Has the PDP finally lost its glory?

The major resolution reached in the failed second convention of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) in Port Harcourt on Wednesday was the extension of the tenure of the Ahmed Makarfi led care taker committee.

The committee was given another one year to work and remain in office, not as substantive chairman but care taker, while the battle popping from the sacked chairman, Ali Modu Sheriff, rages. Sheriff has held the party to ransom beginning from May 21 when he was kicked out by the governors who described him as a traitor and unfit to hold the position in the party.

Sheriff’s insistence on PDP chairmanship

Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers State and Ayodele Fayose of Ekiti State said the sack of Sheriff was to save the party from destruction as, according to them, it was getting obvious that Sheriff was bent on killing the party with an attempt to perpetuate himself in power.

Some of the governors also said that Sheriff is being propelled by the All Progressives Congress led federal government against the party. Hence, the decision to sack him remained sacrosanct and the only option to rescue the party from untimely death.

But Sheriff sees the sack as a slap on his face and has continued to threaten hail and fire against the party under which he rose to prominence and made his fortune in politics.

He has gotten various court injunctions restraining the party from booting him out of office, while at some points, both of them were booted out by the same court, one in Lagos, another in Abuja.

Although, emissaries have been sent to placate Sheriff and talk him into allowing sleeping dog lie, he has given a deaf ear to pleas, warning that the party cannot hold the any convention against his wish.

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Ali Modu Sheriff a former Borno State Governor, was appointed by the PDP leaders, including governors and senators, to hold brief for the party pending the national convention where the party’s substantive leaders would be elected, but Sheriff decided to stamp his foot on the ground, applying the power of the courts to whittle the power of the party.

On May 21, the party leaders sacked him from office, insisting that his tenure had expired giving way for the appointment of Ahmed Makarfi, former governor of Kaduna State as acting chairman pending the conduct of a new convention.

However, Sheriff has remained adamant, intimidating party members with court actions and restraining the party from holding its national convention.

He laid down strong terms, meeting which would lead to him allowing peace to reign in the self-acclaimed largest party in Africa. Among his terms are that the convention must hold in Abuja, his faction and that of Makarfi must present 10 persons each for the convention and that the Makarfi led committee must be dissolved.

The Failed PDP convention and police lockdown Port Harcourt

And so, it was, for failing to yield to his demands, the convention actually failed. All the party governors, senators, members of the House of Representatives and other top PDP hierarchies were barred from holding the convention as the police sealed up the proposed venue, forbidden anyone from entering the Shark Stadium, venue for the aborted convention.

Even, the Rivers State Government House where the governors converged to brainstorm on the way forward was locked down barring the governors from coming out to make decisions for the future of their party.

At the Sharks Stadium in Port Harcourt on Wednesday, the sight of stern looking policemen was the major sight in the area. With Armoured Personnel Carrier (APC), the policemen sealed off the entrance, blocking every move to gain access into the venue, even journalists and observers were blocked with stern warning to stay off the venue.

Port Harcourt was literally locked down with several entry points barricaded while subjecting every passerby to series of questions before telling them to make a u-turn and depart from the way leading to the stadium.

Even journalists with identities were barred from coming close to the stadium. At the stadium, posters of all contestants for all the national positions adorned the walls round about.

The number of police men which stormed the venue of the convention was almost outnumbering that of the bloody civilians who wanted to have a view of the congress. Even food vendors were also confined to a particular area against their wish.

This is even as all the entry points were barricaded with security vehicles. The oil city of Port Harcourt was literally taken over with armed policemen.

While the venue of the convention was under siege by the police, another section of the police was also at the Rivers State Government House to block the governors who converged at the Rivers Government House to discuss the way forward for their party.

Ayodele Fayose, the Ekiti State Governor, was said to have been put under house arrest as he was barred from attending the final meeting at the Rivers State PDP secretariat.

The order to prevent the convention from holding was said to have emanated from the Inspector General of Police, Ibrahim Idris, who was said to have acted on the orders of President Muhammadu Buhari.

Port Harcourt residents and other observers of the aborted convention were subjected to undue harassment from members of the Nigeria police force who coerced ordinary citizens against their wish in the oil city.

The governors’ escape to Rivers State PDP secretariat

The governors only managed to escape the lockdown and wangled their way through the tumultuous crowd into the Rivers State PDP secretariat where it was unanimously agreed that the Makarfi led committee should remain in office for the next one year.

