Tag: PDP chairman

The Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Lagos State, Hon. Moshood Salvador, spoke to Musa Odoshimokhe about the internal wrangling in the chapter, lessons from the recent Ifako-Ijaiye by-election, the leadership tussle at the national level and other issues.

What steps are you taking to resolve the crisis within your chapter?
I inherited a lot of problems on assumption of office; most of them are yet to be resolved. This is a bit disturbing, because without peace, proper reconciliation and collective resolve of members to work together, we would only be wasting time. At the same time, this should not distract us from forging ahead. We should be doing what is needed to be done. I can assure you that I have been open to peace. I equally thought that Segun Adewale will call me, so that we will agree on how to move the party forward. We should distance ourselves from the leadership wrangling at the centre, so that we can move our party forward in our own way. The structure of the party is solid; we should harness that to do our work effectively. One thing I have done is to reduce the level of corruption in the chapter. Unlike, what we have in the All Progressives Congress (APC), where you have cases of corruption and other defective issues. Again, what happened at the Ifako/Ijaiye by-election was a pointer to the fact that I discouraged corruption. A party member came with some money and I had to walk him out and warned him not to try such practice with me. The day I took the mantle of leadership of the PDP in Lagos, I gave them my words. There would be discipline in the party and up till today, that has been the watch word.
Why are you not following the path of reconciliation to resolve your factional crisis?
I disagree when they start to talk of factions in the party. I must say that even within the family, there are disagreements between brothers and sisters. If there are disagreements, it is my responsibility to solve it. If someone falls out with you, because your ways are no longer tolerable, that should not be seen as a faction. When you say a political party is factionalised, it means the party has factions with secretariats across the country. That is when we begin to talk of factions. And now few people disagree with their chairman or party and they try to label it as faction. What has happened is only leadership struggle. How can you even be a leader of five per cent of the whole party and call it a faction, when the leader of 95 per cent is there and remain calm?
Is the zoning of the PDP chairmanship to the Southwest still feasible?
We have gone beyond that; nobody can change the arrangement. That should be clear, because all other zones have taken their own share of the offices. So, nobody can struggle that with the Southwest. Again, it is not just the Southwest; the chairmanship position has been zoned to Lagos. In the Southwest, we have six states and have paired states where the offices are zoned. Osun and Oyo go together, Lagos and Ogun go together, and Ekiti and Ondo go together. The Vice National Chairman, Dr. Eddy Olapetan, is from Ondo; therefore, Ondo and Ekiti have been taken care of. The biggest office in the PDP in the last dispensation, the secretary position, was zoned to Osun; therefore, Osun could not take chairmanship again. That was why they considered Ogun and Lagos for the position. Along the line, the only aspirant from Ogun was former Governor Gbenga Daniel, who later declined. That was why it was zoned to Lagos and not that somebody just decided to zone it to Lagos. We had to balance everything to ensure equity.
Do you have confidence in the new Chairman of the PDP Governors’ Forum?
Why are Nigerians shying away from the bitter truth? When somebody says is mind, when someone critically analysis issues, take his own position and is being honest, they now term that as being temperamental. This man has been following the path of peace to the best of his ability. He has been getting results and will use those methods to get result for the PDP.
The Bode George-led leadership has been accused of not winning elections…
Those accusing Bode George are they not under him? Which election has the Ali Modu-Sherriff group won? You should ask him questions. This is not a matter of joke. It was when Bode George was National Vice Chairman of the PDP (Southwest) that the party defeated the Alliance for Democracy (AD) at the governorship election in five states. It was through the political sagacity of Senator Bola Tinubu that the APC was able to get some states back. Chief Bode George is there because he happens to be the highest party official in Lagos State. Therefore, he is the leader of the party. He is a Board of Trustees member; this position gives him quality of leadership and we must queue behind him.
Did you learn any lesson from the recent Ifako/Ijaiye by-election?
This boils down to the arbitrariness in the PDP that we are fighting against. It is the corruption that I have denounced and fighting against. To me, Fatima Mohammed was the one that came for the primary and the ticket for the by-election rightly belongs to her. There was the argument from members that were sent from the national body, that the primary did not take place. But, that is not true; as you are aware, the Lagos PDP chairman is just a representative of the party. He is just an observer and was expected to assist the committee that was sent by the national body to conduct the primary. So, the work of the chairman is so little in this type of election. People don’t understand and they always believe that the chairman has the power to do and undo. The people from Abuja came with their national document; they are the ones that will you what assistance they require and the role you must play. They only ask you to supply them with the list of delegates and they conduct the primary. But, unfortunately after going through the exercise, I never knew there were some funny games in the offing. They went back to tell them in Abuja that no primary took place. I went to Abuja with Fatima Mohammed to Senator Ahmed Makarfi’s house to protest, but it ended that way. They took their decision and they say the candidate had to be the other guy, who did not even come to the venue of the primary. This did not go well with me, because I am not the type of personality who condones such things.
Was that why you people did not turn out for the election?
The apathy was so terrible; it was the cheapest election we could have won, because the APC candidate was not acceptable. They had their own problem and you can imagine with 645 polling booths in Ifako/Ijaiye, we deployed 10 members as conversers to each unit. When you multiply that it translates to 6,450 votes. Yet, we had 1700 votes. That means even members we put there did not even vote for the party. It was as bad as that; the APC candidate had the same problem too; because he is not popular: that was why he polled just over 7000 votes. That is a councillor’s votes, just imagine that. So, if all the 645 conversers had voted, that is 6450 for the party. People call themselves leaders; they don’t leave their houses during election. Once you have failed like that from home, you don’t have to get disappointed when the results come.

