The Lagos state chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) is doing a post-mortem of its electoral defeat in last year’s governorship poll and trying to reconcile aggrieved members.
Deputy Editor EMMANUEL OLADESU examines the causes of consistent failures as the party projects into the future.
It is a moment of truth for the leaders of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Lagos state. They were locked in sober reflection last week as they gathered for the assessment of their consistent poor showing during the periodic governorship elections.
At the parley convened in Ikeja by a chieftain, Tony Ogungbe, they also projected into the future. The meeting was attended by some founding fathers, including Dr. Bimbo Ogunkelu, former Minister of Regional Integration in West Africa, Chief Olabode George, former deputy national chairman and permanent Board of Trustees (BoT) member; Alhaji Muritala Ashorobi, former state chairman, and David Aivoji, chairman of the chapter.
The former governorship candidate, Jide Adediran (Jandor), and his group were absent.
At the end of a brainstorming session, the party vowed to return to the drawing board and re-strategise for 2027. At the time Asiwaju Bola Tinubu is president, the opposition party in Lagos, his base, barking. But, can it bite?
To the party chieftains, the PDP can dislodge the more formidable All Progressives Congress (APC) and occupy Lagos State Government House, if it puts its house in order. They acknowledged the multiple crises tearing apart the chapter and resolved to embark on reconciliation.
It appears that Lagos PDP leaders have only attributed the poor performance of the party to disunity in the fold.
George said: “As a life member of the Board of Trustees (BoT), the Upper Chamber, and the conscience of our party, my appeal today is to all members, young and old, from the North to the South, that we have another golden opportunity, before the next election in 2027, to bury our differences and put on our thinking caps.
“We should do everything humanly possible to ensure that the PDP does not go into the dustbin of history in 2027. God forbid this should happen to our party. So, this is the time for all elders and members of PDP to be concerned about the future of our great party.”
Since 2003, Lagos PDP has always been hit by a scarcity of loyal and competent chieftains to fly its governorship flag. It has always depended on the ruling parties – Alliance for Democracy (AD), Action Congress (AC), Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) and All Progressives Congress (APC)-for the supply of governorship candidates. After hibernating in the party for some time, some of them usually retrace their steps to the ruling party.
The candidate of the PDP for the 1999 election, Chief Dapo Sarunmi, lost to Tinubu. It was ironic because the eminent politician was Tinubu’s leader in the Third Republic Social Democratic Party (SDP) and Primrose, the highly influential caucus that rubbed shoulders with Lateef Jakande’s ‘Ase Group.’ The former governor later tried to sincerely woo Sarunmi with the Lagos East senatorial ticket in memory of the good old days. But, Sarunmi declined the offer.
In 2003, the chapter saw a big catch in the late Funso Williams, a reputable engineer, former Works commissioner, and former AD governorship aspirant. However, the party lost its deposit, despite the federal might and threat by former President Olusegun Obasanjo.
Four years later, PDP hired another AD defector, Senator Musiliu Obanikoro, who lost to Governor Babajide Fashola. The PDP leader, George, had thrown his weight behind Hilda, the widow of Funso Williams. Suddenly, ‘Mr Fix It’ Tony Anenih stormed the National Stadium, Surulere, the venue of the primary. When he got to Abuja, he told the PDP National Working Committee (NWC) that it appeared to him that the only person who could win for the party was ‘Koro. Indeed, the party was hopeful because defectors from AD, including Senator Seye Ogunlewe, the late Senator Wahab Dosunmu, Obafemi Davies, Olawale Idris, Tugbubo, Onimole, Ajisebutu, had swelled its ranks. But, it amounted to daydreaming.
In 2011, it appeared the party was tired of defectors. It adopted Dr. Ade Dosunmu as its flagbearer. But, he was defeated by Fashola. Therefore, in 2015, it returned to its old style of relying on defectors. The lot fell on the Afenifere chieftain, Jimi Agbaje of the Democratic Peoples Alliance (DPA), a successful pharmacist, to fly the PDP flag. It was futile. At the close of the poll, he was defeated by Akinwunmi Ambode, former Accountant-General and Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Finance.
Agbaje has remained popular, but he could not defeat Ambode’s successor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, in the 2019 poll. The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) was about to announce the result when Agbaje called Sanwo-Olu on the phone to concede defeat. Not only were PDP supporters assailed by vote fatigue, but the ruling APC had waxed stronger.
Last year, Lagos PDP boasted that the end had come for APC in the Centre of Excellence. Again, it was obvious that the party was in want of a candidate. Although Gbadebo Vivour, a former senatorial candidate, applied for the flag, certain considerations made the leadership of the party gravitate towards another defector from the APC, Adediran, who had warmed himself into some grassroots people in Ojo Council through some philanthropic activities.
