Amid Legal Bottleneck, PDP Begins March to Recovery?

PDP is trying to reunite following a leadership tussle that has almost torn the party apart, but it faces a legal hurdle and another chairmanship battle whose effect on the erstwhile ruling party remains uncertain. Onyebuchi Ezigbo writes

The former ruling party, the Peoples Democratic Party, is trying hard to recover from a self-inflicted leadership crisis it has suffered since the last three months. The party which was almost at the brink of disintegration, but the leaders have suddenly pulled themselves together again to seek ways of cleaning up the mess. Apart from the successes recorded by the reconciliatory engagements with aggrieved party men led by ousted national chairman, Senator Ali Modu Sheriff, the party, through the Board of Trustees, has kick-started moves to woo some of the founding fathers of PDP back to the fold.

Legal Hurdle
But a ruling on Thursday by the Federal High Court, Abuja, seems to have thrown a spanner in the works. Justice Okon Abang, while ruling in a suit filed by the factional chairman of PDP, Sheriff, declared all actions taken by the Senator Ahmed Makarfi-led national caretaker committee since it was installed in Port Harcourt on May 21 as illegal and of no effect. The committee had been set up at the controversial national convention in Port Harcourt following the dissolution of the National Working Committee of the party, which Sheriff headed.

Abang ruled, “Parties have an uncompromising duty to obey court order until it is set aside. 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.

“Having regard to the order of the court, PDP had no lawful authority to hold the convention that led to the emergence of the Makarfi-led Committee.
“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.

“Consequently, any action taken by the Makarfi-led Committee, including the purported mandate for legal representation in this matter is hereby declared illegal.
“If the Makarfi-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.”
Going by this ruling, it does seem the fresh national convention of the party planned for August 17 in Port Harcourt may not hold, except a superior court gives a contrary judgement.

But a statement on Thursday by spokesman of the Makarfi committee, Dayo Adeyeye, insisted that PDP would go ahead with its convention. Adeyeye stated, “We have just received information that Justice Okon Abang of the federal high court in Abuja has granted an order of interlocutory injunction stopping our scheduled national convention in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, but we want to state that the judgment of the 4th of July, 2016 supersedes any ex-parte order or interlocutory Injunctions.

“So, our national convention will hold as scheduled in Port Harcourt, Rivers State.”
THISDAY learnt that the ruling by the Federal High Court, Abuja, might serve as a mere bargaining chip for the Sheriff group in the on-going reconciliation effort within PDP.

Soliciting Ciroma’s Support
Last Monday, the BoT made a move to solicit the support of one of the founding members of the party and former central bank governor, Alhaji Adamu Ciroma. As the BoT team led by its chairman, Senator Walid Jibrin, arrived Ciroma’s residence at Wuse 11, all were apprehensive because of the politician’s outspoken nature and his critical disposition to what has been going on within the PDP. But the delegation had apparently gotten assurances of a good reception from Ciroma’s wife, who is also a member of the board.

As expected the former Minister of Finance and an elder statesman did not fail to admonish the party for its mistakes of the past. Ciroma went straight to the point and advised the leadership of the PDP to stop lamenting its woes but to try to take advantage of the mistakes of the APC-led administration as it prepares for the next general election in 2019. Apart from urging the party to reorient members to begin to see their role in politics as service to humanity, Ciroma punched holes in the performance of the APC administration, “Today, PDP didn’t lose and APC didn’t win because APC has a lot to do, as when you talk about politics you talk about PDP.

When you talk of politics people talk about PDP as if APC does not exist. So far APC is not playing the right role. APC will make a lot of mistakes and PDP must be ready to put things right and all of you must be ready to contribute, participate and to get involved in governance for the interest of ordinary Nigerians.”

Those who were on the BoT delegation were former deputy senate presidents, Senator Ibrahim Mantu, Senator Adolphus Wagbara, and former Minister of Information, Jerry Gana, Taminu Turaki and Senator Stella Omu.
Ciroma, who withdrew from active politics in PDP before the 2015 general elections due to what he called personal issues, regretted that he had forewarned the party of imminent dangers ahead but his counsel was not heeded.

