The Monday Discourse
The path to a successful Peoples Democratic Party national convention is paved with more problems than promises, writesOnyebuchi Ezigbo
For the second time running, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has had its planned national convention stopped by the courts over internal leadership wrangling.
An Abuja Federal High Court presided over by Justice Okon Abang on Thursday ruled that the National Caretaker Committee of the party that is organising the convention was illegal and therefore, the national convention it had fixed for August should not go on as scheduled. This will be the second time that a court will be intervening to stop PDP from holding its national convention.
The first time was when a Federal High Court in Lagos on May 17 issued an injunction barring the party from conducting election into the offices of the national chairman, national secretary and national auditor pending the determination of a suit seeking to protect their tenure. Justice Ibrahim Buba gave the order in a suit filed by the National Chairman of the party, Ali Sheriff, the National Secretary, Prof. Adewale Oladipo and National Auditor, Mr. Fatai Adeyanju asking the court to stop the national convention pending the determination of their substantive suit.
The three national officers had claimed in the suit that their tenures of office were yet to lapse. The court subsequently granted an order of interlocutory injunction as requested by the trio and restricted PDP from conducting any election into the offices of the National Chairman, National Secretary and National Auditor pending the hearing and determination of the substantive suit.
Even though Sheriff was mentioned as one of those, who instituted the case against his party at the Federal High Court in Lagos, he denied any involvement in the matter and rather chose to tag along with other leaders of the party, including the governors of the PDP, who were at the forefront of the May 21 national convention.
In a press statement issued by his media aide, Inua Bwala, the former governor of Borno State said he was neither aware of the suit nor did he instruct anyone to file a case on his behalf.
Sheriff needed to give reassurance in order to keep the confidence of the governors, who were then his major support base and who had been prodding him to contest another term in office, it was not until things were sore and there was a sudden switch of support by the governors from Sheriff that the later made a detour to announce a cancelation of the convention, referring to the Lagos Court injunction.
But before Sheriff could finish addressing a press conference, postponing the convention, leaders of the party and hundreds of party delegates had stormed the Liberty Stadium, venue of the convention, ready for the event.
Perhaps, while Sheriff was still contemplating what move to make next, the governors and other key leaders of the party were busy consulting and studying the implications of the court ruling. It therefore came as a major surprise to Sheriff, when the leaders decided to go ahead with the scheduled convention and to move against him through a motion that dissolved the National Working Committee, including the offices of the chairman, secretary and auditor.
Apart from dissolving the NWC, the national convention took definite step to appoint a national caretaker committee with the former governor of Kaduna State, Senator Makarfi as its head. The sack of the NWC and the appointment of a caretaker committee infuriated Sheriff and other members of his group, who immediately rejected it, describing it as illegal.
Sheriff did not stop there, he went back to the court, this time a Federal High Court in Abuja and he was rewarded with another interim injunction by Justice Okon Abang restraining the Makarfi-led caretaker committee from acting as the leadership of the PDP and also ordering that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) must not receive submission of candidates’ names for the Edo and Ondo States’ governorship election from any other person but Sheriff.
However, Sheriff’s victory was short-lived as another court of coordinate jurisdiction, the Federal High Court in Port Harcourt, after harmonising the rulings of the Lagos and Abuja courts gave a judgment validating the appointment of the Makarfi-led national caretaker committee at the May 21 national convention and affirmed them as the authentic leadership of the PDP.
Sheriff and his group objected to the judgment, insisting that the order it got from the Federal High Court Abuja was still subsisting. According to him, “What it means is that unless the court of appeal decides otherwise I still remain national chairman of PDP. Any court that is of the same jurisdiction, cannot overrule another court except the court of appeal. I got my judgment. We disagree completely with today’s judgment. We’ve asked our lawyers to immediately file an appeal and also asked the same court to stay execution on the judgment”.
On his part, however, Makarfi defended his appointment and the May 21 national convention as legally conducted, saying the ruling of Justice Ibrahim Buba neither barred the national convention from holding nor did it stop the party from taking decisions on the way forward. He stressed that “In strict compliance and obedience to the above order, the National Convention of the PDP did not conduct election into the above offices or any offices at all.”
Makarfi added: “The ruling of Justice Buba neither touched the National Convention of the Party. We acknowledge that a motion on notice to this effect is pending before Justice Buba. But until that motion is moved and/or granted or struck-out, there is no adverse judicial pronouncement on the proceedings at the National Convention of the PDP held on Saturday May 21. 2016.
“Moreover, a Court of coordinate jurisdiction (another Federal High
Court) sitting in Port Harcourt has given orders deemed appropriate (in the well-considered views/opinion of the Court) in respect of specific issues bordering on the outcome of the National Convention held on Saturday May 21, 2016. The said order of Liman J. subsists and specific on the issue as against that of Buba J. which only granted an injunction against conducting elections into certain offices as listed above, and the Party never conducted election into those offices as directed by the Court.”
Court) sitting in Port Harcourt has given orders deemed appropriate (in the well-considered views/opinion of the Court) in respect of specific issues bordering on the outcome of the National Convention held on Saturday May 21, 2016. The said order of Liman J. subsists and specific on the issue as against that of Buba J. which only granted an injunction against conducting elections into certain offices as listed above, and the Party never conducted election into those offices as directed by the Court.”
In the ensuing legal tussle, Sheriff had suffered series of set-backs in his attempt to hang on to office. For instance, Justice Husseini Baba of the FCT High Court had dismissed a suit he filled, seeking to affirm him as the National Chairman of the PDP.
