When will the internal crisis rocking the
Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) end?
Many would agree that even soothsayers
would find it difficult to answer the
above question. As it appears, there does
not seem to be an end in sight to the
festering crisis in the opposition party, as
different interests and power blocs are
tugging viciously at the fragile strings
holding the party together.
The PDP’s loss of power at the Federal
level and in several states which it
controlled before the 2015 general
elections came with a myriad of
problems. Despite efforts to recover from
its defeat, the crisis in the party has
refused to go away.
For a party that has ruled for over 16
years, PDP has had its fair share of
prolonged internal crisis, but the ongoing
leadership tussle between the Ahmed
Makarfi-led national caretaker committee
and the Ali Modu Sheriff’s faction of the
party is one, skeptics say may be the
final nail on the coffin.
Since the last May 21 convention in Port
Harcourt, the main opposition party has
been polarised into two camps, with each
faction proclaiming itself as the
authentic national leadership. The
factions are the Ahmed Makarfi
caretaker committee, a creation of the
national convention, the highest organ of
the party, and the other led by the
erstwhile national chairman, Senator Ali
Modu Sheriff whose national working
committee was dissolved in Port
Harcourt.
Currently, the factionalisation is having a
toll on the fortunes of the party from one
state to the other.
In Edo and Ondo states, where
governorship elections would soon hold,
the factions of the party are fielding two
candidates each in the states.
In Edo State, the Makarfi-led national
caretaker committee produced former
Secretary to the State Government,
Osagie Ize-Iyamu, while the Sheriff
faction is presenting former Majority
Leader in the House of Assembly,
Matthew Iduoriyekemwen as its choice.
The same scenario played out in Ondo
where the Makarfi-led faction produced
the immediate past Attorney-General and
Commissioner for Justice, Eyitayo
Jegede (SAN) as the party’s
governorship candidate at a primary
election observed by officials of the
Independent National Electoral
Commission (INEC). The pro-Sheriff
faction on the other hand elected
business mogul, Mr. Jimoh Ibrahim as its
standard bearer. The implication of all of
this is that the PDP has failed to reach a
consensus on the party’s authentic
leadership.
But in the crisis bedevilling the party, so
many issues come into perspective.
PDP’s legal dilemma
Critical observers argue that even though
majority of the stakeholders in the
embattled party including members of
the Board of Trustees(BOT), all current
governors and virtually all members of
the National Assembly members are with
the Markafi faction, Sheriff is confident
that legally, there is still a window for
him to determine how and when the
crisis will end.
The party’s legal quagmire began at the
Federal High Court in Lagos where
Sheriff, Alhaji Fatai Adeyanju and Prof.
Wale Oladipo, as plaintiffs prayed the
court for an interlocutory injunction
restraining the PDP from conducting any
election to the offices of the national
chairman, national secretary and national
auditor, which they occupied, pending
the hearing and determination of the
substantive suit. This was before the
national convention which was slated to
hold on May 21, 2015.
The trial judge, Ibrahim Buba, granted
their prayers, but the planned convention
went ahead with Sheriff in attendance.
Notwithstanding protests from other
prominent party members against his
emergence as acting chairman, Sheriff,
who was initially backed by the PDP
Governors’ Forum, a powerful bloc within
the party, ironically, sanctioned the May
21 convention with optimism about his
possible confirmation for another two
years.
What had become a protracted cold war
among power brokers in the party boiled
over when the party held its National
Convention simultaneously in Abuja, the
Federal Capital Territory (FCT) and Port
Harcourt, the Rivers State capital on May
21. It was literally the climax of the
intrigues and power tussle that have
characterized affairs of the party in
recent time.
While one faction led by former Minister
of Information, Jerry Gana, held its
convention in Abuja, the other headed by
Sheriff, organized its own at the Sharks
stadium, Port Harcourt. The calculation
was that the real power base of the
party would be in Port Harcourt as all the
party’s 12 elected governors, National
Assembly members, State Assembly
members and key leaders supported the
Port Harcourt convention, where it was
planned that the embattled National
chairman was going to be anointed by
the power brokers to continue in office.
