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PDP: Beyond Supreme Court verdict

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General Editor, EMEKA ALEX DURU, examines the task before the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), even with the recent Supreme Court victory by its mainstream leadership.

 

While chieftains and supporters of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) celebrate the recent Supreme Court resolution of leadership crisis in its fold, there are still fears of the party encountering more challenges ahead.

The Court had on Wednesday, July 12, 2017, affirmed the Caretaker Committee led by Kaduna State former Governor, Ahmed Makarfi, as the authentic national leadership of the party.

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With the judgment, the February 27 pronouncement by the Port Harcourt Division  of the Court of Appeal, which had recognised Borno State former governor, Ali Modu Sheriff, as national chairman of the party, was set aside.

That, effectively brought to an end, the 14-month crisis that had polarized the party and had seen some of its members defecting to the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) or joining newly registered political parties.

Resolution of the impasse in favour of Makarfi also brought new life into the party. And the mainstream membership had enthused consequently.

Apparently riding on the excitement in the party, the leadership had reportedly fixed October for its national convention. Though the timetable for the exercise is yet to be officially unfolded, grapevine sources had last week indicated that PDP would zone its presidential ticket to the North, while the South would produce the vice presidential candidate.

Of course, given that the South had been on the presidential seat for 14 years (Olusegun Obasanjo, 8 and Goodluck Jonathan, 6; the North, two years, under the late Umaru Yar’Adua), out of  its 16 years in power before losing to the APC in 2015, the zoning of its presidential ticket, may not cause much ripples among the members.

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It is the zoning of the other offices between the two major regions and various geo-political zones that many fear would pose another round of apprehension in the party.

Repackaging a fractured entity,

PDP had, after its fatal outing in the March 2015 general election, sold impressions of having learnt from its mistake. In the process, its leadership had embarked on resolution of outstanding disputes among its members.

Part of the exercise was in asking the North East Zone to complete its term (tenure) for National Chairman till March 2016 when the National Convention was originally scheduled to hold.

Bauchi State former governor, Adamu Mu’Azu, had assumed the position of PDP National Chairman shortly before the 2015 general elections. But following the inability of his team to return the party to victory, there were demands from many members of the party on him to go. In bowing to the prevailing opinion, the former governor threw in the towel.

 

With his exit, Uche Secondus, then, the National Deputy Chairman, took over in acting capacity. But following a court process initiated by former President Goodluck Jonathan’s aide, Ahmed Gulak, he was thrown out.

To guard against vacuum in the leadership of the party, former and serving governors on its platform, picked Sheriff, as the chairman.

 

Aside encouraging the North East to complete its tenure for national chairmanship, other moves were made to ensure stability in the party.

 

PDP zones offices

 

In one of such efforts, a committee led by the Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu, had zoned the party’s Presidential ticket to the North. The deduction by many was that by that concession, technically, the National Chairman of the party would come from the South of the country.

Even as the committee was silent on zoning the chairmanship, it was gleaned from standard practice that the party would not do the contrary. The estimation was that by that, the zoning of other positions would follow in a manner that would give way for rebuilding the party.

Subsequent arrangements as recommended by the Governor Emmanuel Udom-led committee, saw the party’s zoning structure thus: National Chairman (North-East), Deputy National Chairman (South-South), National Secretary                              (South-West), Deputy National Secretary                 (North-Central), National Legal Adviser                      (North-West), Deputy National Legal Adviser          (South-South), National Treasurer                            (South-South), Deputy National Treasurer                  (North-West), National Financial Secretary              (North-Central), Deputy National Financial Sec.          (South-East), National Woman Leader                   (North-West), Deputy National Woman Leader        (South-South), National Auditor                               (South-West), Deputy National Auditor                    (North-East), National Publicity Secretary               (South-West), Deputy National Publicity Secretary (North-Central), National Organizing Secretary (South-East), Deputy National Organizing Secretary (North-Central), National Youth Leader (South-East), Deputy National Youth Leader (North-West).

The exercise did not go down well with many members of the party. It was the distrust arising from this highly criticised zoning formula that accounted for the Sheriff/Makarfi leadership tussle.

 

Supreme Court to the rescue?

 

With the Supreme Court verdict and the clamour for transparency in the conduct of affairs of the party, it is not known if its leadership will stick on the flawed zoning structure or come up with a more acceptable and equitable arrangement.

By press time, Monday, July 17, meeting of the Expanded National Caucus of the party, scheduled at its Wadata Plaza, Abuja Headquarters, had not been concluded.

Those expected at the meeting were, former Presidents and Vice Presidents, Governors and former Governors on the ticket of the party, National Executive Committee (NEC) members, Board of Trustees (BoT) members, National Assembly members, former PDP Ministers and all former National Officers of the party.

Meetings of the Board of Trustees (BoT) and National Executive Committee (NEC) of the party were also fixed for Tuesday, July 18, 2017, at the same venue.

Notwithstanding, a PDP South East Senator, who did not want to be mentioned, described the outcome of the Abuja meetings as “Developments that would either position the party for a fresh start or sink it to more troubles”.

He added that any faulty moves arising from the discussions might see the PDP drifting into more crises that it may not be able to recover from.

“Don’t forget that the trouble has not been finally extinguished. We are still hanging on in a delicate balance, though considerably better than where we were before last week. I expect us to be more careful this time around. We may not be lucky to have the Supreme Court coming to our rescue again. We must allow justice and equity prevail, this time around”, he said.

Imo State former governor, Ikedi Ohakim, also made similar remarks. He had in a statement, argued that though the Apex Court judgement may have restored semblance of peace in the party, there were still political side of the matter that needed to be attended to.

He said, “The recent Supreme Court ruling on the protracted leadership dispute in our great party, the PDP, may have technically laid the matter to rest but there still remains the political side of it.

“As some of us had maintained while the crisis lasted, judicial verdicts do not usually heal political wounds. Agreed that the refrain since the judgment was delivered has been ‘no victor no vanquished’, we should look beyond mere sloganeering or clichés to cultivate a genuine passion for true reconciliation.

“The court ruling merely provided the party elders and leaders with a handle to pursue genuine reconciliation. To achieve that requires a lot of maturity and readiness to make sacrifices”.

There are fears on how the PDP would go about the needed sacrifice to attain lasting peace among its members. Critics in fact, snigger that given the party’s tradition in failing its supporters when it matters most, it may not even draw much from the Supreme Court verdict, except, in irony of sort, slipping into more crisis, in the days ahead.

There is, for instance grave concern on how to handle the various chapters that had been torn to many factions even before the emergence of the Makarfi – Sheriff face-off.

Two major issues, thus, currently confront the party, aside reconciling its aggrieved members. One is harmonizing its rancorous state chapters. The other remains finding acceptable zoning structure for its national offices.

With its culture of arrogance in allocating resources and offices among its members, as well as total absence of internal democracy in the conduct of its affairs, there is huge question mark on how PDP would manage the obviously daunting tasks before it.

But perhaps, having learnt its lessons from its loss in 2015 and with an eye on returning to power in 2019, it may come out with a reformed attitude and outlook that may, again, make it a party to beat.

 

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