There have been claims of reconciliation in the Ogun State chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). But beyond the facade of a reconciled and united party, the crisis is far from over, writes ERNEST NWOKOLO.
The crisis within the Ogun State chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party(PDP) is far from over.
For party faithful in the state, the crisis ought to have been resolved soon after the conclusion of the April 2011 general elections. Ironically, the more efforts made to reconcile the warring factions, the more polarised the party became. Those who desired an early settlement of the differences have discovered to their dismay that they have only engaged in wishful thinking.
Crux of the matter
The main cause of the crisis has been who controls the party in the state. The belief, or so it seems, is that the party machinery is an invaluable trophy that must be won and kept at all cost. Expectedly, this has continued to engender bitter, if not fierce, scramble for it. The major contenders are former President Olusegun Obasanjo; former Governor Gbenga Daniel; billionaire hotelier, Buruji Kashamu and former Minister of State for Finance , Alhaji Jubril Martins Kuye . It is not difficult to see why efforts at reconciliation have ended in illusion than reality.
Before the April 2011 general elections, PDP held sway in the state. For eight years, it bestrode the state like a colossus, clinched all elective offices and dominated the politics of the state with enormous backing from the PDP controlled central government.
With the mindset that the party would continue to win every election in the state, the stage was inadvertently set for the dirty political intrigues and desperation among the quartet of Obasanjo, Daniel, Kashamu and Kuye. The understanding, of course, was that whoever controls the party structure automatically determines who get what in terms of both elective and appointive posts in the state.
How it all started
The crisis started in the run up to April 14, 2007 election. The forrmer governor moved quickly to assert himself as the leader of the party.
But this was largely ignored to enable the party go into the electoral contest as one big family and be victorious against the opposition parties – the Action Congress(AC), the All Nigeria Peoples Party(ANPP), National Conscience Party (NCP) among others.
But the incipient crisis took a different dimension in 2008 when some members picked holes in the process that led to the emergence of the defunct Joju Fadairo-led executive committee. They claimed that the process was flawed. They alleged that it was manipulated by the governor to exclude others from participating which inevitably gave birth to the party executive committee filled by Daniel’s cronies.
But what seemed like a simmering crisis graduated quickly to a full scale political war among the foursome during the preparation for the April 2011 elections, with each either fighting directly or through proxies to execute personal interests.
Daniel, who had his mind fixated on having former Managing Director of Gateway Holdings, Mr Gboyega Nasiru Isiaka, as his successor at all cost, used the party structure headed by Fadairo to undermine the interests of others while advancing his.
The other three parties went into an alliance to confront Daniel and his annointed candidate. That initial understanding among the trio of Obasanjo, Kuye and Kashamu was primarily to wrest the party structure from Daniel. The objective was simple: stall the plot to have his cronies run for elective offices.
While Obasanjo mobilised the federal might and PDP’s national force against Daniel, Kuye and Kashamu tackled him in from other directions and fought him to a stand still through the judiciary.
The National Executive Committee of the party waded into the crisis at that stage and recommended the dissolution of Joju Fadairo – led executives and harmonisation to accommodate all interests. It was the implementation of that recommendation that led to the emergence of the Bashorun Dayo Soremi led Executive.
Worsening crisis
Unfortunately for the party, rather than solve the problem, the harmonisation worsened the crisis. Daniel and his faction rejected the arrangement and continued to accord the Fadairo – led executive, not only recognition but also persisted in using it to pursue his political interest.
The logjam within the Ogun PDP worsened with the emergence of parallel party executive leading to parallel congresses and parallel candidates for the 2011 polls. Many who could no longer bear the contradiction in the party, moved to other parties like the Action Congress of Nigeria(ACN) and Labour Party(LP) among others.
PDP at the national level and the court recognised the congress conducted by Obasanjo’s faction and its outcome. At the same time , they rejected the congress conducted by Daniel’s group and all candidates who emerged from it.
The development compelled the then politically cornered Daniel to herd all his supporters into the Peoples Party of Nigeria(PPN), a party he hurriedly floated while still in PDP.
As to be expected, the PDP through the influence of Obasanjo, proceeded to pick former ECOMOG Commander and Sole Administrator in Ekiti State, General Tunji Olurin (rtd) as its governorship candidate in the April 2011 polls.
