Between Makarfi and Sheriff factions, who is working at cross purposes with the continued existence of the PDP? EMEKA NZE examines the input of the feuding factions to remaking PDP
Is the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), in the last days of its existence? The ominous signs that the PDP may be in its last days raises the pertinent question above. As has been predicted by observers severally, it becomes necessary to officially inform Nigerians that the party which once superintended over their affairs is headed for a collapse.
Or how can one explain the cancerous self-inflicted intra-party crisis which has defied every peace agreement, leaving the party as divided as ever and its teeming members desert it for the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) which is yet to endear itself to Nigerians in terms of improved leadership.
So saddening is that the actors in the PDP conflict have continued to demonstrate hypocritical character typical of politicians in this part of the clime. They, like a sword, is two-faced and difficult to decipher where they stand when it matters most.
But against all odds, the triumph of the PDP at the December10, Rivers state re-run national and state assembly elections is an encouraging sign that the party is still a major force to contend with in Nigeria.
Some of the principal actors struggling to rebuild the party have another chance to demonstrate genuine commitment taking advantage the Rivers political space is offering. Quite interestingly, the Ahmed Makarfi faction of the PDP while congratulating Governor Nyesom Ezenwo Wike and the people of Rivers State on the triumph of the party in the just concluded re-run elections, notes that the party is still popular with Nigerians.
The faction in a statement by its Spokesman, Prince Dayo Adeyeye said: “With the results of the elections declared so far by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) after so much intimidation and harassment by the Nigerian security agencies, the party won two Senate seats, six House of Representatives seats and ten State House of Assembly seats.
“We commend the zeal, determination and support of Governor Wike for standing against undemocratic tendencies, and the entire people of Rivers State for rejecting the APC and the Federal might deployed to ppress them. Rivers people have shown that the will of the people cannot be defeated no matter the coercion.
“We are particularly proud of all our Candidates in the Elections for remaining united in the face of daunting provocations. We congratulate the winners on their victory and those that were frustrated by INEC for their gallant performances.
“Finally, we thank all PDP supporters nationwide for their support and contributions during the re-run elections in Rivers state. We say well done! This is a test case for the 2019 general elections and we must all be prepared to protect our votes and defend democracy in general.”
What is worrisome however, is that the feuding parties are under a single clear-cut assignment and instruction- to destroy the party and let every man and woman go his/her way like the story of the biblical prostitute in King Solomon days who canvassed that the child in contention be killed instead of the quarrel over it to continue.
Unfortunately, in the case of PDP instance, no one seems to want to come to its rescue and the party’s jugular is under serious stress of strangulation by the contending factions.
The leaders are befuddled by selfishness in the quest to grab the soul of the party and do not seem to care so much about its survival. There is also allegation that those who seek to flush the baby and the bathwater are
Day after day, both camps praise the party in hyperbolic and superlative terms as “PDP, the biggest party in black Africa” , “PDP, the party that has the interest of Nigerians at heart,” “PDP, the party that best respects the rule of law”, etcetera.
But hardly do they mean their words and there is no act of the face to figure out the mind’s construction. As said by the Igbo proverb, all lizards lie prostrate and there no sign to dictate that which suffers bellyache.
At night, they meet in small caucuses to decide how to out-smart the other group and to ensure that life is squeezed out of the party or to make it shadow of its former self.
During such meetings, the messengers dine with the real enemies and sponsors of the PDP crisis who proffer steadfastness to the evil messengers, as a means of sustaining the battle for party leadership which will subsequently allow it to die a slow and gradual death.
How can one rationalise the setting up an interim state Exco for the PDP in Rivers State by the Senator Ali Modu Sheriff faction on the eve of the state Assembly and National Assembly rerun elections or the Ondo state drama where Barrister Jimoh Ibrahim in his struggle to become the party’s flag bearer jeopardized the chance of ‘his party’ to win the election by ensuring that the internal battle to produce the candidate lasted till the end of the campaigns.
In the case of Rivers, while the election was for Saturday, Dr Cairo Ojougboh appointed by Sheriff as Deputy National Chairman of his side, inaugurated the River state interim executive on Friday charging them to go and deliver PDP in the election. This was in defiance of the state exco loyal to Governor Nyesom Wike who were already working to deliver the PDP candidates in the rerun election.
Confusion was deepened when the Chairman of the interim state executive making a speech on behalf of the other members and to the shock of all present, described Wike’s ‘meddlesomeness’ in the saga between DSS and one of of the ‘corrupt’ judges as a show of rascality in governance.
Although Ojougboh and the entire group struggled in vain to wriggle out of the embarrassment created by the denigration of a PDP governor by a party faithful, it was very clear that he was opposed to Wike and his style of governance and would not work with the candidates of PDP in the state who have the support of the Rivers governor .
Yet he was inaugurated to go and deliver PDP. From the utterances, writings and positions of the Sheriff group, Wike is certainly in the black book of the Sheriff camp and it is practically impossible for the faction of the party opposed to him to inaugurate a group to work to deliver candidates of the party loyal to him in a rerun election.
In the Ondo state election, Sheriff, despite issuing a statement that he would not take sides in any conflict over the choice of candidate by the Independence National Electoral Commission (INEC), in any state, including Ondo state where governorship elections which held on November 26, he still gave support to the Jimoh Ibrahim who worked so hard to undermine the PDP candidate, Eyitayo Jegede, SAN who really stood for the election when the Appeal courts gave him a clean bill of health.
When it became apparent to Jimoh that he would not feature as a PDP candidate for the elections, he declared that he had achieved his plan and urged his supporters to vote for the APC candidate, Rotimi Akeredolu.
So many Nigerians are still at a loss at the plans accomplished by Jimoh as he stated other than working for the APC to clinch victory in the state.
Going by extant general party rules, Jimoh’s declaration is tantamount to anti-party activity deserving of sanction and discipline but did Sheriff and his co-travellers question the rebellion?
Now that the faction waited till the eve of the rerun election to set up an interim executive whose chairman sees Wike as a rascally governor, tendency is that he would work in concert with opposition in the state to undermine the effort of the governor.
It is difficult to say for certain that the effort of the group is not impacting negatively on the fortunes of the PDP but is also not clear that lily-livered Senator Ahmed Makarfi group has been decisive enough to tackle the division and rebellion in the party.
It is curious to say the least that the former Borno State Governor who has proclaimed severally that he is working to eliminate impunity in the Party has consistently impugned the PDP with reckless abandon. Well, he has nothing to lose as an APC hatchet man.
“Senator Sheriff and Co merely came up with this inauguration of caretaker committees in Rivers and Plateau States just to scuttle the chances of our Candidates in the Saturday Re-Run Elections in Rivers State.
“While the leadership of the party led by Senator Ahmed Mohammed Makarfi, CON and other members of the National Caretaker Committee have been in Port Harcourt in the last two days campaigning for the party and its candidates in the Elections, Senator Sheriff and his agents of darkness are plotting to destabilize our party like they did in Edo and Ondo States gubernatorial elections, respectively. How sad! They have failed!!”
The Makarfi group has busied itself negotiating for alliances with external forces in readiness for the 2019 presidential election instead of putting its House in order.
Sheriff ones accused the group of romancing a “big man in the APC who, it was considering to cede the presidential ticket of the PDP in 2019 and the involvement of the PDP in the formation of a mega party has neither been denied nor confirmed.
There is therefore the need to know the faction whose interest is working at cross purposes with the continued existence of the PDP.
But against all odds, the triumph of the PDP at the December10, Rivers state re-run national and state assembly elections is an encouraging sign that the party is still a major force to contend with in Nigeria