He stated, “Just before the last elections and when we saw the trend of events, I warned members of the PDP to prepare for whatever eventuality that may come but they did not listen and they lost. Everybody who participates in politics must to do so for a good cause, for economic benefit and political stability of ordinary Nigerians. There will always be more than one party and the beauty of democracy is that everyone who has chance to rule should be given the chance to make his mistakes.

“I insist that people must play the rightful role in politics and that role is to promote the interest of the poor masses. Anybody can make a mistake. The beauty of it is that every party that has a chance to rule has the chance to make mistakes.”

Jibrin told the gathering that as part of the party’s efforts to ensure cohesion among its leaders and members, they party paid a solidarity visit to the Senate Caucus where it prevailed on its members not to take part in the alleged impeachment moves against President Muhammadu Buahri. According to him, the party considers the issues being raised by the APC over the election of Senator Ike Ekwerenmadu as Deputy Senate President as unwarranted. He cautioned against external interference in the events at the National Assembly, adding that such a move would only serve to over-heat the polity.

After the BoT chairman, it was the turn of one of the key leaders of the PDP, former Minister of Information, Jerry Gana, who took to the stage and extolled the qualities and contributions of Ciroma to the formation of the PDP. He pleaded with the elder statesman not to abandon the party but to re-join his political family and help in the march to retake power come 2019.

Mantu, in his remarks, said PDP had learnt a hard lesson from its past mistakes, adding, “There is every reason to believe that the party is now ready to chart a new course in order to correct what has gone wrong in the country.” Similarly, Wabara said the party’s leadership was now determined more than ever to chart a new course for the interest of the country’s democracy and its sustainability.

Makarfi’s Ratification
In a boost to the PDP recovery process, the Independent National Electoral Commission on Tuesday ratified the administrative approval granted to the chairman of the PDP National Caretaker Committee, Senator Ahmed Makarfi. The commission said it took the decision based on the judgement of the Federal High Court, Port-Harcourt, explaining that it would henceforth deal with the Makarfi leadership in all activities requiring the participation of political parties.

According to its Decision Extract issued on July 14 and signed by the director of the commission’s secretariat, Ishiaku A. Gali, INEC said it would recognise the national caretaker’s activities such “as the conduct of primaries of political officers; and the submission of the plaintiff’s list of the candidate for any election to be conducted by the commission.”

The commission said it received the name of PDP’s governorship candidate for the Edo State governorship election forwarded to it by the Makarfi-led faction of the PDP, which had earlier secured an order from the Port Harcourt High Court.

Zoning Arrangement
Buoyed by the INEC recognition and the success of its reconciliatory efforts, which saw one of the key elements in the Sheriff camp and a leading member from the South-west, Senator Buruji Kashamu, returning to its fold, the PDP leadership moved to set in motion processes for holding a fresh national convention on August 17. The national caretaker committee went further to set up an 88-member zoning committee headed by the governor of Ebony State, Dave Umahi. The zoning committee has also submitted its report, reaffirming the decision of the party to zone the presidential ticket in the 2019 to the North and the national chairman to the South.

However, the zoning committee introduced a novelty into the entire process by declaring the chairmanship post open to all the geopolitical zones in the South.
The zoning committee of the PDP headed by Umahi in its report submitted to the national caretaker committee on Tuesday at the party’s temporary office in Abuja, recommended that apart from the presidential candidate and the national chairmanship seat, which were already zoned out, the rest the 21 national offices were to be shared between the North and the South on pro-rata basis.

Details of the zoning plan show that the positions zoned to the North include Deputy National Chairman, National Secretary, National Financial Secretary, National Publicity Secretary, and National Auditor. Other posts also zoned to the North are National Woman Leader, Deputy National Treasurer, Deputy National Organising Secretary, Deputy National Youth Leader, Deputy National Legal Adviser and Deputy National Secretary.