It paled into a miscalculation. Vivour was prevailed upon to step down for Adediran by party elders, including George, with a promise that he would become the running mate.
But, politics is a slippery field. When Adediran returned to the elders after the shadow poll, he pleaded with them to allow Funke Akindele, a popular actress, to pair with him. Gradually, the elders started to distance themselves from the Jandor/Funke ticket.
Also, Vivour defected to the Labour Party (LP), the ‘structureless’ platform of Peter Obi, which shook Lagos by securing the highest number of votes during the presidential election, but failed to repeat the feat during the governorship poll.
Thus, it is now part of the political history of Lagos that in all the seven periodic governorship elections in Lagos State, Lagos PDP lost because it could not withstand the arsenal of the ruling party. According to party elders, last year’s election result was the worst for PDP. The party lost its deposit. It came third, trailing LP, which came second.
Addicted to the crisis, PDP has suffered from internal bickering, leadership instability, and defections from the fold. All the stages of the crisis have taken a huge toll on the decimated platform. Party insiders said an effective crisis resolution mechanism is absent. But, it is incontrovertible too that APC, and its taproots-AD, AC and ACN were more popular in Lagos, a state often described as the heartbeat of the progressives.
Yet, the foundation of PDP in Lagos was beautiful. Its pioneer chairman, Olorunfunmi Basorun, a progressive politician and former Secretary to Government in the Second Republic, found himself amid strange, conservative bedfellows. The secretariat was a theatre of intrigues and mistrust. Suddenly, Basorun was commanded by President Obasanjo to hand over to Ashorobi.
He later faced trial by a party panel over unsubstantiated allegations. Years later, he returned to the progressive fold, his natural habitat.
From Ashorobi, the mantle of leadership fell on the insurance magnate, Chief Alaba Williams, Ajiroba of Lagos. He moved the secretariat from one corner around Opebi, Ikeja to a more spacious place at GRA, Ikeja. Despite his efforts at repositioning the chapter, he was abruptly shoved aside. He was abroad when news got to him that Adebayo Williams had been appointed as caretaker chairman. The tenures of his successors, including Setonji Koshoedo, Captain Tunji Shelle, Goke Salvador, and Deji Doherty, were not insulated from tension.
As the crisis continued to ravage the opposition party, its members started seeking refuge in the ruling party. Defetors, and indeed, other notable chieftains, including Obanikoro, the late Ademola Adeniji-Adele, the late Demola Seriki, Pa Amingo, Remi Adikwu-Bakare, Olufemi Pedro, the late Pa Rafiu Jafojo, Yaya Dosunmu, Sesan Olanrewaju, the late Tunde Braimoh, the late Tunde Salau, Enoch Ajiboso, Dr. Wale Ahmed, Ogunlewe, Mrs. Kafilat Ogbara, and Bode Oyedele, left for APC.
When he returned to APC, Jafojo told reporters in Lagos: “Obasanjo prevailed on me to go there. I met a different party; no organization, no structure. They were just quarreling.”
Reflecting on his sojourn in PDP, where he completed his senatorial tenure and became a minister, Ogunlewe said “The platform is no match for Tinubu.”
Few House of Assembly members elected on the platform of Lagos PDP also have a tradition of abandoning it ahead of the next elections. They suddenly became timid and often gravitated to the ruling party, where they secured an assurance of opportunity to recontest after negotiated detection.
PDP performance in the local council elections has also been poor. Their councilors could be counted on fingerprints. Where it had claimed victory, the ruling party has always dismantled its claims whenever the battle shifted from the ballot box to the tribunal.
Indeed, their young and promising local government chairmanship and parliamentary aspirants have often ended in the ruling party where the tickets they sought in the PDP landed on their palms. Examples are Babajide Obanikoro, a former House of Representatives member, and Moyosore Ogunlewe, lawyer-son of Senator Ogunlewe, who is now Kosofe Council chairman.
But, the greatest factor in the PDP’s perpetual electoral loss is its inability to withstand the solid structure of the APC under the leadership of Tinubu. Its influence has been diminished by APC’s networks, the political capital it had garnered due to Tinubu’s feats, and the performance of his successors as governors.
In politics, the power of incumbency properly wielded, is an invaluable asset. The APC structure has demonstrated its uncanny capacity to withstand stress and survive the political storm.
Giving an insight into its formidability, Sanwo-Olu told reporters in Lagos, ahead of the primary between him and Ambode, that the party has a time-tested legacy that has resonated with Lagosians. “This is the party of the people that caters for welfare,” he said, adding that “it is tested and trusted.”
