The crisis within the Lagos Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) mirrors the current division at the national level. The General Assembly meeting in Lagos was disrupted by youths loyal to the Sen. Ali Modu-Sheriff faction. MUSA ODOSHIMOKHE, who was at the event, reports that the leadership tussle has permeated the states.
At a time the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) is embarking on a fresh reconciliation and observers are saying that there are now prospects of peace; the crisis in the party reared its head in Lagos last week.
The optimism followed last week’s national caucus meeting convened by the Sen. Ahmed Makarfi-led National Caretaker Committee and attended by members of the Board of Trustees (BoT), state governors and principal members of the National Assembly elected on the party’s platform, where stakeholders agreed to hold a fresh convention in Port Harcourt, the Rivers State capital, on August 17, to elect new national executives.
But, the fracas that took place during the Lagos General Assembly meeting last Wednesday suggests that there is a deep rancour between the Makarfi-led faction and the one led by the out-of-favour National Chairman, Sen. Ali Modu-Sheriff. Right from the beginning of the meeting, stakeholders conducted themselves in the atmosphere of fear and suspicion.
The meeting was convened to look at the challenges of the party and prepare for future elections in the state. The General Assembly was also expected to take a position on the crisis at the national level; the chapter was to decide its position over who controls the national executive between Makarfi and Sheriff.
As the house moved the motion for the ratification of the efforts of the Makarfi-led National Caretaker Committee to proceed with the task of rebuilding the party, pandemonium was let loose. Though the endorsement eventually scaled through, it process was momentarily disrupted, as some members of the party led by the Lagos West Senatorial candidate during the last general elections, Segun Adewale (a.k.a. Aeroland) stormed the secretariat with youths loyal to Modu-Sherriff. at about 9.30 am.
The youths, who forcefully entered the secretariat at about 9.30am, later engaged supporters of the Makarfi-led faction in a fight. This caused some uproar at the secretariat. The Lagos chapter’s Organising Secretary Taiwo Kuye and two other members sustained machete cut in the process and were later rushed to the hospital.
The meeting later resumed but it was held amidst fear and suspicion. Deputy Chairman Sakirudeen Olabiwonnu was in-charge of the proceedings, because the Chairman, Moshood Salvador, came in late.
Olabiwonnu apologized for the interruption, adding that it caused by divisive elements bent on dividing the party. He added that no individual can kill the collective aspirations of the people and that those who want to hold the party to ransom will be disgraced. He said what was paramount for the party was to take it to greater heights where every member of the party and Nigerians will happy and pray for the party to bounce back to power.
Salvador also assured members that he would work towards bringing peace to the chapter, by providing a level-playing ground for every member. He said: “We will not allow those bent on creating problem to distract us. God will support us to surmount the internal wrangling. What happened today is the height of indiscipline. I have moved across party lines, but have never witnessed this type of distraction. I was in the defunct National Republican Convention (NRC) and the Alliance for Democracy (AD), there was never a time a member had the effrontery to take the party to court.
“It is in our constitution that you must solve the problem within; and, if you remember, our founding fathers used to say anything that happened in the PDP is a family affair. These people are telling us that they are not part of the family. For any person to come and try to put commotion into what we do or cultivate court cases against any member, shows that the person is not normal.”
Commenting on the uproar, an aide to Adewale, Mr. Tosin Odunsi, said they were not in the secretariat to fight anybody, but to restate that due process must be followed. He said: “Adewale is the popular party chairman in the state. He has been supporting the party all the way, to make the party great. But, what we are saying is that we want change in leadership, because those who have been leading the Lagos chapter have not won any election in the last 16 years.
“The Bode George group wants to be using the Lagos secretariat, but we said no, there are court cases pending; it is when those cases are trashed out that we will know who should use the secretariat, the Salvador or the Adewale-led executive.”
Observers have attributed the leadership struggle in the PDP as a payback time for the party, saying Nigerians suffered under the party’s watch when it was in control. Buttressing this position, Ondo State All Progressives Congress (APC) governorship aspirant, Dr. Olusegun Abraham, said the party is the architect of its own nemesis. He explained that it is God’s hand at work, because the party mismanaged the commonwealth of the people.
Abraham said the way the PDP led Nigeria in its 16 years at the helms brought the country into the kind of mess it has found itself today. He said: “If the PDP is in crisis today, it is because the party has been thrown out of its avarice and gluttonous tendencies. That is what has replicated itself in Ondo; the government is beating its chest that it has provided service; whereas my people are suffering, civil servants are being owed and agriculture which used to a major contributor to the nation’s wealth has fallen from the pinnacle.”
