains of the party, including the former Speaker of the House of Representatives, Dimeji Bankole and Tolu Bankole.

    In Ekiti, the party is divided into two factions loyal to Fayose and Makanjuola Ogundipe, the governor and zonal chairman respectively. While the Fayose faction is understandably more visible, owing to government patronage and sentiments, the other faction has remained relentless in its claim to being the authentic leadership of the party in the state, especially so after it was declared the authentic executive council by a high court recently .

    The Fayose faction, which originally started out as a support base for Senator Sheriff as the national chairman of the party, is now loyal to the Makarfi camp at the national level, while the Ogundipe faction remains committed to its initial support for Sheriff. Both Fayose and Ogundipe, alongside their supporters, have engaged in many face-offs since the party became fictionalized in the state.

    In Osun, the Makarfi faction is led by Senator Iyiola Omisore, gubernatorial candidate of the party in the last general election. He has in the camp the likes of the factional chairman of the party, Dr. Bayo Faforiji. The faction is the one operating from the state PDP secretariat located on Osogbo/Gbongan road in the state capital. The faction, according to observers of the party in the state, appears to be the more active.

    The other camp is led by the National Secretary of the Sheriff-led faction of the party, Prof. Wale Oladipo and the factional Chairman of the party in the State, Mr. Soji Adagunodo. Also in this faction are the immediate past Chairman of the party in the state, Alhaji Gani Olaoluwa, as well as Secretary of Adagunodo-led executive, Bola Ajao.

    In Lagos State, the Makarfi faction, led by Bode George, is the more visible but another faction of the party in the state has also been consistent in its claim to authenticity.

    It is obvious that the crisis at the national level is seriously affecting the state chapter as the two factions remain at dagger drawn in the struggle for the soul of the party in the state.

    The Makarfi faction in the state is led by Moshood Salvador while the Sheriff faction has Segun Adewale as its chairman. The two factions, for months, have engaged each other in an unending war of words with no sign of improvement in their relationship. While most of the party bigwigs led by Bode George are with the Salvador group, Adewale appears to be undaunted in his determination to remain in charge.

    Following a bloody clash by the factions at the state secretariat of the party in Ikeja, the premises were sealed off by the police and both factions have been operating from different locations in the city. Adewale has as his secretary, Shina Ladeinde. But the lawmaker representing Ajeromi-Ifelodun Constituency in the National Assembly, Rita Orji, who was elected on the platform of the PDP, while speaking on the matter, said the party has no chairman in the state.

    She said those parading themselves as chairmen of the party are not recognized by the party. She hoped for a quick resolution of the crisis in time for the coming council polls in the state.

    In Imo State, the two factions are being led by former House of Representatives Deputy Speaker, Emeka Ihedioha and former governor, Ikedi Ohakim. The two have been struggling for the soul of the troubled party for years. Consequently, the party is divided into two separate camps, made up of their respective supporters.

    Last year, the factions held parallel congresses and elected two sets of executives in the state.

    In Plateau State, the party has Makarfi and Sheriff factions. The party became fictionalized last year after Sheriff, upon his declaration as the authentic leader of the party by the court, sacked the then executives of the party in the state and inaugurated new ones. Also, while the old executives refused to go and pledged loyalty to the Makarfi faction, the new ones remained in office and are loyal to Sheriff.

  • PDP crisis: I won’t step down, says Sheriff

    PDP crisis: I won’t step down, says Sheriff

    •Party chairman insists on convention

    Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) National Chairman Alhaji All Modu Sheriff has ruled out stepping down as an option in the search for a political solution to the party’s leadership crisis.

    Key stakeholders in the party have been seeking “political solution” without being explicit on details.

    Sheriff was reacting to a media report indicating that former President Goodluck Jonathan had asked him and Caretaker Committee Chairman Senator Ahmed Makarfi to step down and allow the party’s governors to nominate a chairman.

    In a statement yesterday signed on his behalf by his appointed party spokesman, Mr. Bernard Mikko, Sheriff said the issue of resignation did not come up during his meeting with the former President last week.

    The statement said: “The general public, PDP members and the media are hereby informed that the issue of the National Chairman’s resignation as the political solution has never been discussed nor was it put up for discussion with the former President and other stakeholders.

    “The general public, PDP members nationwide and the media are hereby informed that shortly before the Court of Appeal judgement of February 17, 2017; all parties and stakeholders agreed that on the receipt of the Court of Appeal judgement, whichever way it goes, members will be prevailed upon and urged to support the judgement and orders of the Court of Appeal and rally round the successful party to conduct; as soon as possible a national unity convention for the election of officers; the modalities of which shall be worked out by stakeholders of the party.

    “As a law-abiding citizen and advocate of the rule of law, the National Chairman, Senator Ali Modu Sheriff hereby calls on all stakeholders, including but not limited to PDP governors, national and state assembly members, Board of Trustee members, to make themselves available and give their input on how we can, as quickly as possible, conduct a national unity convention where our national officers will be elected. The National Chairman has promised and undertaken not to contest.”

    Efforts by our correspondent to get the reaction of the Makarfi camp did not yield results. Repeated telephone calls and SMS messages to the spokesman of the Caretaker Committee, Prince Dayo Adeyeye, were left unanswered.

    Also yesterday, another reconciliation committee of the party, headed by Bayelsa State Governor Seriake Dickson, met with some party leaders and some PDP National Assembly members in Abuja.

    A statement signed by Dickson after the meeting also harped on the need to find a political solution to the crisis, describing it as the best option.

    The Dickson committee endorsed the resolution reached by Jonathan and the governors, “without prejudice to the ongoing judicial processes”.

    The statement said: “As part of this process, it is imperative that an early convention within the second quarter of 2017 should be held in Abuja, which, therefore, should be all-inclusive and where new national officials of the party will be freely, fairly and transparently elected.

    “In furtherance of this, the reconciliation committee shall embark on extensive consultations with all stakeholders with a view to building confidence and necessary consensus toward the unity convention.

    “The committee, however, appeals to all party leaders and members of PDP to exercise restraint and focus on the loyalty to and the overall interest of the party.”

    Meanwhile, Sheriff yesterday announced Dr. Ahmed Gulak, a former Political Adviser to former President Jonathan as his Chief of Staff, with the appointment taking immediate effect.