PDP crisis deepens

AHEAD the December 9 national convention of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), meant to usher in new elected leaders, the crisis which the party has been enmeshed in seems to be worsening, as one of the chairmanship aspirants from the South-West, Professor Tunde Adeniran, accused the Ahmed Makarfi-led National Caretaker Committee of favouring one of the aspirants from the South-South.

After the party’s botched Port Harcourt convention, PDP had zoned the chairmanship position to the South, while the party’s presidential slot had been zoned to the North.

However, there exists an understanding among the party leaders that the chairmanship slot would be filled by the South-West, which had never produced the party’s national chairman, while the South-East would produce the party’s vice presidential candidate.

The understanding was based on the fact that the South-South, having produced Nigeria’s immediate past president, Dr Goodluck Jonathan, other zones in the South should be allowed to produce the national chairman and the vice presidential candidate.

That understanding has been threatened by the expression of interest in the position of national chairman by both Chief Uche Secondus and Chief Raymond Dokpesi, who are from the South-South zone.

While addressing a press conference on Monday, Professor Adeniran accused Senator Makarfi of tilting the electoral process in favour of Chief Secondus.

Adeniran also threatened to pull out of the peace accord signed by the eight contenders in the race.

Speaking through the director general of his campaign organisation, Alhaji Shehu Gabam, he said the action became necessary following alleged attempts by the national caretaker committee to impose one of the aspirants on the party.

The former ambassador to Germany insisted that the South-West must produce the next national chairman of the party, saying “anyone who underscores the importance of the South-West producing the next leader of the opposition will be doing so at his or her own peril.”

According to him, “by consensus, this chairmanship must go to the South-West. Whoever emerged, so be it.”

Adeniran accused the NCC of giving an unfair advantage to one of the chairmanship aspirants, Prince Uche Secondus, a former acting national chairman of the party from the South-South.

According to him, “some of Secondus’ supporters were sent by the party leadership to conduct congresses to produce delegates for the December 9 national convention without any consultation whatsoever with other aspirants.

“Some of those who conducted delegates’ election is chief campaigners for Secondus. You have George Sekibo, Austin Opara. You can see Emeka Ihedioha. An aspirant has its men entrenched in how the delegates emerged. We disagree on this.”

He pleaded with the NCC of the party, which is meeting in Abuja on Thursday, to set up the national convention planning committee for transparency of the convention to avoid an unprecedented crisis in the party again.

According to him, “we may be forced to pull out of the peace accord we voluntarily signed with other aspirants because with what is happening now, it is the management of the party that is breaching the spirits of the peace accord.

“Our organisation was very shocked when we saw the names of those who went for the last weekend’s congresses for the delegates for the national convention. We were not aware of the list and so also other aspirants.

“This shows that it is the management of the party that is creating divisions among the aspirants which is not acceptable to us.

“We warned against impunity and imposition of any form. We warned against rascality and potential consequences on the party before they went for the Port-Hatcourt national convention but they didn’t listen to us, that was why we organised a parallel convention in Abuja and look at the crisis which almost killed the party before the Supreme Court judgment

“They are at it again, but they will not listen. We are out to tell them that nobody has the monopoly of knowledge on issues. If the national convention is manipulated by any form, we will not allow it stand. I am not in this race to be defeated stupidly.

“They have been boasting around that they have unity list they are working with and that with the list, they have won the national convention yet to be conducted.”

He lamented that the same imposition of candidate and impunity of the highest order is, still very much in the party, making it to lose the just-concluded governorship election in Anambra State.

Reacting, the national publicity secretary of the party, Dayo Adeyeye, confirmed the receipt of a petition by the NCC from the campaign organisation of Professor Adeniran, but would not be able to speak on it until the NCC meets today.

National chairmanship open to all southern zones -Olafeso

National Vice-Chairman (South-West) of the PDP, Dr Eddy Olafeso, on Monday, said the national chairmanship position of the party has not been micro-zoned only to the South-West geopolitical zone.

Olafeso, who stated this in a press statement, said all aspirants from the three geopolitical zones from the South could aspire to the chairmanship position of the party.

According to him, there were insinuations within the party that the national chairman of the party must come from a particular state, but described the development as false and unfounded.

Olafeso said: “The party’s attention has been drawn to insinuations making the rounds that the South-West executive of the party, at its last meeting with stakeholders in the zone, did direct that aspirants to the office of the national chairman must come from a particular state.

“This is patently false as no such decision was taken. We only zoned other offices that were zoned to the South-West among all the states in the region, and this action is traditional.”

He explained that the position of the national chairman and the deputy national chairman had been zoned to the southern part of the country and called on all aspirants from all the states in the southern part not to drop their ambition.

