‘Fresh PDP’ and matters arising

At the twilight of 2017, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) appeared to have sunk into another round of crisis with the emergence of a faction called ‘Fresh PDP.’ Though the main leadership has dismissed the threat, it could be the start of another season of long knives. Group Politics Editor, Taiwo Adisa, examines the issues.

The emergence of the Fresh PDP on December 20, 2017 threw some shockwaves into the polity. Many were like, here they come again. The party had been thrown into huge confusion between May 2016 and July 2017 when it was eventually saved by a ruling of the Nigerian apex court, the Supreme Court, which affirmed the leadership of interim committee headed by Senator Ahmed Makarfi.

Attempts by the party to hold an elective convention in Port Harcourt in 2016 was truncated when the then National Chairman, Senator Ali Modu Sheriff insisted on running the show to his advantage.  When he saw the party’s governors open the lid on his strategy, he attempted to call off the have convention unilaterally. But the stakeholders pulled together and held a non-elective convention in his absence.

That was to land the party in a series of court rooms, with conflicting judgements afoot in some instances.  The soul of the PDP became really threatened as its leaders suspected Sheriff was working in link with some leaders of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), who they declared were bent on imposing a one party state on the polity. Before the PDP got the Sheriff-led executive off its back, the party had lost elections in Ondo and Edo states.

In August of 2017, the party held a non-elective convention to fix a December 9, 2017 date for its elective national convention. That convention was targeted at unifying the party after a debilitating war that pulled its pillars apart. Party faithful went about campaigning for the various offices like never before.

Nine candidates eventually emerged for the National Chairmanship seat, even though aspirants from the South West had thought the slot was going to be zoned to the area. Eventually, Prince Uche Secondus, a veteran of the National Working Committee (NWC) emerged the National Chairman, beating Professor Tunde Adeniran, Chief Raymod Dokpesi and Prof Taoheed Adedoja to the top job.

Just as the party was beating its chest for conducting a successful convention, the ugly head of crisis reared itself again. Some of the contestants who failed to get elected at the December 9 convention grouped together and announced the formation of the “Fresh PDP”. It reminds many of the “New PDP” formed in 2013 by some governors and aggrieved members who eventually merged with the APC at the close of that year.

Questions started flying around as the group announced its formation and the inauguration of its secretariat in Asokoro area of Abuja. Is the PDP making a return to the days of the jackal? Who are the forces behind the new faction? What really are the motives? Are they being pushed by external forces as many have suspected? And how far can they go?

Leader of the Fresh PDP, Emmanuel Obi-Nwosu, who has on his membership nine contestants who were defeated in the December 9 convention said, in a news conference in Abuja, that the convention that produced Prince Uche Secondus-led National Working Committee (NWC) was a ‘charade’.

Others who joined Obi-Nwosu in signing the press statement included a member of the PDP convention planning committee, Prince Emmanuel Butches, Chief Olukayode Akindele; Chief Godwin Chinedu Duru; Comrade Franklyn Edede, and Alhaji Hassan Adamu.

Obi-Nwosu said that the NWC which emerged on December 10, 2017 emerged through a “selection process” rather than an election, while adding that his group would soon release the names of the “authentic NWC” of the PDP.

He said:  “We reject in its entirety the selected NWC list and we call on INEC and all other relevant authorities to disregard the purported election of the NWC because they weren’t elected in line with the provisions of our party’s constitution and in accordance with the electoral guidelines for the convention.

“As committed and dedicated candidates and party stakeholders, we have decided to ensure that internal democracy is sustained in the party and that the dreams of our founding fathers who laboured and sacrificed so much to build the party are not destroyed.

“To this effect, we have officially opened a national secretariat of the party here in Asokoro, Abuja, from where the authentic NWC of the party will be operating.

“Today, the PDP that Nigerians have yearned for is born. We hereby declare that the era of impunity, imposition, and manipulation of our party’s internal election process is dead and buried.”

The mainstream PDP however dismissed the claims credited to the Fresh PDP declaring that those involved are agents of the ruling party.

Spokesperson of the PDP, Kola Ologbondiyan also declared that the party was not disturbed by the emergence of the Fresh PDP.

He stated:  “The PDP is completely unperturbed by the comical act of some individuals who make outlandish claims in the media regarding our party.

“The fact is that we are happy with the efforts of the Governor Seriake Dickson-led Reconciliation Committee as well as the responses from all the respectable and responsible leaders of our party in that regard,” he said.

“We will, however, not be responsible or respond to any person or group of individuals who decide to allow themselves to be used by forces from another political party in a laughable and childish attempt to distract us.

“The PDP, under the Prince Uche Secondus-led national leadership, will continue to focus on repositioning our great party to be the formidable opposition that will guarantee checks and balances in our polity and ultimately regain power in 2019.”

Notwithstanding the confident posture of the main opposition party and the thinking that the issues thrown up by the faction was a storm in a tea cup, developments by the day are showcasing a return to the court rooms. If not handled with dispatch, this could lead to conflicting statements and suits and counter suits.

Already, Professor Taoheed Adedoja had thrown the party into some frenzy with his claim of exclusion during the December 9 convention.

