Former President Olusegun Obasanjo’s current moves to reconcile the feuding factions of Peoples Democratic Party in Ogun State is his latest effort at reclaiming lost ground within his party and the polity at large, reports Associate Editor, Sam Egburonu
Former President Olusegun Obasanjo, one of Nigeria’s most powerful leaders, has suffered many political misfortunes of late. Both within his party, the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), and the polity at large, these have not been the best of times for the former leader.
For months, the elder statesman tactically denied loss of political influence in his home state, Ogun, and in Abuja. That was before his loyalists in strategic political positions in Abuja and Ogun State lost out in what some have described as the most recent strategic coups within PDP in recent years.
For example, two weeks after the national leadership of the party officially recognised a faction of the party in Ogun State, the secretariat of the party in the state was sealed by the Ogun State Police Command.
The extent of Obasanjo’s loss of favour and the battle to overthrow his leadership became even more pronounced on February 15, 2013, when the party’s National Working Committee formally recognised the state chapter loyal to Buruji Kashamu and led by Adebayo Dayo, instead of the one loyal to Obasanjo, which was under the leadership of Dipo Odunjinrin.
Not ready to give in so easily, the Obasanjo loyalists had fought back, as they were alleged to be behind the prolonged face off that prompted the Ogun State Police Command to seal off the state secretariat of the party for a long time.
It was unthought of but the executors had no intension of hiding their primary purpose: To dislodge the political hold of the retired army general and literarly retire him from the PDP and field partisan politics both in his home state and at the centre. Today, Obasanjo’s current moves confirm his acknowledgement of the development and his decision to reverse the trends in a determined bid to regain lost glories.
His political misfortunes:
In Ogun State, Obasanjo’s political misfortune was at first a top secret, known only by political elders and major players, some of who actually hatched the plot to undo him politically. But it became public knowledge in June, 2012, following the result of a legal battle involving a PDP faction loyal to him and another faction loyal to Buruji Kashamu.
At first, there was a kind of deadlock when the two factions secured different injunctions declaring each of them as the authentic PDP in the state.
This deadlock was, however, resolved to the shock of many when the PDP faction supported by Obasanjo lost its bid to enlist candidates for the impending local government elections then.
An Ogun State High Court sitting in Ilaro had ruled that the PDP faction led by Mr. Dayo has “the vested authority to nominate and submit list of candidates for the forthcoming local government election in the state.”
The presiding high court judge, Mosunmola Dipeolu, also held that section 60 (10) of the PDP constitution, conferred the authority to run the affairs of the state branch of the party onexecutive committee.
She therefore restrained the national headquarters of the party from submitting any other candidates’ list apart from the one submitted by the state executive committee under Dayo.
The judge also dismissed the suit brought before it by the faction loyal to Obasanjo, which sought to compel Ogun State Independence Electoral Commission (OGSIEC) to accept its candidates’ list for the council poll.
It would be recalled that during the controversial primaries for the last governorship election in the state, Adetunji Olurin and Gboyega Isiaka emerged as candidates for former President Olusegun Obasanjo and the then Governor Gbenga Daniel’s factions respectively.
Before the election proper, Isiaka was rejected by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), following a court judgment. He later defected to the Peoples Party of Nigeria (PPN).
In fact, since the run up to the 2011 general election, the party has been battling to harmonise its leadership hierarchy. Three major factions have refused to accept any as the authentic leader. The party and Obasanjo have been worse off for it.
While the Adebayo Dayo and Senator Dipo Odujinrin factional state executive committees fought fiercely in and out of the courtrooms to determine which is the authentic leadership of the party in the state, another faction loyal to former governor Gbenga Daniel worsened the crisis.
At last, the Daniel faction defected to the PPN, but has since shown interest to return to the PDP.
At the national level, Obasanjo’s political influence has also suffered some bashing in recent times, especially within the PDP where he once held sway, first as a very powerful president and leader and later as Chairman of Board of Trustees and grand godfather.
In that position, he easily installed the late President Umaru Yar’Adua as his successor and later President Goodluck Jonathan. He also reportedly positioned his loyalists in strategic positions both in the government and the ruling PDP.
Things, however, changed for the former President, when, according to inside sources, Jonathan heeded the advise of his associates to break loose of Obasanjo’s influence and stand at his feet. This led to removal of some key officials to strengthen Jonathan’s hold on power.
From outside, this development was not clearly noted until Obasanjo started being critical of Jonathan’s government and soon resigned his position as chairman of PDP Board of Trustees (BOT).
The situation worsened around January when a court ordered that a top Obasanjo man, the PDP National Secretary and former governor of Osun State, Prince Olagunsoye Oyinlola, vacate his office because he came in through an alleged illegal congress.
Two other Obasanjo men soon followed in the desperate power game. They are the National Vice Chairman, South-West, Segun Oni and the National Auditor, Chief Bode Mustapha. With their exit, Obasanjo’s influence at the national secretariat of the party has been substantially circumscribed.
Efforts to redeem his fortunes:
Last week, Obasanjo held a crucial reconciliation meeting with some members of PDP in the South-west who had lost out during the internal crisis that rocked the party in the region.
At the meeting, held in his Abeokuta home, were former PDP National Vice Chairman (Southwest), Mr. Segun Oni, Sen Jubril Martins Kuye, a former Minister of State for Finance and Chief Sarafa Ishola, a former Minister of Mines and Steel Development, among others.
An associate of the former president, who pleaded not to be named, said the meeting was just “one of a series of meetings designed to right all the wrongs that have been militating against the PDP both in Ogun State and the South-West in general.”
The source said Obasanjo is no longer ready to watch some over ambitious elements destroy all he and others have laboured to build. “He is out now to recover all the lost grounds in the South-West, starting from Ogun and this must be done before the 2015 elections,” he said.
Kuye had said that much after the Abeokuta meeting, when he told newsmen that the meeting was part of the moves to reposition the party ahead of the 2015 General Elections.
He lamented that the intra-party crises had caused a lot of setbacks to the party in Ogun State, pointing out that the elders are now out to “mend broken fences”, in order to move the party forward.
Kuye said series of such meetings would be held at regular intervals to ensure that the party was united and focused, ahead of the 2015 general elections.
Ishola expressed optimism that the initiative would bring an end to the crisis which had polarised the party and denied it of victory at the 2011 governorship election in the state.
How far the retired general and former President can go in his present assignment remains to seen.