It is an understatement. Many leaders of AD/AC/ACN/APC have paid their dues. They have served the state meritoriously, either as key functionaries of previous progressive governments, actors in the days of the defunct Action Group (AG) and Unity Party of Nigeria (UPN), pro-democracy fighters under the banners of Afenifere and National Democratic Coalition (NADECO), or as gerontocratic monitor of the Lagos administrations from 1999 to date.
There is no iota of leadership tussle in APC. For example, while the ruling parties-which are one-have only produced five chairmen (Ganiyu Dawodu, Abiodun Ogunleye, Oladele Ajomale, Tunde Balogun and Cornelius Ojelabi), PDP has produced nine, the ninth person being Tayo Alasoadura, also a caretaker chairman for a brief period.
Crisis resolution appears relatively easier in APC where there is a Governance Advisory Council (GAC), an advisory committee of experienced politicians and leaders, who are held in esteem by the party faithful. Except when there is occasional intra-party revolt over nominations in some constituencies, costly rebellions are prevented through timely intervention.
Above all, party supremacy and discipline are never compromised in Lagos APC, where there is also an opportunity for ventilation of grievances by aggrieved stalwarts.
Whether the PDP is tapping from the ideas of the ruling party or not is not certain. However, the main opposition figures, led by George, agreed that they should put their house in order ahead of 2027.
George said inclusion should be the watchword, stressing that victory at the poll is conditional on unity and cohesion.
He said: “Some might say 2027 is still far away, but realistically, it is not. By 2026, two years from now, politicking will start for the 2027 elections.
“So, I reiterate my solidarity to the tenets of our party constitution and we should not allow the collective unity of this party to be fragmented.
“How we collectively address the issues at stake will be a major determinant of the fate of this party in months and years to come.
“It is our determination to ensure that the PDP returns to the Presidential Villa in Abuja and take over Governance in Lagos State on May 29, 2027 but, we can only do this if we are united, not divided.”
Goerge said that the crises in many PDP state chapters, including Lagos, should be resolved.
He stressed: “Nigerians are waiting for us in 2027, but we must put our house in order. This is the time to promote justice, fairness and equity in our party.
We are beginning the drive to the process of uniting the party today with this meeting in Lagos.”
George recommended that a zonal committee should go round the states and zones in the next six months to calm frayed nerves and encourage genuine reconciliation:
Lamenting that PDP is where it is today because of a self-inflicted crisis, he said reconciliation is the answer.
He added: “We should bury our Individual ambition now and not allow the PDP to crumble. We have no choice but to put our house in order. We are brothers and sisters, so we should put on our thinking caps to achieve a collective goal.
“I want to state clearly that as one of the founding fathers and a former Deputy National Chairman of our party, I will never do or say anything against the interest of this party. But, I abhor and hate injustice at all levels.”
Goerge said at close to 80 years, his priority is not to fight for any position, but to guide the party to victory.
He said: “We should not allow any sentiment-ethnic or religion-to divide us. Unless we are united, with equity, fairness, and justice being the pedestal for any political decision taken, this party will be heading to disaster in 2027.
“If we want to win the 2027 governorship election in Lagos, we must have a very strong, iron-clad, and formidable PDP in the build-up to the 2027 elections. We should not allow ourselves to be divided.
“We must change the narratives now so that we don’t embark on a suicide mission, a self-destructive journey for our party in 2027. Lagos residents are waiting for us in 2027 to kick APC out of Alausa.”
While commending the convener of the meeting, Ogungbe, George poured encomiums on PDP’s founding fathers, including Chief Solomon Lar, Dr Alex Ekwueme, Chief Bola Ige, Alhaji Adamu Ciroma, Chief Sunday Awoniyi, and Alhaji Bamanga Tukur, urging members to emulate them and shun bitterness.
Other party leaders spoke in the same vein. Aivoji commended the party leaders and elders, saying that the meeting would chat a road map for a stronger and more cohesive PDP in the party.
He said:” Reconciliation is the key, our strength lies in our unity. We are on track, we are focused. We must bring everybody together and bring the party to its old glory. By His Grace, 2027 is ours.”
Ogunkelu said reconciliation is the way forward, adding: “We must work together to build our party. We have to restructure our party so that PDP can be in power. And also, you may discover that there’s other party’s hands in our fighting. “
Ashorobi said unity and inclusiveness are the conditions for success in future elections.
Ogungbe commended the stakeholders for considering it necessary to meet for reconciliation.
He said the party’s performance in the 2023 general elections in the state was the worst since 1999, adding that division, greed, and disunity have been the bane of the Lagos PDP.
Ogungbe added: “We must not allow the past mistake to repeat itself.”
