The unending leadership crisis in the Peoples Democratic
Party appears to be taking its toll on the unity of its members in the House of
Representatives as the lawmakers can no longer speak with one voice on who to
support between the National Chairman, Ali Modu Sheriff, and Ahmed Makarfi.
Investigations by The PUNCH, on Monday, showed that many
members of the caucus were divided over the choice of Sheriff and the
Makarfi-led National Caretaker Committee, which was sacked by the Court of
Appeal in Port Harcourt penultimate Friday.
The House Minority Leader, Mr. Leo Ogor, had summoned a
caucus meeting last week soon after Sheriff was declared as the chairman by the
appellate court.
The struggling opposition party controls less than 139
lawmakers out of the total of 360 in the House.
At the meeting, members were said to have agreed, as a
caucus, to back the Makarfi-led faction.
The resolution of the meeting was later made public as the
position of the caucus on the raging crisis.
On Monday, however, some members came out openly to distance
themselves from the position of the caucus, saying they were not part of it.
One of the members, Mr. Adesegun Adekoya, said many
lawmakers in both the Senate and the House were “solidly” behind Sheriff.
Adekoya, who represents Ijebu North/East/Ogun Waterside
Federal Constituency, told The PUNCH that the “so-called” caucus position was
non-existent.
He said, “You can quote me anywhere any day. We are for
Sheriff. As a lawmaker, I should not be a lawbreaker. All the people in my
constituency, down to the last councillor, are for Sheriff.
“In Ogun, we have two PDP members: myself and my second
(Adebutu Oladipupo). He is for Makarfi; yes, that is his choice.
“But, I am for Sheriff. That makes it 50-50.
“If you go to Osun State, Hon. Wole Oke is for Sheriff. Go
and check in all the states, you will find out that many of us are for Sheriff.
“See, my brother, there is one thing about politicians. When
they are in the open, they will say one thing, but when it comes to voting,
they will go the other way. They will surprise you.
“That is why they always prefer secret voting because what
they say in the open is not the truth.”
In Ekiti State, where Governor Ayodele Fayose is a vocal
supporter of the Makarfi-led faction, a member from Ekiti, Mr. Olamide
Johnson-Oni, is for Sheriff.
Another member of the party from Edo State, Mr. Johnson
Agbonayinma, told The PUNCH that some members had realised that they would have
to be with Sheriff to be on the side of the law.
Agbonayinma, who contested the PDP governorship primaries in
Edo State in 2016, added, “Members have realised that they are lawmakers and
not law breakers.
“Based on the decision of the court, we have to support
Sheriff.
“Why are people saying they are not with Sheriff? He has
won; or is Sheriff not a member of the PDP?
“More importantly, we are all PDP members; it is not about
victory for Sheriff or Makarfi, but Sheriff is the man, based on the decision
of the court.”
However, several members contacted by The PUNCH dismissed
Adekoya’s position.
They described him as representing the “few bad eggs” in the
caucus, bent on destroying the opposition party.
One of the members from Adamawa State, Mr. Adamu Kamale,
told The PUNCH that it was not possible that serious party members would team
up with Sheriff.
Kamale added, “It is not possible that I will be with
Sheriff in what he is doing, same for most of our colleagues.
“Sheriff has been working with strangers; we don’t even know
these people he carries around.
“I recall vividly that there was a particular meeting he
called; when I went there as a PDP member to, at least find out the peace
efforts being made, I was locked out.
“How can a man, who keeps intimidating legitimate party
members, claims that he is our leader?”
Ogor claimed, however, that there was no division in the
caucus.
He said Adekoya and those thinking in the same line with him
were “just noisemakers.”
Ogor, who is from Delta State, added, “You will expect that
some people will always want to cause trouble to seek attention.
“The caucus met and took a position. We all agreed that
Makarfi is the one in charge of affairs of the PDP and we are with him.
“All these people talking about Sheriff should be ignored.
We don’t know Sheriff.”
At the inauguration of the current 8th Assembly in June
2015, the PDP controlled 139 out of the 360 members of the House.
But, in the months following the factional crisis, some
members seized the opportunity to defect to the ruling All Progressives
Congress.
Only on Wednesday last week, Mr. Emmanuel Ukoette from Akwa
Ibom State, a PDP stronghold, also defected to the APC on the floor of the
House.
Like others before him, Ukoette cited the factional crisis
as his reason for shifting his political party platform.