But the tide turned against Sheriff in Port
Harcourt, when party stalwarts asked him
to step down as acting national chairman
of the party. They said his emergence
had polarized the party, and wanted to
make room for someone who would be a
unifying factor. He refused, and quickly
arranged a press conference to postpone
the convention.
So, after Sheriff had proclaimed
postponement of the convention,
governors, party leaders and delegates
assembled at the Sharks Stadium where
they dissolved the National Working
Committee (NWC) headed by Sheriff and
announced the composition of a National
Caretaker Committee (NCC) headed by
former Kaduna State governor, Senator
Ahmed Markafi and Senator Ben Obi who
would serve as the Secretary.
The motion to sack the national officers
of the party was moved by the
former Deputy Speaker of the House of
Representatives, Austin Opara and was
seconded by the former Speaker of the
House of Representatives, Emeka
Ihedioha, and the motion to set up the
Committee was moved by the former
governor of Akwa Ibom State, Godswill
Akpabio and seconded by the governor
of Gombe State, Alhaji Ibrahim
Dankwambo.
The seven member Caretaker
Committee was tasked to organise a
convention within 90 days, and work
toward reconciling all the feuding
members of the party. The committee
was immediately sworn in to commence
work.
With the tide turned against him, Sheriff,
through his spokesman, Inuwa Bwala,
said: “Immediately the chairman
(Sheriff) received another court
injunction, he called a meeting of the
NWC and told them that it wasn’t safe to
continue with the convention of the
party, especially since the court had
forbidden elections virtually into all the
offices. He announced the suspension of
the convention at a press briefing, only
for some people to go behind and claim
that there was convention.“There was no
organ of the party that was represented
at the convention. The convention was
cancelled, and it remains cancelled until
such a time the matters in court are
resolved, for us to convene another
national convention.”
But according to the PDP leadership, the
decision to inaugurate a caretaker
committee at the convention was in
accordance with Section 33(2) of the
party’s constitution which states that:
“The National convention shall be the
supreme and controlling authority of the
party within the limits prescribed in this
constitution and it shall be the principal
representative, policy making and
administering body of the party”.
Section 33(3) further states that: “the
national convention shall have supremacy
in all matters pertaining to the party and
all officers and organs of the party shall
be bound in the exercise of their
functions by the decisions of the national
convention”.
Continuing, section 33 (5) states that the
national convention shall have and
exercise authority to (b) elect or remove
the National Officers of the party (e)
appoint such committees, as it may
deem necessary, desirable or expedient
and assign to them such powers and
functions as it may deem fit; the quorum
of the national convention shall be two
third of its membership and a simple
majority shall pass any motion.
But the argument by the Sheriff’s faction
is that even though the above sections of
the constitution gives the national
convention powers to remove and appoint
officers of the party, there is no explicit
provision for the constitution of a
Caretaker committee as is presently the
case in the PDP.
Battle for Wadata plaza
Twenty Four hours after the controversial
national convention, precisely on Sunday,
May 22, heavily armed policemen took
over the national headquarters of the
PDP when news filtered in that Sheriff
and his supporters would storm the place
to continue to lay claim to the office.
Five police vehicles, comprising two
trucks and two pick up vans blocked
access on both ends of the street
directly in front of the secretariat. The
Makarfi faction did not occupy the PDP
facility for long as Sheriff and his
supporters later forced themselves into
the national secretariat, making the
Caretaker committee and his group to
move temporarily to a hotel. So, one of
the major outcomes of the national
convention was the emergence of two
different national secretariats for the
party. The former Borno governor has
turned his private residence in Maitama,
Abuja to a makeshift secretariat while
the Ahmed Makarfi team also got
another private residence within the
Abuja city centre to conduct its official
functions.
Sheriff courts the court
On May 23, Sheriff filed a motion on
notice in the Federal High Court, Lagos,
for the purpose of setting aside the
national convention of the party held on
May 21 where he hoped to emerge as
chairman. On May 24, counsel to Sherriff
and other plaintiffs, Mr. R. A. Oluyede,
told the court the PDP had flouted the
order dated May 12, 2016, as it had gone
ahead to conduct elections into the
offices of: national chairman, national
secretary and national auditor.” Justice
Buba then declared the caretaker
committee illegal.
