Sunday Oguntola reports on ongoing efforts to reconcile warring factions of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) by former President Goodluck Jonathan
SINCE it lost power in May 2015, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), once dubbed the biggest and largest party in Africa, has continued to hobble. The party, which triumphantly boasted, it would rule the nation for another 60 years has been reeling from one crisis to the other.
Its biggest headache is clearly the leadership crisis that has seen the party torn into two factions. The Senator Ali Modu Sheriff-led received a massive lifeline on July 28 when a Federal High Court in Abuja declared it the authentic caretaker committee of the party. Justice Okon Abang, who delivered the ruling, sacked the Senator Ahmed Makarfi-led committee, declaring the purported May 21 convention in Port Harcourt that bought it to office was a nullity. Abang ruled: “The Lagos Division made orders on May 12 and 20, forbidding the PDP from removing the Sheriff-led Caretaker Committee. That order is still subsisting. “Having regard to the order of the court, PDP had no lawful authority to hold the convention that led to the emergence of the Makarfi-led Committee. “The convention was unlawfully held and the Caretaker Committee was unlawfully and illegally appointed and could not take any legal decision for the PDP in view of the subsisting order of the Lagos Division of this court. “Consequently, any action taken by the Makarfi-led Committee, including the purported mandate for legal representation in this matter is hereby declared illegal. “If the Makarfi-led Caretaker Committee, as apostles of impunity, missed their way to the Port Harcourt division of this court, that court could not have conveniently assumed jurisdiction to set aside the earlier decision of the Lagos Division. “I hold that the Port Harcourt division of this court cannot make an order to neutralise the potency of the Lagos Division of this court dated 12 and 20 May“. The judgment had thrown spanners into the fragile peace in the party and behind-the-scene reconciliatory efforts by party chieftains. Since then, the retreating Sheriff-committee had become emboldened, firing from all cylinders. It has taken the battle to the rival faction, boasting of being backed by the instruments of the law. With its uncertain and undecided, the PDP has become a shadow of itself. The centre can no longer hold. The party, which governed the nation for 16 years, has suddenly become comatose. Governors elected on the platform of the party have been polarised with some of them with at least one of the factions. This development is making the national convention slated for August 17 in Port-Harcourt another sore point. While the Makarfi-committee backed by most of the governors is angling to host the event, the Modu-Sheriff’s group is calling for its cancellation. Sheriff, in a letter to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) on August 2, asked the electoral body to ignore a letter by its factional colleague, Makarfi, on the proposed convention. Makarfi’s committee, he said, is illegal and lacks powers to convene a national convention. Declaring himself the authentic chairman of the party, Sheriff said he was not planning any national convention since the National Executive Committee (NEC) had not mandated him to do so. Titled Re: Notification of ward congresses and national convention, Sheriff said: “The Senator Ali Modu Sheriff-led PDP is not planning any national convention, as he has not been so authorised by the National Executive Committee of the PDP. “Any person or group of persons planning for an event is doing so as an illegal body and in direct contempt of valid Court Orders. “This letter is to kindly put you on notice to ignore any such notifications by the illegal Makarfi-led Caretaker Committee.”
There are feelers that the convention might hold in Port-Harcourt, further fuelling the crisis in the party. A chieftain of the party from the South-South told our correspondent: “We are determined to hold the convention. We are not bothered by any court ruling or objection.” Asked if holding the convention won’t further escalate the crisis, he said it was an unavoidable downturn. “You see the party is already down but not out. We have to redeem whatever is left of it. We have to do something, start somewhere to restore our glory. We can’t just sit around and watch things further deteriorate. After we have done the convention, we can then what to do. But for now, we must just do something otherwise there might be no umbrella for us to fall back on in the next few months.” Where are party’s elders? A member of the party in Oyo State, Chief Tayo Oladipo, said the party needs elder statesmen to intervene. “What is happening to us is not totally unexpected. It is post-defeat crisis, which is normal even in developed democracies. The worry is we lack elders who can step into the crisis and resolve it. “We need elders to call the feuding parties to a roundtable for a political solution. Both camps are angling for supremacy and in politics, you have to win some and lose some. So, if we have elders who can step in, the situation will change,” he explained. He lamented that elders who should have come out in support of the party are playing the ostrich. “This party delivered for them in the last 16 years. They fed and fed on its net worth. But now, the party is bleeding and they are looking away.
“This is when the party needs them. This is the time to save the party from extinction. They have used the party but unwilling to give back. Now that the party has nothing to offer, they are standing aloof, pretending not to have anything to do with it.” Our correspondent gathered that many stalwarts of the party are refusing to step in to resolve the nagging crises affecting the PDP because of disenchantment and personal grievances. Former President Olusegun Obasanjo falls in this group. These elders felt betrayed with certain practices and personalities in the party, a development which forced them to withdraw their membership. Some others such as former Military President Ibrahim Babangida have resigned from active politics. Those who are still politics such as Adamu Ciroma, Chief Tony Anenih, Dr Alex Ekwueme and Pa Edwin Clark have become physically drained to withstand the rigour of active politics. They also no longer control the grassroots where real power lies in politics. Jonathan to the rescue? This is making some concerned stakeholders in the party to turn to former President Goodluck Jonathan to resolve the crisis. Jonathan, last Wednesday, met with the zonal representatives of the PDP Board of Trustees led by its Chairman, Sen. Walid Jubril, during a courtesy visit.
The move was aimed at seeking political solution to the lingering impasse. Jonathan, on his part, has his grievances against the party too. His close associates believe he was sold out during the last presidential elections by many party leaders. This, it was gathered, was why he stayed away from the party’s crisis. But our correspondent learnt that some elders in PDP have reached out to the former President. They reportedly pleaded with him to overlook whatever happened in the past and save the party in the interest of all. Jonathan, according to sources, agreed to bury the hatchet and work towards the resolution of the crisis. He said that although he had been holding consultations with individuals, he would do more to resolve the crisis. He told the visiting BOT members: “Unfortunately, we have challenges but I think you should not be discouraged. “Challenges are part of life, it comes up in homes, religious places what is important is our ability to resolve them. This should not be beyond us, but I believe that collectively, we can resolve it.
“Any sincere PDP member should know that PDP is superior to any individual and that members have sacrificed their interests for the party. Even the nation expects a more vibrant opposition.” He added: “I have been talking to individuals but not in a way that is exposed to media but I believe I should do more.”
The former president, however, regretted the conflicting court orders on the party’s crisis, saying it was “unfortunate that the Nigerian environment is that way to have conflicting court judgments.” Responding, Jubril said: “It is sad to note that the party has not less than 15 court cases with verdicts given on some and appeal pending.
“We have realised after our meeting, that there was also need for reconciliation and there were committees set for reconciliations and the reconciliations are ongoing.
“We have decided to organise a special reconciliation committee while the process for the convention is going on we want to the reconciliation to go on.
“We want you to come into the reconciliation, we are sure that when you do that, we are going to have a way forward in this matter.
“We have great respect for you in spite of the fact that you have not been appearing in our activities,’’ Jubril said.
He said that the board had also embarked on several programmes and visitation to founding fathers of the party to address the crisis.
Will Jonathan save the PDP? Is the party redeemable? The next few weeks will tell.
