In September, the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) scheduled its national convention for November 15. While preparations are in full swing for the event, which will be held in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital, it has been overshadowed by infighting, disputes and legal battles, which have become a permanent feature of the party in recent years.
The concern of many who are following the uneasy developments with keen interest as they unfold is not so much about whether the convention will proceed as planned but what will happen afterwards and what the outcome of the convention portends for the party. Already, the convention has further deepened the division of the already polarised and troubled party, with the governor Seyi Makinde and the acting national chairman, Umar Damagun, faction on one side and the faction of the cantankerous minister of the FCT, Nyesom Wike, on the other side, with its own factional national chairman, Abdulrahman Mohammed. His emergence followed the suspension of top officials, including National Secretary Samuel Anyanwu and Legal Adviser Kamaldeen Ajibade, by the faction led by Damagum over alleged anti-party activities.
Last week, Tuesday, the High Court in Oyo State ordered the party and Umar Damagum to go ahead with the national convention scheduled for November 15 in Ibadan. Recall that the minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike, who has been at the centre of the crisis rocking the party, had strongly opposed the holding of the convention in Ibadan. On Friday, as delegates arrived for the convention, a Federal High Court in Abuja ordered the PDP to suspend the national convention.
Justice Peter Odo Lifu, on Friday, ruled that the convention must not hold until former governor of Jigawa State, Sule Lamido, obtains the nomination form for the national chairmanship of the party. The judge also barred the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) from supervising, monitoring or aiding the Ibadan convention until Lamido is allowed to take part in it.
He held that PDP is under a strict obligation to adhere to its own rules and regulations by providing opportunities and a level playing ground for eligible members to realise their aspirations. Also on Friday, the former Kwara State governor warned against holding the convention due to conflicting court pronouncements, noting that they have cast doubts over the legitimacy of the convention and no one knows if it will be legally binding if it holds.
One of the leading figures of the party, Former Kwara State governor, Bukola Saraki, warned that going ahead with the convention could be catastrophic for the party. He stated that going ahead with the convention amid the ongoing legal dispute rocking it will worsen the crisis bedevilling the party and tear it apart. Saraki disassociated himself from the convention, describing it as a waste of effort.
On his part, the chairman of the Board of Trustees, BoT, Adolphus Wabara, stated that the convention will go ahead despite calls for its postponement and constitution of a caretaker committee to manage the affairs of the party. He disclosed that all major organs of the PDP, including the Governors’ Forum, the National Working Committee, NWC, and the Board itself, had already agreed to hold the convention, insisting that only a court order could stop it.
Reacting to the stance of Saraki on stopping the convention due to conflicting court judgments, he stated that many of the judgments of the lower courts contradict the Supreme Court rulings on the internal affairs of political parties.
A PDP chieftain and founding member of the party, Bode George, slammed Lamido for dragging the party to court over his alleged exclusion from the convention after the party blocked him from picking up the national chairmanship form. He maintained that the party followed due process and right procedures in organising the convention, especially as it relates to the sales and submission of forms.
Speaking on why he sued the party, Lamido said the case was not fueled by ambition, but by the need to reclaim his “dignity, honour, and rights” within a party he had served faithfully for decades.
“I won the case, but it is tormenting that I had to take my own party to court,” he said, adding that the ruling both vindicated him and exposed “the erosion of trust, love and accommodation” that once defined the PDP.
Lamido debunked widespread rumours that he withdrew his case or reached a compromise with governors, he noted that “The governors today behave like emperors. The PDP was never structured for governors to run down other members or overthrow the foundation of the party”
The division and legal battles that have characterised the convention will undoubtedly only deepen the crisis in the party and further weaken it. While it is important that the PDP respects the rule of law and obeys court rulings, many of these rulings have become an albatross to the stability and unity of the party as some members use the judiciary to keep the party in a permanent state of discord and bickering.
The importance of a convention cannot be overstated as the party has not had one in a while. Having elected national working committees and state working committees in a national convention and state congresses is a step to finding a lasting solution to the perennial crisis and leadership tussle bedevilling the party. To have some party members trying to sabotage this effort is not only worrisome but also unconscionable. It will be great and refreshing if the members of the party can get their acts together and sing from the same hymn book instead of chanting discordant tones that spell nothing but chaos and instability for everyone.
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