When will peace return to Ogun PDP?

OLAYINKA OLUKOYA gives an in-depth insight into the protracted power plays in the Ogun State chapter of the main opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the domino effects on its machinery.

 

Will peace ever return to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Ogun State? Why can’t the gladiators within the party bury the hatchets and work together in the overall interest of the party which, has been enmeshed in crisis since 2011? The dust raised since then is yet to settle. The party keeps moving from one leadership or, better put, supremacy battle to another.

There were high hopes for truce in the party, when Governor Seyi Makinde of Oyo State recently embarked on an intensive move to reconcile all aggrieved camps in the PDP in the six states in the South-West. The singular effort of the governor culminated in the unification rally of the party held at Mapo Hall, Ibadan, the Oyo State capital. Of course, some stalwarts of the Ogun PDP were among the top shots of the party from the other states in attendance, but weeks after the unity rally, the status quo ante persists.

The intractable crisis in the party in Ogun is an offshoot of the conflict that bedeviled the PDP across the South-West states. Every effort by the PDP leadership, both at the national and zonal levels, to resolve the conflict hit the brick wall. The muscle flexing of who controls the party is primarily between two former members of the National Assembly: Senator Buruji Kashamu and Honourable Oladipupo Adebutu. The contest has been on like a raging fire, considering the fortune it has cost the party, with many other PDP faithful wondering why it remains difficult for the combatants and their followers to strike a compromise.

The two gladiators: Kashamu and Adebutu, it would be recalled, emerged the party’s candidates in different primaries conducted ahead of the 2019 elections. Kashamu later emerged as the standard-bearer on the order of the court which directed the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to recognise him. The development forced Adebutu to support the candidate of the Allied Peoples Movement (APM) in the state, Honourable Adekunle Akinlade, against Kashamu and the PDP. With such a divided house, the party suffered another defeat in the elections. This was against the fact that many people had hoped that the gladiators would sheath their swords and work out modalities on how to bring the party back on track the PDP, which had once administered the state for eight years, but now being bugged down by crisis.

Notable names in the party, including a former governor, Chief Gbenga Daniel;  former Minister of Mines and Steel Development, Alhaji Sarafa Ishola; three-time governorship candidate in the state, Prince Gboyega Nasir Isiaka and a former deputy governor of the state, Alhaja Makanjuola Badru, to mention a few, have all left the PDP. Although Daniel announced his intention to quit partisan politics, majority of those that defected left the party due to the protracted crisis which affected its chances in the 2011, 2015 and 2019 polls.

Shortly after the 2019 elections, Adebutu, who has been enjoying the backing of the national leadership of PDP, organised a unification rally in Abeokuta, which was attended by the national chairman, Prince Uche Secondus, with the aim of bringing all the warring groups together, preparatory to the 2023 elections. The rally was not attended by Kashamu and his supporters. This was purely an indication that there was no peace in sight. The fact of the matter is that the two masters are still sticking to their guns.

Sometime in February, two groups from the party met with Secondus and other members of the PDP National Working Committee (NWC) to discuss the way forward for the party in the state. The Kashamu group had in attendance the state secretary of the party, Alhaji  Semiu Sodipo and the Adebutu side was equally represented. The sides were reported to have agreed to put the ward, local and state congresses of the party on hold, pending a directive from the national body.

But the outcome of the peace meeting soon became a subject of another controversy. The Kashamu side immediately disowned Sodipo, who claimed to have represented the side. The camp claimed Sodipo had been suspended as the secretary of the party. However, Sodipo denied his suspension by Bayo Dayo, claiming that the latter lacked the power to suspend him. The ding dong continued with claim that Dayo had equally been suspended from office by the faction loyal to Adebutu thereby deepening the crisis rocking the party.

Against the directive of the NWC that party congresses should be put on hold, the embattled chairman (Dayo) claimed that ward and local government congresses had been conducted to put in place new executive members. Surprisingly, the suspended chairman, in a dramatic twist, dumped the Kashamu camp and joined the Adebutu group, with claim by former group that he had been suspended for one month for alleged anti-party activities. The party, in a statement by the state publicity secretary, Sunkanmi Oyejide, said Dayo was absent from the State Working Committee (SWC) meeting of the PDP, despite prior notification on the meeting.

The statement read: “At a meeting of the Ogun State Working Committee (OGSWC) of the PDP, held at the state PDP Headquarters in Abeokuta on 26 March, 2020, attended by officers listed in the schedule hereto with their signatures affixed, concerning allegations of anti-party activities against Adebayo Dayo (erstwhile state chairman), it was resolved as follows: Notwithstanding the refusal of Adebayo Dayo to attend this meeting after being duly notified of the convening of the meeting by 2/3 of the members of the OGSWC of our great party drawn from the three senatorial districts, the PDP OGSWC hereby resolves to send its complaints of anti-party activities against Adebayo Dayo to the National Executive Committee (NEC) of the party for disciplinary measures to be considered. Adebayo Dayo is hereby suspended for a period of one month from the date hereof in the first instance and thereafter until the NEC takes a decision regarding the allegations made by the PDP OGSWC against him.”

The erstwhile chairman, in his defence for defecting to the Adebutu camp, alleged that Kashamu was not ready for any peace move in the party. Since the development, it has been accusations and counter-accusations between Kashamu and Dayo. The latter accused Kashamu of masterminding his suspension, describing him as a “bad politician” who does not care about the interest of his followers. He faulted his suspension, claiming that only the NWC of the party could take any disciplinary step against him, while he declared the ward and local government congresses earlier conducted as “null and void.”

In a counter-claim, Kashamu, in a statement, accused Dayo of trading the party structure. But Dayo denied the allegation, submitting that his main concern was to broker peace between the two groups which, according to him, was rejected by Kashamu. He also alleged that the former federal lawmaker was not in any way interested in the unity of the party.

“We tried it in 2011, we failed. We failed in 2015. We failed in 2019. When Senator Buruji Kashamu contested for the Senate in 2015, he had over 120,000 votes in Ogun East Senatorial District, but he only had 70,000 votes when he contested governorship in 2019. It means that we are reducing in popularity and we should not allow that to continue. So, I thought if we can end the crisis and if we can unite and work together, it will be a big glory before leaving office. But Senator Kashamu does not want that settlement. He wants to go on and on and be giving us irrelevant orders. If he gives an order sometimes, whether we like it or not, we follow his order, but politics is not run that way.

“He is a very good leader, no doubt. But he is not a good politician. A good politician should be thinking of his followers. We should be thinking of all the young men and women that are behind us. If we don’t win election, how are they going to benefit from government? It’s not going to happen,” he said.

On the other hand, Kashamu accused Dayo of not being interested in genuine reconciliation. He said: “I have never opposed any reconciliatory move because I know a tree does not make a forest. But, having shown his hands, Dayo cannot preside over any reconciliation move. He cannot even be part of it.” Kashamu however admitted that for the party to return to the winning ways, reconciliation is key, but it is only the national body that can broker peace.

Now that the issue has been taken to the court of the national leadership of the party it to resolve, one can only hope that in no distant time peace will return to the party.

 

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