Once the ruling party in the South-West, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) is undergoing its worst moments in the zone. Soji Ajibola (Lagos), Olayinka Olukoya (Ogun), Yinka Oladoyinbo (Ondo), Sam Nwaoko (Ekiti) and Dare Adekambi (Oyo) report the political hurdles currently facing the party in the South-West and its efforts to bounce back into reckoning.WHEN will the suffering of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Lagos State chapter, abate' The political elephants involved in the battle for the soul of the party are hell bent in seeing their battle to a logical end, but an uphill task lies ahead of the party, especially its resolve to wrestle power from the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) in the state in the 2015 general election.Except the major players in the crisis that has lingered on for so long put aside their personal interests and forge a common front, the party's ambition to unseat the Senator Bola Tinubu-led ACN may remain a mirage. Even though members of the party, at different fora, had insisted that all was well with the party, political observers know that it is not yet uhuru. Notable players in the party includes its former Deputy National Chairman, Chief Olabode George; former Minister of Works, Senator Adeseye Ogunlewe, Dr Abayomi Finih, Senator Musiliu Obanikoro, Dr Wahab Dosumu; former deputy governor of Lagos State, Chief (Mrs) Kofoworola Bucknor Akerele, to mention a few.The crisis rocking the party dated back to 2006, shortly after the assassination of its governorship candidate, Chief Funso Williams, in the build up to the 2007 general election. Members of the party were said to be divided over who should step into the shoes of Williams before they later settled for Senator Obanikoro. The party lost the election to the ACN candidate, the incumbent governor of the state, Mr Babatunde Fashola (SAN).While the party was still nursing the injury of its defeat by the ACN, its chieftain and foremost leader, Chief Bode George, was arrested and convicted of financial impropriety while serving as the Board Chairman of the Nigeria Ports Authority (NPA). His conviction dealt a severe blow to the party, as it now became a sheep without a shepherd. This led to the emergence of various factions, which some notable members prefer to refer to as caucuses.With the release of George from prison, political pundits thought the end had come to the leadership tussle rocking the party but they were proved wrong, as his release, rather than ending the crisis, amplified it. Members of the party were divided along interest lines. While some aligned with George, others pitched their tents with Senator Ogunlewe, Dr Finih, Dr Ade Dosumu, Senator Obanikoro and Chief (Mrs) Bucknor-Akerele.Noting the danger inherent in the division among the rank and file of the party in the state, the PDP National Working Committee (NWC) waded into the matter, hoping to proffer lasting solution and map out a strategy to conquer the state in 2011. But this was not to be. The emergence of Dosumu as the candidate of the party in 2011 further rubbed salt in the injury of some notable members of the party, who then saw Chief George as an impositor. But George insisted that Dosumu was a product of the primary conducted by the party. In one of the interviews he granted, he said 'But you people (press) covered the primaries. It is like saying that we imposed President Jonathan, did you not watch the primaries live' Was the Lagos State primary done in secret like in the other parties' So, how could you say we imposed' I was not even there, I was in prison and the people decided.''Describing himself as the symbol of the party in the state, Chief George said other people that were parading themselves as leaders of the party lacked honesty of purpose, commitment and loyalty, adding: 'They don't even understand these two words: loyalty and commitment. That is why they are junketing. They think they can just come through the back door and hit the rooftop; it does not work that way.''In the build up to the state congress, the PDP constituted a reconciliatory committee led by Senator Obanikoro with the aim of reconciling the aggrieved members prior to the conduct of the congresses. The group met with notable members of the party but the meeting did not yield any fruitful result, as some factions of the party rejected the candidacy of Honourable Tunji Shelle as the state chairman of the party.Chief Ogunlewe faulted the conduct of the primary, adding that members people should be allowed to elect their own leader. The issue had lingered on for long and, according to him, it was high time the national leadership of the party intervened.On why peace seemed to have eluded the party, he submitted, 'you need a lot of goodwill for people to believe in you. The moment you start practising exclusion, you will end up laying the foundation for failure. Everybody must be accommodated, everybody must feel important.'We told the state leadership of the party to let us know which of the zones is expected to present the positions to be contested for. We also made it clear that on no account should any of the zones be excluded, on no account should political powers be concentrated in one zone. As a party, we need to rotate the state leadership of the party because it is a constitutional matter; both the constitution of the party and constitution of the nation.''Disturbed by this development, a delegation from the leadership of the party, led by Chief Segun Oni and Senator Iyiola Omisore, came to Lagos to broker peace and let the members see why they must work together as a team and ensure the success of the party in subsequent