PDP and the road to Golgotha

THE Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) was badly hit last week as the Court of Appeal in Port Harcourt ruled to affirm Senator Ali Modu Sheriff as National Chairman. Before then, the different hierarchies of the party were in anticipation of the Court of Appeal ruling. The party had even launched its recovery strategy with fanfare in Abuja, in readiness for the court judgement expected to set it free.

Governors, Board of Trustees members, Senators, members of the House of Representatives, former ministers as well as grassroots members of the party wore expectant looks as they gathered in Abuja to receive the PDP revival handbook, a report of the committee headed by Prof. Jerry Gana-led reconciliation Committee.

But hopes were dashed as the court gave victory to Sheriff, who had earlier indicated that he would not appeal the outcome of the court matter. That took the PDP hierarchy by surprise and the party has not

recovered from that shock.

Ekiti State governor, Mr. Peter Ayodele Fayose, announced immediately that Sheriff was not acceptable to the party, adding that the man was a general without troops.

But Sheriff replied with a visit to former President Goodluck Jonathan in his Abuja home. He declared that he was set to reconcile with the aggrieved sections of the party and conduct a National Convention.

Despite his public postures that depict a man of peace, leaders of the PDP have refused to trust whatever comes out of Sheriff. At the stakeholders meeting last week, they resolved not to have anything to do him.

With Sheriff, it appears the traducers of the PDP have got it by the throat. Head or tail, the party appears set for the Golgotha. And only a twist of fate would save the party from the hangman.

Though Sheriff has been insisting on his readiness to hand over power after a convention, it has recently become clear that his agenda for the party is pooled in murky waters. He wants the party to believe him. He says he wants the best for the party but then his antics so far don’t seem to justify that. In Ondo, his hands were clearly seen in the defeat suffered by the PDP. His loyalists ensured the party’s ticket was locked in the closet and campaigns strangulated till less than 48 hours to the election. In Edo, Sheriff’s loyalists also tried to weaken the PDP machinery and enhance the chances of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).

As late as last week, his hands were also seen in the dislocation of the party’s stakeholders from the International Conference Centre (ICC), Abuja. The police, which disrupted the meeting, said it got wind that Sheriff’s camp was equally planning a meeting at the same venue. So if Sheriff comes around to tell PDP members he meant well, it is natural they take such with a pinch of salt.

But can the PDP redeem itself? It is appearing too late in the day. Except fate plays a miraculous and positive tune on that party, the end may be closer than the beginning. One clear danger to the PDP is the manner in which some actors in the ruling APC celebrated Sheriff’s victory in the event of the Court of Appeal ruling.

Then one heard that the police, which men had kept sentry at the party’s National Secretariat all along, suddenly went to sleep as Sheriff’s men broke into the place and took charge. Then you have heard that the same Sheriff, who had been preaching peace and had participated in peace meetings jointly set up by the two factions, had also continued to inaugurate parallel executive committees in the states. It appears that to all intents and purposes, what Sheriff is interested in is the shell of the PDP and not the robust house bequeathed to him in 2015.

Some party leaders have said that the PDP should dialogue with Sheriff and shun the Supreme Court. Dialogue is good, but refusing to go to the apex court for a verdict would amount to throwing away the birthright. It would also set a dangerous precedent for other political parties, whose constitutions proclaim the National Convention as Supreme. Now there is another challenge. Who knows how long it will take the apex court to decide on the matter. What if the ruling comes on the eve of the next election in Anambra in November, just as it happened to Eyitayo Jegede in Ondo?

I think the time has come for the PDP to first bond together, and decide its way forward. Anything that looks like setting up a national convention with Sheriff as organiser can only spell doom for the party finally. If the baker is working hands in gloves with those who want the PDP dead, what will the bread look like? The leaders of the party need to ask those governors who lured the PDP into putting Sheriff on the chair and ask them to chart the way out of the quagmire.