Former PDP Deputy National Chairman, Chief Olabode George, has consistently appealed to those in court to align with the principles of the founding fathers. He urged those in court to have a rethink in order to move the party forward. He said: “All we are looking for is the solution to move the party forward. I passionately appeal to Sherriff and others to withdraw their cases from the court, if they are truly committed to the progress of the PDP. I am also appealing to those in the Southwest to remember that posterity will not judge them rightly, if they fail to do what is right.
“We have to re-strategise in a manner that will take care of the fact that we are not in government. Our strategy must reflect the fact that we are in opposition and we must be a credible, formidable opposition. Otherwise, the public will not believe us; they won’t trust us.
“What Sherriff does not understand is that the PDP is not the defunct All Nigerian People Party (ANPP). The PDP is a formidable grassroots political party and we have an incredible resilience. Of course, it is affecting our focus, because of the court injunctions; political parties are not run that way.
“I want to say also that we should take part of the blame, because when this judicial rascality came into the party, there is a section in the party’s constitution that forbids any individual from going to court without exhausting all the avenues within the party.”
But, the Deputy National Chairman of the Modu-Sherriff faction, Cairo Ujuogboh, said the faction is ready to end the crisis on the condition that it is allowed to hold a fresh national convention and handover to a democratically-elected national chairman.
He said: “As far as I am concerned, Ali Modu-Sheriff is ready to step down, but he does want to be disgraced. He must be given the opportunity to sit at a convention where he will hand over the affairs of the party properly. This is what we have told the governors; what is fair is fair. Sherriff did not say he wants to continue to be chairman. What he said is that he wants to handover to a democratically-elected chairman.
“As far as the law is concerned, Sherriff is still the PDP chairman today, but he is ready to convene a convention to handover. The crisis rocking the party is because of 2019.”
The crisis has taken its tolls on the governorship election coming up in Edo and Ondo states. No sooner the Makarfi-led committee endorsed Pastor Osagie Ize-Iyamu as the candidate of the party for the Edo September election, than the Sherriff group declared it illegal.
Sherriff went ahead to produce Matthew Iduoreyekemwen as the party flag bearer. The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has however recognised Pastor Ize-Iyamu as authentic candidate of the party. The matter is still pending the determination of the court. Reacting on the development, Ojougboh said INEC was yet to communicate to the party and that the matter was under review.
He said: “As we speak today, the order of the Federal High Court in Abuja specifically ordered INEC to accept Iduoreyekemwen’s candidature. As such, the Port Harcourt judgment cannot reverse the specific orders that INEC can only accept candidate for the Edo and Ondo elections from the Sherrif-led PDP.”
Ize-Iyamu said he would not be distracted by the development, adding that his efforts were geared at ensuring that Edo returned to the PDP. He said: “A lot of our members are worried, but quite frankly, I’ m not. I believe it will sort itself out. I know that there is a lot of engagement on-going at the various levels. At the end of the day, the matter will be sorted out.
“To worry about it amount to distraction. I have chosen to focus on the issues here rather than issues I have no control over. I’m happy that the primary we had was witnessed by INEC and they have expressed satisfaction with the transparency of the process.”
Since the emergence of Modu-Sheriff as the party’s helmsman, the opposition party had been thrown into chaos; rendering it incapable of playing its role effectively. From all indications, the party is making frantic efforts to put its house in order. Sen. Makarfi told reporters after last Thursday’s meeting that the party would amend its constitution to address some of the reasons why a Federal High Court, sitting in Abuja, nullified the last amendment done by the party.
He said: “We discussed some programmes leading to the convention, meaning that the national convention will hold on Aug. 17 in Port Harcourt, where we will elect new national executive officers of the party. We have also discussed and agreed on a new amendment to the constitution in view of recent court judgments in order to align the constitution to the judgments that have been delivered by court of competent jurisdiction.”
Makarfi said the committee’s reconciliation process is yielding positive result, as evidenced by the presence of Sen. Buruji Kashamu, a close ally of Sheriff. His words: “You can see for yourself, our brother, friend and associate, Sen. Buruji Kashamu; that is evidence of the reconciliation making progress. I can assure you that we will never foreclose full reconciliation with the disputed National Chairman, Sen. Ali Modu Sheriff and another person that may still be associated with him.
“What we want is an all inclusive PDP; with an equitable, fair and just system. We have equally set up a special committee led by the Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu, to further cement the reconciliation going on in the Southwest, so that all issues that must have led to the division in the region would be resolved accordingly.”
But, how far can the PDP go with the current reconciliation effort?