Sheriff, Makarfi clash over secretariat
Meanwhile, Sheriff and Makarfi groups are at the brink of
another clash over the plan of Sheriff to re-open the party’s national
secretariat.
The two parties also accused each other of either
blackmailing the Supreme Court or attempting to pre-empt the impending appeal
before the apex court.
The secretariat, which had been locked since May 2016, was
forcefully opened by Sheriff and his members of the National Working Committee
on Friday.
He stated that he took the action following the favourable
judgment he got from the Court of Appeal, Port Harcourt, Rivers State, on
February 17.
But the sacked caretaker committee asked Sheriff to vacate
the party’s national secretariat immediately.
It said Sheriff should await the Supreme Court judgment on
the matter.
Spokesperson for the faction, Dayo Adeyeye, who stated this
at a press briefing in Abuja on Monday, also accused the police of working in
favour of the former governor of Borno State in the crisis.
Adeyeye, a former Minister of State for Works, said Sheriff
must leave the secretariat in order to avoid a breakdown of law and order.
Sheriff also declared that all the activities and programmes
done by the Makarfi group, in the name of the PDP, were illegal.
Saying the case was still in court, Adeyeye said the police
must ensure that Sheriff and others “are not allowed to use the secretariat,”
adding that the status quo ante must be maintained until the determination of
the appeal before the Supreme Court.
Adeyeye added, “It is common knowledge that Sheriff and co.
forcefully broke into the national secretariat of the party around 6pm on
Friday, February 24, 2017.
“The keys of the national secretariat are with the Board of
Trustees, who are the custodians of the assets of the party.
“We know that the keys of the secretariat are still with the
BoT but Sheriff entered by breaking the doors in an action totally unbecoming
of a person who had been governor of a state, Senator of the Federal Republic
of Nigeria, and also claiming to be a national chairman of a major political
party.
“We therefore demand that Senator Sheriff and co vacate the
national secretariat immediately.
“We have stated several times that the APC has its hands
deep in the PDP crisis. There is no doubt that Sheriff’s activities against the
PDP are being aided and abetted by the APC.
“For the record, just last week, the Governor of Imo State,
Rochas Okorocha, gave unsolicited advice that we should support Senator
Sheriff.
“That is one instance of their meddlesomeness in the PDP
affairs. No doubt that Okorocha and co are happy that their man won at the
Appeal Court but very much afraid that he could lose at the Supreme Court.”
Adeyeye alleged that Sheriff and his group had perfected
plans to receive non-serving state executive committees of the party at its
national secretariat in order to give an impression that he had been accepted
by the party’s organs.
Speaking for the Sheriff-led PDP, a former political adviser
to former President Goodluck Jonathan, Ahmed Gulak, said, “The Supreme Court
belongs to all Nigerians. They have been talking and grandstanding as if the
Supreme Court belongs to them.
“They said they will get judgment from the Supreme Court as
if it is their institution. They should stop blackmailing the Supreme Court.
“This party is bigger than everybody. The law does not see
your face. It is not a popularity contest and I must say that the law is the
law.”
Gulak, who spoke in company with the acting Publicity
Secretary of the PDP, Mr. Bernard Mikko, also justified their entry into the
party secretariat.
He stated that the complex was opened to them after the
Court of Appeal judgment, noting that both camps had agreed not to head for the
apex court.
He said, “It is a fact that the former Inspector-General of
Police, Mr. Solomon Arase, with the consent of both factions, closed the
secretariat of the PDP and both sides agreed because of the conflicting court
judgments.
“Both parties agreed that in order to pursue genuine
reconciliation, nobody should pursue the case again at Supreme Court.
“All the things that the Makarfi group has done before the
judgement are illegal and cannot stand.”
Also, the PDP in Kaduna State vowed never to support the
Sheriff’s NWC.
Kaduna State chapter of the party described Sheriff’s
reinstatement by the appellate court as
an act of impunity, which was against
the constitution of the party.
They also declared that the state executives and members
were loyal and answerable to the Makarfi-led National Caretaker Committee.
The party stated its decision through a communiqué signed by
the Chairman, Drafting Committee, Dr. John Ayuba, after the party’s meeting in
Kaduna.
The communiqué read in part, “Members of the PDP in Kaduna
State should not lose focus of where we are going as we know where we are
coming from. We must face the current challenges headlong to ensure that we
change the change come 2019.
“The PDP in Kaduna State remains united, strong, resolute,
steadfast and solidly loyal and answerable to the National Caretaker Committee
under the leadership of Senator Ahmed Mohammed Makarfi.”
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