The decision, as it were, must have been taken against the wishes of the governors as they have been pushed to the wall, with no option left at their disposal. This is also beside the concerns over the numerous court cases emanating from Sheriff and bordering on the legality of the convention. One must understand why the party leaders were forced to take the decision.

The Ultimate decision of the party

The one year extension may not be unconnected with the need to strengthen the party structures and resolve its differences with all aggrieved members and restore sanity and dignity to the party.

Although the reasons were not stated explicitly, the one year extension is certainly a decision with the aim of having an opportunity to explore all available opportunities to bring peace to the beleaguered party that once prided itself as the only powerful party that cannot be overthrown in the politically volatile Nigerian state.

Actually, the party has passed through pains and challenges over the period under review. The challenges are bent on breaking the wings of the party and making it impotent and unable to confront the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) in the politics of the nation.

The decision to postpone the convention for the next one year is seen by many as certainly not a bad one but a way forward.

Reactions from party stakeholders

At the state PDP secretariat, Makarfi urged politicians in the country to indulge in activities that would protect the nation’s democracy. He said politicians would have failed the country if they refused to support institutions that would strengthen its democracy and enshrine discipline into the politics of the nation.

“When politicians make the growth of democracy their concern, then, the nation’s democracy will begin to yield positive results. What we have in Nigeria is a situation where politicians are making efforts to destroy institutions of democracy for selfish interests,’’ Makarfi said.

The former governor of Kaduna State said that some members of the ruling party in the country were bent on seeing the fall of PDP, stressing that, “our democracy is under a huge threat, I urge the APC-led government to concentrate on governance and delivering of good service to the nation. The country already has enough problems facing it; politicians should not add to the country’s problems by pursuing their selfish intentions,’’ he said.

Jimi Agbaje, governorship candidate of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) in Lagos for the 2015 election, said the party would remain alive in spite of internal problems. Agbaje, a candidate for the party`s national chairmanship position, said members would keep the party alive, being the main platform for the opposition in Nigeria.

He said the decision of delegates to extend the tenure of the Makarfi-led national caretaker committee was a good option aimed at keeping the party stronger and more united.

“It is obvious that from the situation we found ourselves, we must keep the PDP alive. It is still the veritable platform for the opposition. So, the best option is what we have taken, which is to extend the life of the caretaker committee, to expand it as we have decided and to give room for whatever litigation,” he said.

According to him, members believe that at the end of the day, the truth will prevail because the majority will have their way, “The PDP is definitely not going to die. The PDP is going to fight for its staying alive,” he said. Agbaje also explained that he was optimistic, and before the end of the one year, the party would bounce back stronger and more united.

The director of strategy of the PDP, Nwazuruahu Shield, who reacted to the lock-down, urged President Buhari and the All Progressives Congress (APC) to leave the party alone as the APC’s action is endangering democracy in Nigeria.

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According to him, “from the action so far, democracy is in danger, Mosco road is sealed, government house is sealed, our convention ground is sealed, is it a wrong thing to have an opposition party in Nigeria? As I speak to you, Port Harcourt is under lock and key.

 “Buhari and the APC should leave us alone. The police are carrying out this order despite an earlier order mandating them to monitor this convention. I simply don’t understand”.

Denial of Rivers Police Commissioner

The Rivers State Commissioner of Police, Francis Odesanya, who ordered his boys to lock down the city and prevent the convention from holding, denied doing it saying, he did not seal off the convention venue but was “only providing security” for the convention participants.

Odesanya explained that by his action, he was only complying with a court order, even as he said that he was not in a position to interpret court judgments. “I did not seal off the convention venue. I was only providing security. I was only obeying a court order. It is not my duty to interpret court orders,” Odesanya explained.

But it must be stressed that irrespective of the bold facedness being shown by the party governors, there are big cracks that needed be woven together for the party to survive in the crisis currently rocking its existence. As it is now, the PDP is in the woods, weeping secretly for deliverance.

There is confusion among the simple Nigerians as to why a single person, Ali Modu Sheriff, should hold a party which has great Nigerians as members to ransom. But while Nigerians watch the unfolding events even as the court has, again on the same Wednesday, sacked Sheriff for the second time, all fingers are crossed waiting for the miracle the party will perform to bounce back to prominence in the next one year.

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