elections. While some members were present at the meeting, others were absent, thereby sending a wrong signal.Also, a party delegation led by Alhaji Shuaib Oyedokun visited Chief Bode George and other notable members of the party, with the sole aim of restoring normalcy back to the party and positioning it for the local government election, but to no avail. The ACN capitalised on the division among the members of the PDP to further confirm its supremacy, even though some of its representatives were accused of non-performance.But the PDP spokesperson, Taofik Gani, said it was going to be a different ball game in 2015, arguing that there was no faction within the party but caucuses, which, to him, was not peculiar to the PDP. He said the state executive committee put in place a reconciliatory committee aimed at reconciling aggrieved members but, rather than accepting the olive branch, some members headed to court.With the present development, coupled with the issue of litigation, can the party challenge the dominance of the ACN in 2015' Time will tell.Ogun PDPThat the intra-party crisis within the PDP in Ogun State has probably consumed the party is not an understatement. The party, for over three years, has been in the news, no thanks to the leadership tussles that had engulfed it. The party, which ruled the Gateway State for eight years, has become a shadow of itself.The party, in the twilight of the former Governor Gbenga Daniel administration, was in crisis over who should control its affairs. The development brought about divisions within the party, with some members pitching their tents with former President Olusegun Obasanjo and some with Daniel. The crisis reached a crescendo when the two factions within the party conducted two parallel congresses in the build-up to the 2011 general election.While the faction loyal to Daniel held its congress under the supervision of Colonel Abdulmumini Aminu (rtd) and other two national officers of the party at the MKO Abiola Stadium in Abeokuta, the Obasanjo's faction held its own within the Olusegun Obasanjo Presidential Library (OOPL), also in Abeokuta. The first congress produced Prince Gboyega Isiaka as the governorship candidate of the party while the latter produced General Adetunji Olurin as its governorship candidate.This development further heightened the crisis, as the two factions headed to court to authenticate which faction had the right to conduct congress and produced candidates for the elections, whether into the National Assembly, governorship and state House of Assembly.The ruling of a High Court in Abuja, under the Lordship of Justice Kafarati Alu, was the last straw that broke the camel's back.The court authenticated the candidates of the Obasanjo faction for the elections. The ruling of the court, delivered few weeks into the election, made some members of the party loyal to Daniel to defect into the Peoples Party of Nigeria (PPN). The development further compounded the woes of the party, as it lost the elections. The party could only win six seats in the state House of Assembly, though it won all in the 2003 and 2007 elections. As if that was not enough, the "sharing" of appointments to fill vacant posts in the boards and parastatals at the federal level worsened the already bad division. Some members, led by Prince Buruji Kashamu, a major financier of the party, felt cheated in the distribution of positions and things further fell apart. In the midst of this crisis, the state party congress was conducted, which led to the emergence of the Chief Bayo Dayo executive. The Obasanjo faction did not reckon with the new executives, claiming that no congress was held.The OBJ faction believed that only a Transition Reconciliation and Congress Committee (TRCC) was in place. The Dayo- led executive took the matter to court, noting that a due congress was conducted. The two sides went in and out of court, seeking an order restraining a particular faction from taking a step and the other seeking authentication of its faction as leaders of the party. This battle for supremacy was fought by the two sides and this led to another woeful performance in the last local government elections. Some members of the party were charged for contempt of court following their alleged refusal to obey court orders and, subsequently, were committed to prison.Penultimate Saturday, another state congress of the party was conducted by the Obasanjo faction despite an order of the state High Court authenticating the Dayo-led executive. A chieftain of the party, Honourable Bode Mustapha, at the congress which produced Senator Dipo Odujurin as the factional state chairman, said that the court could not control the affairs of the party for its members. He maintained that the conduct of the congress had nothing to do with any court order.However, the Dayo leadership had denounced the congresses held in Ogun State. In a statement made available to newsmen in Abeokuta, he said, 'these persons have continually resorted to illegalities and blatant disregard for several pronouncements by the courts. We recall that six judgements of both the federal high court and state high court have all clearly stated that the Adebayo Dayo exco is and remains the only PDP executives in Ogun State and should act on all affairs of the party until 2016."In spite of these judgements, it is unfortunate that some NWC, members led by Prince Olagunsoye Oyinlola, have combined with these serial contemnors to subvert the law, disobey court orders and continue to create confusion in Ogun PDP; whereas there ought to be none as these matters have ben settled by the law. The implication of their actions are such that it made us to