It was in this tattered condition that the party went into the 2011 polls and failed woefully. Despite this, efforts were made to resolve the crisis that brought defeat and odium to the party. The party at the national level and former national vice – chairman, Southwest, Alhaji Tajudeen Oladipo inaugurated a Transition, Reconciliation and Congress Committee (TRCC) headed by Chief Bode Mustapha to reconcile all aggrieved persons and also conduct congresses in the state.
According to Oladipo, “the reason for TRCC include the need to unify the party before the congresses, the need to provide a level playing ground for all interests within the party to be able to fulfil their aspiration, to midwife the congresses so that the executives to be produced in the congresses are acceptable to the generality of the party faithful.”
But this did not go down well with the actors and only succeeded in shredding the initial alliance among the trio of Obasanjo, Kashamu and Kuye.
The Kashamu group vehemently opposed the arrangement saying it was a ploy by the Obasanjo minority group to undermine the function of Dayo Soremi – led executives to pave way for the imposition of other persons as party officials.
Not contented with just opposing the arrangement, Kashamu group equally approached the court and even got an injunction declaring the then Tajudeen Oladipo’s TRCC as illegal.
According to Kashamu group, Obasanjo was pursuing a separate political agenda best known to him in Ogun State other than that of PDP.
The group argued that if the overbearing influence of the former PDP Board of Trustees’ chairman was not challenged, it could spell doom for the party in future elections in the Gateway State. It then proceeded to conduct its congresses in the state in-spite of directive to the contrary by PDP National Working Committee (NWC).
Expectedly, the new executive officers of PDP led by Bayo Dayo that emerged could not enjoy the recognition of all and the then National Vice – Chairman of PDP, Southwest, Mr Segun Oni, who succeeded Oladipo, maintained that another congress, which would accommodate all interests, would be organised in the state.
In one of his visits to Abeokuta, Oni dismissed the congresses conducted in the state by Bashorun Dayo Soremi- led executives-that produced Dayo Bayo -led executive, ostensibly because all the forces at play, particularly, the interest of the former President, were not accommodated.
Consequently, a congress that catered for the interest of the former President was conducted and Senator Dipo Odunjirin, a lawyer, emerged as the chairman of a parallel executive and the national body of the party began to relate with it to the chagrin of Bayo Dayo led executive.
This was resisted by the Kashamu group which approached the court for judicial intervention and the attendant court judgment led to the sack of Oni, all the decisions he took in respect of Ogun PDP as well as Dipo Odunjirin led parallel executive committee.
It was on the basis of that judgment, coupled with the directive by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) recognising the Dayo Bayo led executive committee that the party and the NWC accorded recognition to the Kashamu group as the authentic state organ of PDP in Ogun.
Today, the Kashamu group controls the party structure and operates from the party secretariat on IBB Boulevard, Abeokuta. What is still palpably missing, however, remains the unity, peace and harmony in the once powerful party in Ogun State.
With the 2015 general elections inching closer, there have been series of private meetings within and outside the state by the power brokers – Daniel, Kuye, Alhaji Sarafadeen Tunji Isola, Alhaji Sule Onabiyi, Chief Niyi Adegbenro, Kashamu, Chief Alani Bankole among others on the advise of the NWC of the party but not much has been achieved.
The big players in the state still relate with each other with deep seated suspicion. Recently, the Chairman, Board of Trustee (BoT) of partyPDP, Chief Tony Anenih, led a delegation of BoT members to Obasanjo in Abeokuta where he was urged to help re -build the party in the state. But it is not yet clear whether the former President would sit under the same PDP umbrella with former Governor Daniel who still control a large followers.
The party chairman in the state, Dayo told The Nation that the reconciliation efforts are yielding positive result in all the factions or groups, except that of Daniel. He alleged that the former governor was already negotiating with another party in the state with a view to herding all his followers into it.
Dayo hinted that the reconciliation has not yielded any worthwhile result from Daniel’s camp, saying it is being said that the former governor, who has the bulk of his followers in PPN, is spoiling to move them to either the Labour Party or Unity Party of Nigeria(UPN)
In Dayo’s reckoning, the next task now is to take the reconciled party chieftains to Chief Obasanjo, and beg him for forgiveness where mistakes were made so that progress could be made in the party.
He said: “What is left is for us to see Baba, Chief Obasaanjo, and beg him for forgiveness. You know in Yorubaland, the younger begs the elder even if the elder is at fault, the younger has to prostrate and beg for forgiveness in order for peace to reign.”
But whether the desired peace will ever reign in the state’s chapter of the party remains to be seen.
