Deputy Editor, LEON USIGBE writes on the implications of the Court of Appeal’s pronouncement on legality of the last PDP convention and how it may affect the supremacy of the national conventions of other political parties.
MANY political observers were taken by surprise by the decision handed down by the Court of Appeal last week affirming Senator Ali Modu Sheriff as the national chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). Beyond the Sheriff’s camp, it was a judgment that was hardly expected anywhere else. The National Caretaker Committee led by Senator Ahmed Mohammed Makarfi did not see how the decision could have gone against it in view of the provisions of the party’s constitution that its national convention is the supreme organ of the party.
Recall that the National Caretaker Committee was the creation of the May 21, 2016 national convention held in Port Harcourt, Rivers State. Its powers are spelt out under Part X (2) of the 2012 Constitution (as amended). Subtitled “Functions,” the sections holds: “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 representatives, policy making and administering body of the party.
Subsection (3) says: Except in the exercise of the functions granted only to other bodies as specified in this Constitution or in the regulations made pursuant to the provisions of this Constitution, 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.”
Prologue
The controversial May 21, 2016 national convention was thought to have been properly convened having arisen from a resolution of the party’s National Executive Committee (NEC) presided over by Sheriff himself. Indeed, he had gone to Port Harcourt with the hope of being confirmed as the National Chairman and his tenure elongated till 2018 as had been agreed at the NEC of the party. But he soon sensed that things would turn out differently as party stakeholders, particularly state governors elected under the party, conspired to do away with him.
Ekiti State governor, Ayo Fayose, explained why the party stakeholders moved against him. He said they found out that Sheriff as the national chairman of the party, had colluded with the National Secretary, Professor Wale Oladipo and the National Auditor, Fatai Adeyanju, to drag the party before a Lagos High Court with a prayer to stop the conduct of elections into their respective offices. They based their argument on the fact that their tenure was yet to lapse even though the NEC had resolved that all national officers should resign to pave the way for new elections at the convention.
Fayose revealed that when Sheriff was confronted with the court papers showing him listed among the plaintiffs in the case, he profusely denied but was made to denounce the court case in writing in exchange for support at the convention. The court case was what Fayose revealed was the reason the stakeholders vowed to do away with the former Borno State governor.
But Sheriff has been known to be a dogged fighter, never wanting his detractors to overcome him in any battle. He knew that as the national chairman of the party, the Constitution under section 35 (1) (a), equips him with the powers to preside over the national convention and with his position no longer tenable in the estimation of the party stakeholders, he struck in order to save his neck. He announced the postponement of the convention, relying on the same court order that he had earlier disclaimed.
The convention went ahead without him under the leadership of then Deputy National Chairman of PDP, Uche Secondus. While it complied with the court order not to conduct election into the three national offices of national chairman, national secretary and national auditor as directed, it however resolved to dissolve the Sheriff-led NWC and in its place, established the National Caretaker Committee. Sheriff rejected the convention’s outcome as he insisted that having been elected at the NEC of the party, his tenure would only lapse in 2018.
Maintaining status quo ante
Sheriff has been able to convince the Court Appeal that he remains the national chairman of the party as the court held that the status quo ante be maintained. Meaning that the PDP National Working Committee (NWC) is reverted to the pre-May 21, 2016 national convention.
Politics watchers are worried by the implications of the judgement, first, because only three elected members including the national chairman, the national secretary and the national auditor are left in the 12-member NWC following the resignation of others in compliance with the resolution of NEC even though Sheriff had unilaterally appointed a few others in acting capacity including deputy national chairman, national publicity secretary, national legal adviser and national organising secretary. Secondly, the judgement questions the supremacy of the national convention not just as it concerns the PDP but all other political parties as it can cited as precedence in cases that may arise in future across all political parties.
Thirdly, there is a subsisting court order that nullified the process leading to his emergence of Sheriff as the party boss. An Abuja High Court presided over by Justice Valentine Ashi, had in June 2016, declared as “null and void” the process that produced him as the National Chairman of the party after the judge had faulted the amended PDP Constitution in 2014 that led to Sheriff’s selection following the resignation of former Bauchi State governor, Adamu Muazu. The amendment had zoned the office of the national chairman of the party to the North-East, but in his ruling on the matter, Justice Ashi held that the amendment was a violation of the Electoral Act. The court had described the actions of the PDP leaders who participated in the amendment of the document as illegal. Sheriff did not appeal the court’s decision.
The supremacy of the national conventions
The thinking of Senator Makarfi is that the pronouncement questions the supremacy of the national convention. He told Sunday Tribune that it has grave implications for, not just the supremacy of the national conventions of political parties but the survival of democracy as a whole. He said: “Forget about PDP. Going forward, this is a decision that will be cited. Should political parties agree that their conventions have limitations? What is the power of a political party at its convention? Can an individual unilaterally stop a convention? These are fundamental issues arising from the judgment of this Court of Appeal. You must clear them for the sake of democracy, you must answer and clear them. This is beyond Sheriff; it is beyond Makarfi. It has touched on some fundamental political party activism which invariably affects the development of democracy.”
Former National Legal Adviser of the PDP, Victor Kwon, agrees with him. Speaking to Sunday Tribune in his personal capacity, he noted: “The national convention of, not just the PDP but other political parties, is the supreme plenary gathering of all members of the political party. And so, of course, if it takes a position, it is the position that represents the plenary position of the party. So, if you now have a position such as we have, it therefore means that either the conventions are meaningless or do not have any powers at all. So, it actually has far-reaching implications, not just for PDP, but for political parties generally.”