put up a poor performance at the local government elections."We call on President Goodluck Jonathan, Alhaji Bamanga Tukur, security agencies, all men of goodwill and the media to call these persons and their collaborators at the national office to order.''Ekiti PDP The issue with the PDP in Ekiti State bothers on the outcome of its congress held on March 17 this year. As a matter of fact, the congress threw up existing issues in the party, which had been smouldering for some time hitherto. When President Goodluck Jonathan's campaign train berthed in Ekiti State on Wednesday, March 2, 2011, preparatory to the general election, he spoke of the gnawing division among the leaders of the party in the state.On that occasion, President Jonathan was emphatic in pointing out that with the kind of enmity among them, the party was heading for the rocks in the state and would not make any impact in the elections. He also called on them to bury their differences and help make the party solid.But the leaders held on to their courses. The PDP lost in the general election. The candidates of the party did not have cause to contest the results. Even when the courts nullified the election of one of the federal lawmakers in the state, it was not out of the strength of the PDP's petition but because a candidate of the National Transformation Party (NTP) was excluded in the election by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC). With the elections over, the leaders of the party geared for a seeming supremacy battle, as they prepared for the congress of the party in March. Observers had even held the contention that the congress of the party in the state might have been a mirage were it not that the national congress was in the offing and the state must be represented there.Thus, the congress was held and the outcome had strengthened the ripples rocking the party in the state. The well-attended congress, to observers of PDP politics in the state, was more like an opportunity by the major groups in the party in the state to stamp their authority on the party. It was the contention of some stakeholders that the congress was a make or mar for groups within the party considering the fact that new power blocks had emerged in the preceding months. For instance, the Minister of State for the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Navy Captain Caleb Olubolade (retd), was no longer a junior minister but the substantive minister overseeing the Ministry of Police Affairs, and that meant that his status had changed both at the Federal Executive Council and in the party.Of important note, too, was the return of a former governor of the state, Mr Ayodele Fayose and his obviously large following to the PDP from the Labour Party (LP). The return of Fayose created another facet to the existing groupings in the party. However, while many members and some outsiders believe that the party was more favoured to have Fayose back in its fold, others still find him of no political value to the Ekiti PDP.Those who think the return of Fayose to the party was an anathema and a destabilising factor are mainly in the group loyal to the erstwhile governor of the state, Chief Segun Oni. The Oni group, however, did not mount any serious campaign against the return of Fayose to the party and neither did the group openly oppose the development. But some members of the Oni group posted some unprintable things in the social media as a way of registering their protest to the Fayose development.As the month of the party's congress rolled in, the leaders of the party, at various levels, held series of secret conciliatory meetings to ensure the smooth conduct of the congress and sundry party activities. Following the meetings, various leaders of the party in the state came out to say that they had agreed to work together for the progress of the party, pointing out that they had smoothened all the rough edges in order to reposition the party for future challenges.Further to this, prominent members of the party in the state, who are also the leaders of major groups within the party, converged on the home of Olubolade in Ipoti-Ekiti in Ijero Local Government Area on Friday, March 2, 2012. Before the meeting of the leaders at Ipoti-Ekiti, there had been an earlier meeting, at Ado Ekiti in the evening of Thursday, March 1, a kind of parley to put all things concerning the party in proper perspective. The Ado Ekiti parley was as well-attended as that of Ipoti.Among the numerous Ekiti PDP bigwigs at the Ipoti meeting were former Governors Ayo Fayose and Segun Oni; Senator Clement Awoyelu, Chief Dayo Okondo, Chief Paul Alabi, Chief Abiodun Aluko and their host, Olubolade. The highpoint of the meeting was a joint press briefing addressed by mainly Oni and Fayose. They told newsmen at the Ipoti meeting which they rightly (or wrongly) described as 'reconciliation meeting' that all was resolved among them as they prepared for the party's congress.Among other interesting points that were of note in the build-up to the state congress was the fact that none of the leaders of the party was in any form of disagreement with the congresses that had earlier been held at the ward and local government levels. They also stated during the parley that they had decided that there would not be zoning of the positions in the party to any of the contending camps, saying 'anyone who emerges will be accepted.' They also said that the leaders had agreed among themselves that they would remain neutral and allow the delegates to choose the party executive.Against this background, the congress, which was keenly contested, saw the emergence of Mr Makanjuola Ogundipe as chairman of the party in the