Fresh crisis hits Lagos PDP

Fresh crisis is rearing its head in the Lagos State chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) as a chieftain of the party, Chief Segun Adewale, popularly known as Aeroland, insists he remains chairman of the party till 2021, announcing that the current occupier of the position, Dr. Adegbola Dominic, has been sacked immediately.

Adewale, who was a factional chairman of the party in the state during the national leadership tussle between Senator Ali Modu Sheriff and former Governor Ahmed Makarfi in 2017, made the claim while speaking with journalists in Lagos, on Saturday.

He said he was back to the leadership position to build the party into a strong platform ahead of the 2023 general elections in the country, saying that the Supreme Court had, on July 12, 2017 sacked Sheriff, affirming Makarfi as the national chairman, but quickly added that the court judgment did not sack him as state chairman and that his tenure would only expire in 2021.

According to him, Honourable Moshood Salvador, whom he handed over to, following the intervention of the party leadership and the power sharing arrangements between the Sheriff-led faction and Makarfi group, had since dumped the PDP for the All Progressives Congress (APC).

He added that Dominic’s tenure was for a period of three months which had since expired last December, alleging that Dominic, who he said was backed by the former Deputy National Chairman of PDP, Chief Olabode George, to replace Salvador, had further factionalised the party through appointment of his own chairmen in all the wards and local government areas in the state.

“I am the authentic PDP chairman in Lagos. I only stepped aside for Salvador after the national leadership of the party asked me to do so.

“After two years of factional crisis, I obeyed the leadership of the party to allow peace to reign and that the party could make progress. When Salvador left for APC, I made attempts to step in to continue, but there were appeals from all corners that election was underway and that I should allow somebody from the George-led group to occupy the position in the interim, for a period of three months.

“I agreed and remained on the sidelines and Dominic emerged. But now, his tenure expired in December, while I still have my original mandate till 2021.

“So, he can no longer claim to be chairman. I am the chairman now. In fact, I have taken over the secretariat and I will not allow anybody to do anything there for now,” Adewale said.

Disclosing that he was working on some legal steps to get things done to achieve his set goals without violence or threats to peace around the party secretariat, he further disclosed that the only condition for him to shift position was for all groups in the party to agree on an elective congress as soon as possible or a court pronouncement stopping him from being the PDP chairman in the state.

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When contacted, Dominic told Sunday Tribune by telephone that he remained the PDP chairman in the state, adding that Adewale was no longer a member of the party, having dumped it to contest the last governorship election in Ekiti State on the ticket of Action Democratic Party (ADP).

The party chairman, while describing the claim by Adewale as “arrant nonsense,” said he had no issue with him, adding that the party’s national leadership knew that he (Adewale) could not make any claim.

“That is arrant nonsense. The national secretariat of our party knows I am the chairman. I don’t want to discuss him. I don’t have issue with him. He is not even a member of the PDP.

“He is a member of ADP. He was their governorship candidate in Ekiti State. If he wants to be back to PDP, he has to rejoin our party. As far as I am concerned, he is not a member of our party. If you want to know anything concerning that, you have to talk to the national secretariat of our party,” he said.