The caretaker committee insisted that
elections were not conducted during the
convention and that it did not fill the
three posts in line with the court orders,
as there was no order against setting up
a caretaker committee. While Buba in
Lagos affirmed the interim chairmanship
of Sheriff, another Federal High Court
sitting in Port Harcourt ordered him and
the NWC to stop parading themselves as
leaders of the party.
On June 29, Justice Valentiine Ashi of
Court 29 Abuja, nullified the 2014
amendment of the PDP constitution on
the grounds that it did not comply with
Section 66(2)(3) of its constitution by
not serving the National Secretary with a
written copy of the proposed amendment
two months before the convention, which
the secretary was also required to
circulate among secretaries of the party
a month before the convention.
Article 47, paragraph 6 of the amended
constitution states: “In case of any
vacancy, the party’s National Executive
Committee (NEC) can appoint an Acting
Chairman from the area or zone where
the last occupant of the office comes
from, pending when election is
conducted, to reflect that where there is
vacancy, the acting chairman shall serve
the tenure of the officer who left before
the expiration of the tenure.”
This ruling was a major blow to Sheriff
whose emergence in the first place was
predicated on the 2014 amended
constitution of the party. But Sheriff
rejected the ruling of the party, stating
that he had not yet joined the party when
the amendment was made, and as such
does not affect his position as chairman.
The legal conundrum continued when on
July 28, a Federal High Court, sitting in
Abuja nullified the Markafi-led caretaker
committee. Justice Okon Abang, who
ruled in Sheriff’s favour, held that the
convention held on May 21. Delivering his
ruling, he said: “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. 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. If the Markafi-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”.
On August 17, a Federal High Court
sitting in Abuja reaffirmed Sheriff’s
removal. The court, which was presided
over by Justice Nwamaka Ogbonnaya,
reaffirmed the sack on the ground that
the judgment of Justice Ashi, which
nullified his appointment on June 29 has
not been set aside or vacated and is
therefore subsisting.
Permutations
With the unfolding drama in the PDP, all
manner of permutations are currently in
the public domain with many questions
as to what the true intentions of the
feuding parties are. Many believe that at
the periphery, it is a battle among the
power brokers in the party to take over
the structure but there are those who
insist that the entire drama is geared
toward 2019.
On one hand is Markarfi, who has the
support of majority of the PDP power
brokers and leaders in the party; those
who want to maintain control of the
party structure, and on the other hand is
Sheriff, whose actions have thrown up
some conspiracy theories. One
conspiracy theory is that Sheriff, who
was one of the founders of the All
Progressives Congress (APC) is an in-law
to President Muhammadu Buhari, and is
working in tandem with the ruling party
to destroy the PDP. This theory
emanated from the role Sheriff played in
2012 where he stood in as the family
representative during the wedding of a
Borno businessman, Babagana Sheriff to
Buhari’s daughter. This theory even
gained more ground when after his
nomination as acting PDP acting
chairman, Governor Ayo Fayose of Ekiti
State, responded to those who accused
Sheriff of being a Boko Haram sponsor,
insisting that he(Sheriff), was Buhari’s in-
law and as such could not be a sponsor
of terrorism. He said: “Ali Modu Sheriff
and their ‘Saint Buhari’ are in-laws
courtesy of his (Sheriff) son’s marriage
to Buhari’s daughter and no one has
called the President a Boko Haram
sponsor by association. Or are they also
saying President Buhari could have
allowed his own daughter to marry the
son of Ali Modu Sheriff if he was indeed
a Boko Haram sponsor?” Curiously,
neither Sheriff nor Buhari has refuted the
speculations.
Another incident which Sheriff’s critics
say lends credence to the theory that he
had the backing of the APC-led Federal
Government is the barricade of roads
leading to the venue of the national
convention of August 17 which was
scheduled to hold in Port Harcourt by
officers from the Nigerian Police.
The second conspiracy theory is that
Sheriff wants to remain the national
chairman for a longer period in order to
position himself for the next presidential
election in 2019.
Sheriff was a two-time governor of Borno
State on the platform of the defunct All
Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP), of which
President Buhari was also a two-time
presidential candidate.
He was later to become one of the
arrowheads that led the ANPP to form
the APC prior to the 2015 elections.
