Attempt by the Board of trustees of the Peoples Democratic Party to broker peace between Senator Ali Modu Sheriff-led faction and the National Caretaker committee of the party hit the rocks last week as he maintained that for the lingering quagmire to be resolved, the proposed national convention scheduled for tomorrow, August 17 in Port Harcourt should be put off, and the so-called care taker committee dissolved to allow for a fresh start.
Ali Modu-Sheriff while making his position known at a meeting with the Makarfi-led caretaker committee also insisted that the new convention which he is proposing must be held in Abuja and the governor of Rivers state, Nyesom Wike should not head the convention committee.
His position on the conflict that has dogged the party for upward of one year now as far as political pundits are concerned is not a request too difficult to meet if members of the party are genuinely interested in peace and reconciliation, but some individuals who believe that the party is their birth right are bent on ensuring that the convention goes ahead at their behest. In a situation where you have two factions already, an arbiter cannot just tell one of the factions to collapse its structures and wholeheartedly accept the dictates of the other as the way forward to ending the crisis. This can never work and I believe strongly that Senator Alli Modu -Sheriff has a strong point and he is damn right. The position of the style guru can only exacerbate the feud rather than resolving it.
The problems with the PDP are numerous, multi-faceted and interwovenly complex. The party harbours all manners of characters. Some old, self-centred fellows who believe that the country is their personal property and the PDP is the vehicle for them to continually enrich themselves and their descendants. There are some others who believe that if not them and their interests, then no other person’s. This explains the high level of greed, in satiety and intolerance amongst them. This is also why the crisis currently rocking the party may really not end any time soon.
This equally explains why Senator Sheriff had at the opening session of the aborted reconciliation meeting accused some members of the party’s BoT of being part of the problems in the party. In his words: “If our leaders have taken their responsibilities, we would never have had most of the problems we are facing today. When a leader refused to stand up to his responsibilities, there will be problem. Some of our leaders are party to our problem. the moment we want to use one impunity to address another, it will not work,” His expressions speaks volume of the intrigues, despicable maneuverings, and attendant discrepancies within and amongst the party membership. It is a community where dog eat dog. The PDP is a society where only a few lord their decisions and wishes on the vast follow-follow majority. It is an association where wickedness is celebrated to its zenith by those who hold it down. It is like a witchcraft coven where all decisions taken are against its own progress. All of these didn’t start today. It dates from the days of Chief Vincent Ogbulafor as National Chairman where so many members were wickedly de-registered from the party.
Thereafter came the era of Chief Tony Anenih as chairman of the Board of Trustees where his evil hanky-panky games were the order of the day. Party primaries were mere ceremonies where only his anointed candidates emerged and any member opposed to his candidates were either de-registered, suspended or expelled for all sorts of thrumped-up charges. There has never been fairness, equity or level playing ground. Even my brother, Pastor Osagie Ize-Iymau knows what I am writing about.
It is instructive, therefore, that the reconciliation committee headed by former Minister of Information, Professor Jerry Gana empanelled and inaugurated recently by the BoT Chairman, Senator Walid Jibrin to find political solution to the lingering crisis appears to be on a wild goose chase. From the blast of the whistle, the committee seems to be only out to undo the Ali Modou Sheriff faction from the way they have been carrying on. Otherwise, they would have taken some of the positions being canvassed by the Ali Modu-Sherif faction and some of Makarfi’s group. The reason is simple: Whenever you go to equity, you must go not only with clean hands, but with an open mind. If you go to the negotiation table, you must be prepared to shift ground to accommodate the other party’s interest so that in the end, it will be a win-win for all. For instance, in Edo State gubernatorial election coming up on September 10, Mr. Mathew Iduoriyekemwen is the PDP candidate for the Ali Modu Sherif’s faction while, Pastor Osagie Ize-Iyamu is of the Markarfi faction. This duplicity has not been resolved by the Jerry Gana-led committee. They are relying on INEC’s present disposition which may dangerously boomerang in no distant time.
Unarguably, Senator Sheriff was right when he insisted that the ward, local government and state congresses already concluded and approved by the National Executive Committee (NEC) must stand. You cannot wake up and tell his faction to dismantle all their structures so that you can have your way. The committee is not putting anything on the table from the Markarfi end, they are not also offering to shift any ground or drop any of their positions, yet they want peace. Peace can’t come that cheap. This is the crux of the unending matter.
They seem to be taking the Ali Modu-Sheriff faction for granted and that is where they are getting it all wrong because as far as the faction is concerned, Mathew Iduoriyekemwen is the party’s candidate for the upcoming Edo gubernatorial election. There are over fifteen cases in court regarding the PDP disputes. Both factions have won at the court of initial instance. If the Edo governorship candidacy gets to the supreme court and judgement is given in favour of the Ali Modou Sherif’s faction as they have gotten at the lower courts, Mathew Iduoriyekemwen will have to be sworn in as governor, even after the election if the PDP accidentally wins. There is a precedence to this judicial scenario in Rivers State between Celestine Omehia and Rotimi Amaechi. That is what the greedy lots in the PDP are potentially toying with. But what is obvious in the Edo governorship election is that the APC candidate, Mr. Godwin Obaseki is sure to trounce the two PDP candidates put together.
What about the Ondo election where the Ali Modu Sheriff faction is equally set to produce its governorship candidate? The list is endless.
The Jerry Gana Committee and the Markarfi faction of the PDP need to come off their utopian height and unprofitable voodoo mission and face the reality bedeviling the sinking party, otherwise, the catastrophe that would hit the party from now till 2019 would be such that the party would literarily cease to exist. It will only be wise for the scheduled National Convention to be suspended, the caretaker committee dissolved until all issues plaguing the party are properly put in a roundtable with open minds and clear intentions. Anything short of this will lead the party to the gallows as its final destination.
• Mr. Dan Owegie is a chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Edo State.