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has zoned its chairmanship to the South because its presidential candidate will come from the North. The contest for the post has become a battle among the party’s chieftains from the Southwest, Southeast and Southsouth. Musa Odoshimokhe reviews the contestants’ profile. 

DESPITE the court ruling, affirming that Senator Ali Modu-Sheriff remains the National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), the Ahmed Makarfi-led National Caretaker Committee is going ahead with preparations for a fresh national convention in Port Harcourt, the Rivers State capital, in two weeks.

The party has been embroiled in leadership crisis since the party lost the presidential election last year. Efforts aimed at unifying the party have ended in a fiasco. In May, a national convention held in Port Harcourt to elect a set of national officers ended in a stalemate and resulted into the dissolution of the National Working Committee and the constitution of a National Caretaker Committee headed by Senator Ahmed Makarfi.

The battle is already throwing up interesting permutations. Members that have indicated their willingness to vie for the position include: former Deputy National Chairman, Prince Uche Secondus; a member of the Board of Trustees (BoT), Chief Bode George; and former Minister of Education, Professor Tunde Adeniran. Others are: the Chairman of Daar Communications Plc, owners of African Independent Television (AIT), Chief Raymond Dokpesi; former Deputy Speaker, Rivers State House of Assembly, Austin Opara; former Governor of Ogun State Gbenga Daniel and former Lagos State governorship candidate Jimi Agbaje.

 

George

 

George joined the party right from inception. He has played a dominant role in its leadership and organisation. He is backed by notable politicians like former Minister of Transport Chief Ebenezer Babatope, former Minister of Works and Housing Chief Adeseye Ogunlewe and other top shots from the Southwest region. He has been a major advocate of fairness, equity and justice in the sharing of party offices across the zones.

Born on November 21, 1945 in Lagos, the erstwhile close ally of former president Olusegun Obasanjo holds a Masters Degree in Business Administration. He was the campaign coordinator of the late President Umaru Yar’Adua and he played prolific roles in Obasanjo’s first and second electoral victory.

In 2008, the Economic and Financial Crime Commission (EFCC) under Mrs. Farida Waziri arrested and arraigned him for abuse of office. The politician remains undaunted and committed, despite his travails. He was later cleared by the Supreme Court.  George sponsored conferences where the issues negatively affecting his catchment areas were discussed. The Lagos PDP recently endorsed him for the  position.

In 2002, responding to the allegation that the PDP was imposing levies on prospective aspirants for political offices, he said the party never gave such directives and anyone caught undermining the position of the party should be handed over to the police. As a loyal party man, he said if it becomes expedient that another party should be floated in place of the PDP, he was ready to say good bye to party politics. The Southwest has not produced the chairman since it came on board and the zone is saying that it should be allowed to occupy the position.