state against all expectations. The election saw Ogundipe scoring 318 votes as against 310 scored by Mr Akin Omole.But days after the congress, Omole derided the congress and claimed that it was not credible. According to him, some of those who were accredited to vote at the congress as well as some of those voted for were ineligible as they were not members of the party. He eventually formed a parallel executive of the party in the state and demanded, among other things, that the National Working Committee (NWC) of the PDP should hold that the congress did not conform with the rules and regulations of the party.However, in Ekiti State today, the Ogundipe-led executive committee has been the face and voice of the party in the state since the congress. Again, it has been noted by many observers of the PDP in Ekiti State that the issues in the party notwithstanding, none of its major players has defected to another party.Ondo PDPThe story of the PDP in Ondo State seems to be different from that of other states in the South-West, as the party appears to have put behind it the series of crises that engulfed it after it lost power to the Labour Party (LP) in February 2009. This may, however, not be unconnected with the approaching governorship election in the state. The majority of the members reasoned on the need to forge a common front for the election.The state chapter of the party had been engulfed in crisis immediately after the party lost power to the LP following the ruling of the Court of Appeal in Benin, which declared Dr Olusegun Mimiko as the duly elected governor of the state. The pronouncement by the court and the eventual vacation of power by Dr Olusegun Agagu was the beginning of almost three years of crises that hit the party.The first issue that led to internal wrangling among members was the right and desirable time to start campaign towards the 2012 governorship election. Some of the members of the party, led by the former Commissioner for Finance, Omotayo Alasoadura and some of his colleagues that served in the Agagu government believed they should hit the ground running with activities towards regaining the state at the next election. But another group in the party, believed to be headed by the former governor, thought otherwise and this marked the genesis of a protracted crisis that eventually led to the balkanisation of the party. When it became obvious that he would not realise his ambition of becoming a governor under the PDP, Alasoadura defected to the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), leaving behind a large chunk of his loyalists in the PDP.Then came the 2011 general election in which the party won only one seat out of the available 26 in the state House of Assembly, one seat out of the available nine seats in the House of Representatives and lost all the three senatorial seats to the ruling LP. After the elections, members started buck-passing, with a group castigating the then Minister of Defence, Adetokunbo Kayode (SAN), for not deploying soldiers in the state during the election. The development created another rumble in the party, as the group loyal to the former governor believed the former minister should be 'disciplined,' as he did not do enough for the party during the election.This led to the suspension of Kayode by the state executive of the party, then led by Dr Tayo Dairo, who accused him of using state apparatus to favour the LP against his own party. But rather than the crisis abating, it was further ignited by the suspension of Agagu and some other party leaders by another faction of the party, which also called for the dissolution of the Dairo-led executive as it was not properly constituted. The faction, led by the former Nigerian Ambassador to Australia, Professor Olu Agbi, also filed a suit at an Akure High Court, praying for the dissolution of the State Working Committee (SWC) of the party, alleging that it was not put in place according to the constitution of the party.While this lasted, members of the party also lost out in the contest for the post of minister from the state. The Presidency was said to have been inundated with calls and petitions over who should and should not be made minister from the state. After weeks of horse-trading, accusations and counter-accusations, President Jonathan settled for a neutral person and appointed Mrs Mobolaji Johnson as a minister from the state.However, when it became obvious that the party would continue to lose out in the scheme of things if the crises were allowed to continue, the leaders agreed to sheathe their swords and embrace peace. The Dairo-led executive agreed to leave the stage in the interest of peace and give way for an interim committee which piloted the affairs of the party till the congress that produced the new set of executives at the ward, local government and state levels. This led to the emergence of Ebenezer Alabi as the state chairman of the party. Since the conduct of the congress, leaders of the party have been attempting to bring all members under the same umbrella without rancor again. Some of the members of the Agbi-led faction of the party have returned into the fold and are working for the success of the party in the next election.Speaking on the development, the Director of Publicity of the party, Ayo Fadaka, said the crises in the party were things of the past, as members were more united than ever to ensure that the PDP regained its lost glory in the state. He said the reconciliation efforts embarked upon by the leaders had been yielding fruits, as many of the members that were 'behind the fence' were now fully back in the fold and had pleged their support and commitment to the success