The former Minister had filed a suit seeking the nullification of the result of the chairmanship election as he claimed that he was excluded from the polls by the National Convention Committee which he said misspelt his name and thus misdirected the delegates. He got zero votes during the convention.

He addressed a press briefing in Abuja to give details of his suit marked FHC/ABJ/CS/1225/2017 which was filed on his behalf by the chamber of Rickey Tarfa & Co. to justify his claim of exclusion from the chairmanship race, Adedoja stated that the zero score credited to him by the party had embarrassed and maligned him. He said that the development equally “brought great ridicule” to his political career that spanned over 14 years.

His principal claim was that his name was spelt ‘Taoheed Oladoja’ instead of ‘Taoheed Adedoja’, adding that the development misled many of the delegates who would have voted for him. He is praying the court for four counts including that the court should declare the election of the national chairman of the PDP held at the Eagle Square in Abuja on December 9, 2017, null and void.

He is also praying the court for the following: “declare as null and void any document submitted by the PDP or by the purported occupier of the position of the national chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission.

“Pray the court for the cancellation of the national chairmanship election held on Saturday, December 9, 2017 at the Eagle Square, Abuja.

“Pray the court to order the conduct of another elective national convention for the election of the national chairman within 30 days of nullification of the elective national convention held on December 9, 2017.

“Restrain INEC from recognising Uche Secondus as the national chairman of the PDP on the grounds that the election where Uche Secondus was declared national chairman of the PDP, where I was unlawfully excluded from the list of the contestants for the position of national chairman of PDP, is a flagrant violation of the Electoral Act, the constitution of the PDP, the guidelines for the conduct of the PDP National Convention and the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.”

He joined the newly elected chairman, and Secretary as defendants in the suit as well as the Chairman and Secretary of the PDP National Convention Planning Committee, Senator Ifeanyi Okowa and Dr Ibrahim Umar respectively.

While justifying his action, Adedoja told newsmen that the zero score recorded against his name had opened him to ridicule adding: “I have suffered psychological trauma as a result of the public ridicule the election result has caused me, my family members, friends and associates.

“My lawyers are demanding appropriate compensation for damages, ridicule, embarrassment and the disrepute brought to my name as a result of the wilful exclusion of my name from participating in the election, resulting in the zero score credited to my name which is now in the public domain.”

On the heels of the suit by Adedoja, other court papers have started flying in. Some chieftains of the party in the South-West zone filed a suit seeking the nullification of the election of Yemi Akinwonmi as the Deputy National Chairman (South) and Aribisala Adewale as the National Treasurer of the PDP.

Two party chiefs from Ogun State chapter of the party, Chief Adebayo Dayo and Semiu Sodipo claimed that they were suing on behalf of the Executive Committee of the party in Ogun State in the suit marked FHC/ABJ/CS/1285/2017.

In the suit, the plaintiffs are seeking the replacement of Akinwonmi with Segun Seriki. In another suit with reference number FHC/ABJ/CS/1288/2017, which was filed by an aspirant to the position of National Treasurer, Alhaji Adewale Adeyanju, is seeking the removal of Aribisala Adewale as the National Treasurer.

The suit marked FHC/ABJ/CS/1284/2017, filed by Chief Pegba Otemolu, before the Federal High Court in Abuja is seeking the removal of Adewale as the duly elected National Treasurer and also the removal of Mr Diran Odeyemi as the party’s Deputy National Publicity Secretary.

According to the plaintiff, the court replaced Adewale with Chief Folorunsho Babalola as the National Treasurer as well as replacing Odeyemi with Bamidele Salam as the Deputy National Publicity Secretary of the PDP.

The party chiefs from Ogun State are claiming that a candidate for the position of Deputy National Chairman (South) was not nominated by the executive in the state and that the tenure of the said executive subsists till 2020.

They also insisted that by virtue of a judgement delivered in suit number FHC/L/CS/636/2016 of June 24, 2016, their tenure of office will last till 2020.

The executive committee members are therefore affirming that the elected candidate for the position of Deputy National Chairman, South, Akinwonmi, was not validly nominated

They prayed the court for an order to nullify the conduct of the congresses of the Ogun State chapter of the PDP held on October 27, 2017, October 28, 2017, and November 4, 2017, as well as an order preventing the election of another executive pending the expiration of the tenure of the plaintiffs.

They are also seeking: “An order nullifying the conduct of the convention of the 1st defendant at the Eagle Square, Abuja, on December 9, 2017, as it relates to the office of the Deputy National Chairman (South) of the first defendant.”

With this plethora of cases already in court, national officers of the PDP will certainly have their hands full with endless invitation to the court rooms as the general elections of 2019 draw closer.

The failure of stakeholders from the South West to resolve their differences already constitutes a threat to the stability of the party. The same factor that denied the South West of the national chairmanship position is already threatening to return the party to a path of destruction. Whether the leaders would easily handle this or whether the crisis would again threaten the very foundation of the party remains to be seen. Will the party handle this with the required sagacity and come out of the legal entanglements unscathed? That is the question on the lips of stakeholders.