Sheriff’s chairmanship, illegality upon which legality can’t be built —Akinwonmi

Elder Yemi Akinwonmi is a foundation member of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Ogun State. The chieftain, who was state secretary of the party for nine years, speaks to DARE ADEKANMBI on the crisis in the party.

YOUR party is still bleeding from the crisis that has engulfed it shortly after the 2015 general election. A judgment of the appellate court has affirmed Ali Modu Sheriff as the authentic chairman, but Senator Ahmed Makarfi national caretaker has kicked. Where do you stand?

I am on the side of the majority and Makarfi’s side is where the majority is, a vast majority and not just a majority. If you go by history, the national chairmanship of the party was zoned to the North-East. As a result of the resignation of Dr Adamu Mu’azu, the position became vacant and Ali Modu Sheriff, who had joined the party before the election, was brought in as acting national chairman. Up till today, he has never been confirmed as full chairman. It was the first aborted convention of the party in Port Harcourt that was to confirm him. So, he was an acting chairman before the crisis started. He is never a substantive chairman and when there is no substantive chairman, the constitution of the party stipulates that it is the BOT that will take charge. And today, all the members of the BOT were unanimously in agreement with the Port Harcourt convention, which set up with the national caretaker committee saddled with the responsibility of managing the affairs of the party till another properly conducted convention. It is there any right-thinking person belongs and that is where I am too.

The judgment that Sheriff and his cohort got was a dissenting judgment. Three out of the five judges that sat on the case affirmed him and the two others did not do so. So, it was not an absolute judgment. The division among the five judges has given those of us who on the side of Markafi more vigour to challenge the Appeal Court judgment. I know that victory will not stand at the Supreme Court. It will never stand the test of time. We have critically analysed the two judgments and have seen that the minority judgment is more detailed and empirical that the so-called majority judgment. A party’s convention is like a company’s annual general meeting and has the final say. The convention said it is caretaker committee. Why should an individual try to rock the boat? The popular will of the vast majority of PDP members national is with the Makarfi committee and in Ogun State, the Sikirulai Ogundele-led state executive committee is the real and authentic. I am for Makarfi 100 per cent.

But in Ogun, Chief Bayo Dayo is also laying claim to the chairmanship of the party in the state…

There are chairmen and there is the chairman as far as Ogun PDP is concerned. Any one can call himself a chairman. But the one that is recognised statewide and at the national is Ogundele.

Sheriff has said he doesn’t want to be chairman again and has called for a fresh convention where a new chairman will emerge. This appears to be an olive branch…

Can you build legality upon illegality? That is the question I want you to answer. It is not possible. You can’t build legality on illegality. Sheriff himself is illegality and so he can’t attempt to build legality on himself by calling for a new convention. The foundation is already faulty. All he has to do now is to go. It is only the caretaker committee that can call for and organise a credible convention because that is the only legal body sanctioned by the convention to act in the interest of the party.

Is it possible for this long-drawn crisis to eat into the time your party will have to prepare for next year’s governorship election in Osun and Ekiti states?

That is a very big question, particularly when one knows the antecedents of Sheriff and his cohorts and how they disorganized the election in Ondo and Edo states. Well, the leadership of the party should be mindful of the antics of Sheriff and others and try to safeguard a repeat of what happened in Edo and Ondo states.