 

Dokpesi

 

The media mogul has been described as a bridge builder who can foster unity in the party. Edo State PDP has been canvassing support for him. The Edo PDP Organising Secretary, Hon. Henry Tenebe, said the chapter will support the High Chief. He said Edo was proud of Dokpesi, because he is capable of making the party bounce back.

The businessman started his secondary education at Loyola College, Ibadan and completed it at the Immaculate Conception College, Benin City. A graduate of the University of Benin, he holds a doctorate degree in Marine Engineering from the University of Gdansk, Poland.

Dokpesi started his career as a personal assistant to Alhaji Bamaga Tukur, who was the General Manager of the Nigerian Port Authority (NPA). He also served under Alhaji Umaru Dikko in the Ministry of Transport and General Garba Wushishi. His association with Tukur and the late M.K.O Abiola resulted in the birth of the African Ocean Lines.

The politician said he will reconcile the factions in the party and reposition it for the 2019 contest. According to the spokesperson of his campaign organisation, Omor Bazuaye, the on-going crisis the PDP was a contest among disgruntled element, using courts or the media to derail the wishes of the people.

Bazuaye said his principal would ensure that the PDP, puts the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) in check. He has been a consistent party man since he joined the PDP.

Dokpesi was the PDP media management coordinator during last year’s general elections and he has been questioned by the EFCC over some allegations.

 

Secondus

 

Secondus stepped in as the Acting National Chairman when former Chairman Alhaji Adamu Mu’azu was compelled to leave office, following the defeat of the party in the last general elections. But, his emergence sparked controversy, when former presidential aide, Ahmed Gulak, headed for the court, arguing that the turn of the Northeast to occupy the position had not elapsed.

Secondus was born in March 22, 1955 in Andoni, Rivers State. He completed his secondary education in Rivers and attended London Chambers of Commerce and Institute, where he obtained a certificate in commerce. He served as the Rivers State Youth Leader of the defunct National Party of Nigeria (NPN). He was also the Publicity Secretary of the equally defunct National Republican Convention (NRC) and a two-term chairman of Rivers PDP.

In 2007, Secondus was the Southsouth Coordinator of the PDP National Campaign Council, which organised the campaign for the general elections. He was also the National Organising Secretary of the party until 2012. He was the pioneer chairman of the Governing Board of the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC).

The highpoint of the Rivers State-born PDP chieftain’s political career in the PDP was in 2013, when he became the Deputy National Chairman.

 

Opara

 

The former Deputy Speaker, Rivers State House of Assembly has been a strong advocate of a rejuvenated PDP to confront the APC in the 2019 elections. He enjoys the support of Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike. It has been speculated that Opara may be Wike’s joker, if Secondus fails to attract the support to earn him the chairmanship at the August 17.

 

Adeniran

 

Prof. Adeniran, a political scientist, is a founding member of the party and he has resolved to remain in the fold through thick and thin. He was Deputy Director General of the Presidential Campaign Organisation during the last general elections. He has been calling for a vibrant executive that will position the party for next presidential election. He was Minister of Education from 1999 to 2001 and Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to the Federal Republic of Germany. He was chairman of the Governing Board of the Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC). He was also Chairman and Director of the Directorate for Social Mobilisation (MAMSER) from 1987 to 1993.

Having served the party in various leadership capacities, Adeniran appears to be in a vantage position to lead the party, but with the likes of George also gunning for the same position, he would face challenges securing the backing of delegates from the Southwest.

 

Agbaje

 

Agbaje, who was the Lagos PDP governorship candidate in 2015, has tasted several parties in the current political dispensation. The pharmacist-turned politician was born March 2, 1957, in Lagos. He was a member of the Action Congress (AC), the Democratic Peoples Alliance (DPA), which he left in 2011. In December 2014, he joined the PDP, ostensibly to contest for the governorship.

 

Daniel

 

The former Ogun State governor from 2003 to 2011 was born April 6, 1956, in Ibadan. He attended Baptist High School and later studied at the University of Lagos. He taught briefly at the School of Engineering, Lagos State Polytechnic. He has since returned to manage his business empire after his tenure as governor. Sources said he may step down