of the party.Oyo PDP Shortly after it was booted out of office by the ACN in the last general election, the PDP in Oyo State expressed its intention to return to the Agodi Government House in 2015. The PDP, according to social commentators and public affairs analysts, did not lose the governorship seat because it was an unpopular party but as a result of irreconcilable differences among its chieftains.But a few months after losing the state, a fresh move at reconciling aggrieved leaders of the party began. The fresh endeavour was championed by the Minister of State, Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Ms Olajumoke Akinjide. Basically, these aggrieved leaders can be grouped into two. The first and the one adjudged as the more important group for the PDP's planned return to power to be realisable is headed by a former governor of the state, Senator Rashidi Ladoja, who now plies his political trade in the Accord Party (AP), a young party that made a strong showing in the last general election, despite being launched about four months to the election. The second group teamed up with the ACN to form the current government and it is composed of Chief Yekeen Adeojo, Senator Lekan Balogun, Chief Hazeem Gbolarumi, Senator Teslim Folarin and others.The crisis seemed over when, at a second-leg meeting called by Ms Akinjide at the Premier Hotel in Ibadan as a follow up to the one earlier held in Abuja, all bitter enemies in the state chapter of the PDP sat together by the same table and embraced one another in the spirit of camaraderie and rapprochement. In an address on the occasion, Senator Balogun said, 'when Jumoke Akinjide first invited us to Abuja for a peace meeting of Oyo PDP, some of us were sceptical about honouring the invitation. But when we got to Abuja, we were happy we went. When we listened to her talk, we became happier. Her intentions for PDP are sincere'Of all the South-West states the PDP lost, Oyo is the most viable for the party to reclaim.'But not long after that meeting, the chasm among the supposedly reconciled leaders of the party resurfaced in the build up to the last nationwide congresses of the party. There was a new realignment and division along two camps. One camp is peopled by the immediate past governor of the state, Chief Adebayo Alao-Akala, Balogun, Folarin, Senator Hosea Agboola, and some National Assembly members and the camp is believed to be opposed to the return of Ladoja. The other, which is loyal to the FCT Minister of State, has a former deputy governor, Chief Taofeek Arapaja, many of the commissioners and aides during the Alao-Akala administration, former speakers, former state party chairmen and many others. The latter group not only wants members of Ladoja's party, which is still a force to be reckoned with in the state, integrated in the new Oyo PDP, they also clamour that the state leadership of the party be conferred on Ladoja. Chief Alao-Akala is said to have joined this group and met with Senator Ladoja more than four times.The division characterised the last congresses of the part in the state, leading to parallel congresses and the emergence of two state working committees. There are two parallel secretariats- one at Mokola, on Queen Elizabeth Road and the other on Yemetu Road. Not even the familiarisation visit of the zonal vice-chairman of the party, Chief Segun Oni, could heal the open sore among chieftains of the party and address the 'us' versus 'them' perception among members of the same political family.Following the irregularities in the congresses held in the state earlier this year, the PDP NWC has listed the state chapter among those to be dissolved and an all-encompassing one reconstituted. When the time for the reconstitution comes, the contention between the centrifugal force (those opposed to Ladoja's return) and the centripetal force (those who want Ladoja to return and help in rebuilding the party he was a foundation and Board of Trustees member of) is likely to rear its head again.Perhaps preparatory to the visit of the national chairman of the party, Alhaji Bamanga Tukur, to the South-West zone as part of a nationwide tour of state chapters of the party, the Oni-led zonal leadership has set up a reconciliation committee headed by Mr Dapo Sarumi to re-unite the feuding leaders. One of the challenges before the committee is to get all the leaders to sit at a round table. Senator Balogun, a few months ago, shut his doors against Ladoja, Akinjide and others who were to meet in his house earlier. The meeting was summoned by Ladoja as directed by former President Olusegun Obasanjo, who was said to have also sanctioned Ladoja's leadership of a new Oyo PDP.In an exclusive interview with the Nigerian Tribune recently, a leader in the party and immediate past boss of the State Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB), Professor Soji Adejumo, alleged that those who oppose Ladoja's return to the PDP were agent provocateurs of the ruling Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) and that they were doing what they had been paid for.As 2015 elections approach, the Oyo PDP is likely to remain an opposition party should the gulf among its leaders continue to widen. Already, the role of a constructive opposition party is not being played by the Oyo PDP, which appears to have fallen like a pack of cards and its walls encroached by all manner of deadly creatures. The hope of the party returning to the Agodi Government House in 2015 will be a tall dream should the disagreement continue. It remains to be seen if Tukur and Sarumi will be able to end this bitter clamour of two eager tongues.
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