This is why his National Caretaker Committee has now applied for a stay of judgement and also heading for the Supreme Court for final interpretation. In what the last stakeholders meeting hailed as a proactive decision, the Makarfi leadership lodged an appeal to the Supreme Court of Nigeria against the decision of the Court of Appeal as well as filing an application for Injunction Pending Appeal last Monday, stressing its abiding faith in the capacity of the judiciary to protect Nigeria’s democracy and political aspirations of the Nigerian people, particularly at the level of the Supreme Court, “proven repeatedly over time, is aided by the profound, fearless, irrepressible, comprehensive and insightful minority decision of T. N. Orji-Abadua, J. C. A. in CA/PH/349/2016 SHERIFF & ORS. VS. PDP & ORS., whom we salute for doing the judiciary proud in spite of the predatory interferences of anti-democratic forces and State actors.”
The stakeholders meeting hosted by Fayose in his Abuja residence following the sealing off of the International Conference Centre (ICC), Abuja by the police to prevent the party from using the venue, deliberated on the Court of Appeal judgment and resolved to pass “a resounding and unqualified vote of confidence in the leadership of the Sen. Ahmed Mohammed Makarfi-led National Caretaker Committee of the Peoples Democratic Party and pledge our unalloyed support to it as it pilots the affairs of the party in this critical transitional period of the party’s life.” The 12-point communique issued at the end of the meeting noted: “To this end, we are not at all deceived by the supposed olive branch being offered by Senator Ali Modu Sherrif, knowing that the only thing that can come from traitors of his ilk is nothing but a poisoned chalice and a Greek gift.”
Sheriff forging ahead
Observers may be convinced that the Appeal Court’s decision will reverberate in future on the supremacy of the national conventions of other political parties, but that is the least of Sheriff’s worries at this moment.
With his hands firmed by the court pronouncement, Sheriff is undeterred. He says his next move now is to hold consultations with party stakeholders preparatory to organizing another national convention after which he would step aside as the party chairman. As he put it, this is a personal sacrifice he is willing to make for the sake of unity in the PDP. But that is not before he stamps out impunity and return the party to the grass root owners. “I am not interested in holding the office of the National Chairman of PDP. What I am interested in is to reunite and rebuild the party to make sure that we have credible leaders in the party that will take us successfully into winning elections in 2019 by the grace of Allah. Let me put it on record that the survival of PDP is greater than anyone of us and this party was in government for 16 years and today is the beginning of going back to Aso Rock,” he declared last week.
Sheriff admonished politicians to refrain from viewing the court’s decision as a personal victory for him and a personal loss to Makarfi, because to him, there was no winner or loser. But he did not fail to observe that even though he thought the courts were not the best way to resolve political differences, the Judiciary had proved to be a credible bastion of democracy and must not therefore be denigrated by politicians.
Acceptability and trust issues
The party chairman’s biggest problem now is for his leadership to be acceptable to arguably the majority of the PDP members. Judging by attendances at meetings of both factions since the advent of the crisis, it is not difficult to conclude that the National Caretaker Committee commands the loyalty of the majority of the party membership. Sheriff’s most prominent backers are Senators Buruji Kashamu and Hope Uzodinma as well as Edo state House of Representatives member, Johnson Agbonayinma, whereas the National Caucus of the party led by Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu, it’s Governors Forum, the Board of Trustees (BoT) and a host of former PDP governors, lawmakers and ministers are tagging along with Makarfi. Even with the court judgment in the bag, he therefore still struggles to attract the juggernauts of the former ruling party as there seems to be a question of trust hanging on his collar.
The Makarfi group has already advised itself not to fall for the deceit of the “olive branch being offered by Sen. Ali Modu Sherrif, knowing that the only thing that can come from traitors of his ilk is nothing but a poisoned chalice and a Greek gift.” This is worsened by the long-running suspicion that he may be working for the ruling All Progressive Congress (APC). Two events upon the delivery of the Appeal Court ruling reinforced the belief of the National Caretaker Committee that Sheriff is in alliance with the APC or its government. Special Assistant to President Muhammadu Buhari, Luaretta Onochie, was among the first to congratulate Sheriff on the judgment. This was followed by a condemnation of the Makarfi leadership by the chairman of the APC Governors’ Forum and governor of Imo state, Rochas Okorocha over its decision to challenge the judgement.
In an angry statement issued after the PDP stakeholders meeting in which he called the participants “lawless political marabouts and desperate gamblers,” Okorocha said among others: “Concerned stakeholders in the legal profession, decent observers and men and women of enlightened conscience are surprised that Senator Makarfi and his rebellious group will delude themselves into believing that a valid and subsisting majority judgement of the penultimate court of the land can be nibbled at to the point of being brazenly disobeyed because of a dissenting minority judgement. This is completely unacceptable”.
Sheriff though, has denied that he is working for the APC, saying last week that those accusing him of working for the ruling party have something to hide. However, while issuing conciliatory statements to members, particularly PDP state governors still opposed to him, he is on the other hand dismissing them as people beneath his status who he cannot not join issues with.
Last Thursday, Sheriff got carpenters to break the doors of the national secretariat, forcibly restoring himself as the authority at the Wadata Plaza, Wuse edifice. Makarfi promptly accused him of illegal entry as the keys to the secretariat remain with the party’s BoT. “We say this because the keys to the secretariat is with the Board of Trustees and we’ve checked with them, and can confirm that the keys are not handed over to Sheriff or any of his followers. The implication of this is that he broke into the secretariat which is a criminal offence,” a statement by the National Publicity Secretary of the National Caretaker Committee, Dayo Adeyeye, said.
This only adds a new scene to the endless drama in the former ruling party now rolling on against the cyclorama provided by the latest ruling of the Court of Appeal.