“The position of national chairman and deputy national chairman is zoned to the southern states and as such, is beyond the scope of the South-West zone to unilaterally adjudicate on.

“Therefore, we declare that all those gentlemen that have signified their intentions to contest for the above-mentioned positions remain at liberty to continue to prosecute their ambitions without hindrance.”

I’m the authentic South-West leader -Ogundipe

The South-West faction of PDP, led by Chief Makanjuola Ogundipe, met former deputy national chairman of the party, Chief Olabode George, behind closed doors.

After the meeting, Ogundipe reiterated that he remained the legally-recognised PDP chairman in the zone, adding that any attempt to sideline his group “will contaminate the December 9 national convention and render it a nullity.”

George is one of the aspirants gunning for the chairmanship of PDP in the convention holding in Abuja.

Ogundipe, who was accompanied by other members of his executive, including Chief Femi Careena, while reading the communique of the parley at a press conference that took place at the office of Chief George in Lagos, admitted that the party had been in a state of flux in the zone.

He cited the parallel meetings held last week in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital, by his group and another one led by Olafeso.

He said the development made Chief George, Alhaji Tajudeen Oladipo and other concerned leaders wade into the matter.

He said his intervention became imperative to avoid a situation where the zone would populate the national convention with the crowd instead of delegates.

Ogundipe, however, expressed delight that Chief George, upon hearing from both parties to the dispute and seeing all the relevant documents that were presented at Monday’s meeting, among others, had since realised that the Olafeso group was fighting a needless and lost the battle.

He said George and other leaders had resolved to alert the PDP national leadership of the potential landmine that this could be if not properly and carefully handled.

Ogundipe maintained that the party he led in the zone was the only legally-sanctioned zonal executive that could participate in the forthcoming national convention and lead delegates from the South-West to the event.

Tribune Online learnt that former Minister of Transport, Chief Ebenezer Babatope; former chairmen of Lagos chapter of PDP, Mr Moshood Salvador and Captain Tunji Selle, among others, were part of the meeting.

I will implement reform reports –Dokpesi

The founder of Daar Communications, Chief Raymond Dokpesi, says he was ready to enforce PDP constitution and implement various reports aimed at repositioning the party if elected its national chairman.

Dokpesi made the pledge during his national chairmanship campaign meeting with the PDP Nasarawa State, North-Central executives and party leaders, on Monday, in Lafia.

According to him, the PDP, as a strong political party, needs bold and committed leaders to address the issue of imposition, impunity, and disrespect for its constitution.

“I am committed to enforcing the basis of the PDP constitution. I am committed to reversing the mistakes we had made over the years contained in various reports.

The PDP North-Central National Vice Chairman, Mr Theophilus Shan, stressed the need for PDP to make a decision it would not regret.

Shan described Dokpesi as a leader who had made many sacrifices for the party, saying: “we in the North-Central know that you have all it takes to lead PDP.”

The PDP Nasarawa State chairman, Mr Francis Orogu, who prayed for the success of Dokpesi, said he had all it takes to win the election.

Ladoja backs Fayose on call for pruning of S/West aspirants

A former governor of Oyo State and aspirant for the national chairmanship of PDP, Senator Rashidi Ladoja, has endorsed the position of Governor Ayo Fayose of Ekiti State on the need to prune the list of aspirants to the position of chairmanship of the party from the South-West zone.

Ladoja, in a statement by his media aide, Alhaji Lanre Latinwo, said although there could be no gainsaying the fact that all the aspirants from the South-West were eminently qualified, reducing the number of aspirants in the zone would help the zone maximised its chances of getting the position.

Fayose had, on Saturday, canvassed for the reduction of the list of aspirants from the zone, in order to brighten the chances of the zone in clinching the position of national chairman of the PDP.

In the statement, Ladoja said there was the need for the South-West to present a common front at the national convention, being the only zone that had not occupied the seat of the national chairman of the party.

“There is no doubting the fact that the South-West deserves to get the position of PDP national chairman, has been an integral part of the party for 18 years. The coming convention provides a golden opportunity for us to achieve that desire.

“But one of the principles of democracy, which has it that the majority always carries the day, means that the South-West cannot afford to go to the convention with many aspirants, while another zone from the Southern part to which the position has been zoned may present a single aspirant.

“The South-South and the South-East zones have eight PDP governors, while there is only one PDP governor in the South-West. This means the PDP is fortified in the South-South and the South-East zones.

“PDP will be strengthened in the South-West if, in addition to its only governor, the national chairman comes from the zone.

“It is, therefore, imperative that all the South-West PDP leaders convene a meeting of all the aspirants and stakeholders and find a way of ensuring that we go into the convention united by a common goal.

“Time is of the essence and the earlier we are able to achieve this, the better for the party in the zone,” the statement read in part.