The judge, while striking out the case described Sheriff as a busy body after a majority of the former NWC members that Sheriff joined as Plaintiffs denied him in court that they were not party to the suit.
Another Federal High Court in Apo, Abuja presided over by Justice Valentine Ashi also delivered a judgment sacking all national officers of the party, including Sheriff, who assumed office on the basis of an illegal amendment of Article 46(7) of the party’s Constitution.
Another Federal High Court in Apo, Abuja presided over by Justice Valentine Ashi also delivered a judgment sacking all national officers of the party, including Sheriff, who assumed office on the basis of an illegal amendment of Article 46(7) of the party’s Constitution.
The latest set-back suffered by Sheriff came when the same FCT Federal High Court in Apo, struck out his motion seeking to set aside its earlier ruling, sacking him as the national chairman of the PDP. What was thought to be the deal-breaker for the PDP came when INEC came up with a decision ratifying the May 21 convention and the appointment of the Makarfi-led caretaker committee of the PDP. INEC said in a statement signed by the Secretary to the commission, Ngozi Ogakwu that it had granted “administrative approval to the Chairman of the PDP’s national caretaker committee, Senator Ahmed Makarfi”.
The commission said it recognised the Senator Makarfi-led national caretaker committee based on the judgment of the Federal High Court in Port-Harcourt and that it would henceforth work with it for all its activities. Buoyed by that confidence-boosting pronouncement by INEC, the National Caretaker Committee immediately rolled out proposals for a fresh national convention. It also tried to reach out to the Sheriff-led group to negotiate a unification deal but that didn’t work out in the end.
An attempt to secure a peace deal with Sheriff was made by the PDP governors at a meeting held in the Taraba State Governor’s lodge in Asokoro, Abuja a few days before the party’s national caucus meeting. Senator Buruji Kashamu, a strong political ally of Sheriff said there was an agreement to convene an expanded national caucus meeting, where arrangements will be made for a harmonised national convention committee (NCC) to handle the organisation of fresh national convention.
According to Kashamu, after series of consultation with many of the respectable leaders of the party, a larger meeting was held with Sheriff and Makarfi at the Taraba State Governor’s Lodge, and both politicians agreed that they would attend and address members of the party at the national convention.
“In effect, the two great leaders showed that they have the interest of the party at heart. However, the only point of divergence was who should preside over the expanded national caucus meeting and constitute the national convention committee. It was then proposed that they both Co-Chair the expanded national caucus meeting and jointly constitute the national convention committee.
But on the day of the national caucus meeting, where leaders of the PDP resolved to hold fresh national convention on August 17, to elect new national officers of the party, Sheriff did not show up. Kashamu, a prominent member of his group, however stormed the meeting and gave his endorsement to the decision to hold fresh convention in Port Harcourt.
Addressing party stakeholders at the end of the national caucus meeting at the Yar’Adua Centre in Abuja, Makarfi said the party leaders had resolved to hold another national convention on August 17. He also said the meeting had reaffirmed the party’s decision that the next presidential candidate should come from the north, while the national chairmanship position is be zoned to the south.
He further said the caretaker committee would constitute a zoning committee to further handle the zoning of other national offices in line with the constitution of the party. Makarfi said the meeting resolved to propose four different amendments to the party’s constitution to align it with recent court judgments. It was later learnt that Sheriff had decided to opt out of the peace deal and that he was insisting on being given the opportunity to convene the convention in Abuja and to moderate deliberations as chairman.
Sheriff later addressed a press conference and vowed to continue with his legal challenge. His action however irked the caretaker committee, who saw it as a ploy to get back to office through the back-door.
Spokesman of the PDP caretaker committee, Dayo Adeyeye described the activities of Sheriff and his key allies, Dr. Cairo Ojuogboh and Senator Hope Uzodinmma as rebellious. He said it was a wrong perception for one to think that because a few disgruntled elements in the party are aggrieved then the party has broken into factions.
Adeyeye, who spoke to journalists in Abuja shortly after the inauguration of the 88-member zoning committee for the forthcoming PDP national convention said the party had decided not wield the big stick but rather continue to seek reconciliation in the hope that the aggrieved party men will retrace their step.
“There are no factions in the PDP. You see, there could be a few rebels, a few disgruntled people for one reason or the other but if you know our party and the array of personalities in it, you will ask yourself what is a party made up of? The answer is that in a party, you have the governors, members of the National Assembly, state chapters and elders, all of them are together.
“We are going to have a very free, fair and open convention – a unity convention in Port Harcourt on August 17. PDP still remains the biggest party in Nigeria and I can say confidently that by this time next year, our opponents, who are today in power, a good number of its members will be begging to join the PDP. Nigerians are yearning for PDP,” he said.
Adeyeye, who reacted to last Thursday’s court ruling in favour of Sheriff insisted that the national caretaker committee would go ahead with the plan for fresh national convention fixed for August 17 in Port Harcourt, Rivers State.
Beyond the show of optimism by the leadership of the opposition party, there is a looming danger that the PDP might suffer irreparable damage in the event that the August 17 national convention is again scuttled.
For one, the national caretaker committee which was appointed to act as a rescue group to help put things in order and hand over office to elected leaders has a mandatory three months tenure. The three months will expire by the end August. So, if the committee is unable to dispense with the key mandate of organising the national convention at which new leadership can emerge, then, the party may witness a leadership vacuum which may lead to its gradual disintegration.
This may sound like a doomsday prophesy but unless the party wakes up to the reality that it needs to find political solutions to the current leadership crisis ravaging it, things may brutally fall apart for the once vibrant Africa’s largest ruling party.