Under the zoning arrangement, the PDP zoned National Chairman, Deputy National Chairman ( 1), National Treasurer, National Legal Adviser, National Youth Leader, and National Organising Secretary to the South. Also zoned to the South are Deputy National Publicity Secretary, Deputy National Woman Leader, Deputy National Auditor, and Deputy National Financial Secretary.

Umahi explained that in arriving at the zoning arrangement, the committee considered earlier zoning formula in the party since its inception to date, and equally examined previous happenings in the party in respect of restrictions to equal participation of members.

According to the Ebonyi State governor, “Consequently, it desired a paradigm shift from the unsatisfactory practices within the party operations and that all positions should be keenly contested for among the major zones they are zoned to in order to open the space and allow for full participation of members.

“That the chairmanship of the party be zoned to the southern zones bearing in mind that the presidential ticket of the party for 2019 was zoned to the northern zones as approved by the national convention in Port Harcourt, Rivers State on Saturday, May 21, 2016.”

The governor said the committee also made provisions for two positions of Deputy National Chairman, which will be shared between the North and South. According to him, the zoning committee also recommended that the party amends its constitution to make provision for the six National Vice Chairmen to henceforth be included as members of the National Working Committee.

Chairmanship Tussle
As the stakeholders of PDP prepare for a fresh national convention in Port Harcourt, some prominent members of the party, including the former deputy national chairman, Prince Uche Secondus, and a member of the BoT, Chief Bode George, have been tipped to contest for the chairmanship position. Others interested in the job are the chairman of Daar Communications Plc, Chief Raymond Dokpesi (South-south), Prof. Tunde Adeniran, Jimi Agbaje, and Austin Opara.

Secondus has, apparently, been positioning himself to take over as the next national chairman of the party, but his chances are being negatively affected by the perceived unpleasant roles played by the immediate past NWC of which he was a member. That NWC has been blamed for PDP’s poor performance at the 2015 presidential election. This feeling had led many stakeholders of the party, including former ministers and appointees of the Jonathan’s administration, to vehemently oppose the continued stay in office of the last NWC members.

But the concerns have not dampened the spirit of the Rivers State-born political tactician who as acting national chairman of the PDP set in motion the process for the on-going reforms and repositioning in the party. It was under his watch that the party set up the post 2015 general election review panel headed by Ekwerenmadu. To his credit, the party not only endorsed the rectified report of the panel but also formally endorsed one of its key recommendations that the next presidential candidate of the party should come from the North. Beyond that, Secondus enjoys the confidence and support of many PDP governors, especially the governor of his home state, Rivers State, Nyesom Wike.

Ever since the approval for a fresh national convention for August 17 was made, Secondus has been working behind the scenes and lobbying stakeholders to ensure that he secures their mandate to occupy the exalted position.
Secondus will have to contend with another equally strong aspirant from his zone, the South-south, Dokpesi. Dopkesi has indicated his interest in gunning for the position and has indeed kick-started his campaign with a meeting in his home state of Edo, where he solicited the support of the members.

Another stalwart of the party and the former zonal vice chairman for South-west, George, is also in the race. But the apparent lack of unity among the leaders in the South-west, which currently has one of the highest number of aspirants for the chairmanship position, may be a disadvantage for the former military governor of Ondo State.

Also in the race for the chairmanship seat is a former Minister of Education, Prof. Tunde Adeniran, who has assured that he will lead the party with integrity if he emerges chairman. Adeniran said he was going to reinvent and reposition PDP. A statement by his campaign manager, Taiwo Akeju, on Monday, quoted Adeniran as urging party members to vote for capable hands during the coming national convention.

His statement said, “We believe that the South-west and, indeed, the entire country must come together at this critical period of our national development. Professor Adeniran has been drafted into the race by the leaders of the party and stakeholders across the various zones of the country.
“Adeniran possesses the required experience, integrity and immense capacity to lead the party at this critical period.”

Many believe the governorship candidate of PDP in Lagos State at the last general election, Agbaje, may be the dark horse in the race.
Nigerians can only wait to see how the issues would play out in the main opposition party.