After the first national convention of the
APC held in 2014, Sheriff lost out when
John Odigie-Oyegun, a former governor
of Edo State, emerged national chairman
of the APC while Mai Mala Buni of Yobe
State emerged national secretary. Sheriff
had supported former foreign affairs
minister, Tom Ikimi and Kashim Ibrahim
Imam for the two positions, but when his
candidates lost out, he immediately left
the APC to join the PDP.
Before the national convention which
held on May 21, where Makarfi was
appointed, Sheriff had planned to exert
more influence over the BoT, many of
whose members were opposed to his
emergence. In order to overcome the
opposition, many believe that Sheriff
began moves to checkmate that organ of
the party, by proposing an amendment to
the party’s constitution, where he added
a clause that the body would need to
consult him before it could call for any
meeting.
According to the party’s constitution, the
BoT, of which the national chairman is a
member, does not need only the
chairman’s permission to hold its
meeting. It is a statutory organ of the
party with powers to act as its
conscience, and it needed two-third of its
members to agree for a meeting to be
called. But in the proposed amendment,
which was meant to be discussed at the
meeting of the party’s NEC which took
place before May 21, Sheriff wanted a
clause to be added to the constitution,
so that he would have to be the only one
who would be consulted before the BoT
of the party could meet.
Sheriff was forced to withdraw the
proposed amendment when it was met
with stiff opposition by members of the
BoT. They accused him of wanting to
decimate its powers by asking to be
consulted before the body could hold
meetings.
Can the PDP reinvent itself?
Before handing over in 2015, former
president Goodluck Jonathan said that if
the members of the party remain
committed to the vision of its founding
fathers, and work very hard, the party
would return in 2019. He said the party
had all that it would require to win the
2019 elections, but needed to return to
the drawing board to re-strategise for the
future.
“You can go to Ghana that is very close
to us. The present administration lost
some years back and of course, they
came back. The problem is not whether
we lost or won, but how we can
reconsolidate our party,” he said.
For the governor of Ondo State and
chairman of PDP governor’s forum,
Olusegun Mimiko, one of the major
problems of the party is indiscipline.
Speaking at the inaugural meeting of the
party’s executive council in the South
West, he said that any organisation
whose members are not disciplined
cannot make progress. He pointed out
the leadership crisis at the national level,
saying it has its root in indiscipline.
“The level of discipline that we have is
the reason why people would rush to the
court for issues that could be settled
within them. If I had the opportunity to
re-write the constitution of the party, I
will write in capital letters that anybody
that rushes to the court should be
expelled, ” he said.
However, many insist that the crisis in
the PDP is not as easy as it seems.
There is a side of the argument that only
a political solution can end the impasse.
Those who share this view believe that
reaching a consensus with Sheriff is the
only solution to the crisis. But for others,
toeing that line will not solve the problem
considering the stubborn position of
Sheriff in the crisis.
BoT fruitless peace moves
With each faction justifying its legitimacy
based on different court
pronouncements, a statutory organ of the
party, the Board of Trustees, (BoT) was
left with no option than to seek a
political solution to the leadership tussle.
However, feelers from the PDP have
shown that its trouble shooting efforts so
far met a brick wall, as the terms set for
peace deal by Sheriff were rebuffed by
the Makarfi committee and the governors
.
Part of the condition which the former
Borno governor gave include the
resignation of the Rivers State governor,
Nyesom Wike as the National Convention
committee chairman, relocation of the
venue of the convention to Abuja,
resignation of the chairman of the BOT,
Senator Jibrin Walid, dissolution of the
Makarfi-led Caretaker committee. The
party hierarchy has already agreed in the
relocation of the convention to Abuja and
removal of Governor Wike as the
chairman of the committee but that is
yet to pacify Sheriff.
While dismissing the former Kaduna state
governor as a usurper, Sheriff has vowed
that no convention of the party would be
conducted until 2018.
“I remain the authentic national chairman
of PDP until 2018 unless the court of our
land said I should cease to be, which I
will obey. But, as of today till 2018, I, Ali
Modu Sheriff, is the National Chairman of
PDP,” he said.
So with the stance of Sheriff, many are
waiting to see how what looks like a
political logjam in the PDP would end. Source: The Sun
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