BY DAPO AKINREFON

FOR quite sometime now, the Ondo State chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP has been embroiled in crisis, which led to the party’s dismal performance at the just conducted 2011 general elections.

After the polls, President Goodluck Jonathan’s directive to all state chapters of the party to send list of ministerial nominees, served as fodder for the flickering flames of the crisis with diferrent camps at one another’s throat over who should and should not be on the list.

At the centre of the crisis are Dr Agagu and Prince Kayode.
The duo have, so far, been slammed with suspension by the various factions. Aside this, the crisis took another dimension when some aggrieved members loyal to the former minister of Defence nominated Professor Olu Agbi, a former Ambassador, as the party’s interim chairman, and now the courts have been saddled with the responsibility of adjudicating on which party exco remains the authentic one.

However, efforts to reconcile the warring factions have commenced as a stakeholders’ meeting was called penultimate Thursday by the Dr Tayo Dairo-led party executives though the likes of Kayode, Senator Ogunniya, Prof Agbi among other chieftains stayed away from the parley.

After incisive deliberations on the state of the party, taking due cognizance of the grievances of some leaders of the party, it identified political ambition as being central to the  problems facing the party.

Also, the leaders explained that there were misgivings against some members of the State Executive Committee. They averred that the reinvigoration of the party was collective responsibility and obligations and restated their “our irrevocable commitment to its continual development.”

In attendance were former Deputy Governor Otunba Omolade Oluwateru, former Secretary to the Government, past and present legislators both at the National and State Assembly, and  local government chairmen of the party among other stakeholders.

The aim of the parley was geared at resolving the crisis that has bedeviled the party since it was ousted from power in 2009.

Bigwigs fault parley
While some stalwarts of the party criticized the parley, others described it as illegal and unnecessary .
The Interim Management Committee, led by Prof Agbi shares this view.  And the Commissioner representing Ondo State on the board of the Niger Delta Development Commission, NDDC, Dr Benson Enikuomehin, maintained that Dr Agagu remained the problem of the party.

He submitted that “since he (Agagu)  hijacked the party, we have not won any election in the state. We lost all the re-run elections, beaten black and blue. In April, we lost so badly that we were bleeding. The Labour Party (LP) has proven it is the party on ground but what we have is someone who is busy gallivanting, boasting he is the father of all. He sees everyone as a conquered territory. Rather than initiate true reconciliation, Agagu is busy fighting everybody.”

In search of peace
However, in its bid to ensure that all aggrieved members come to a round table for discussion, the Dairo executive called for a stakeholders meeting, and  urged all warring members to sheathe their swords.

At the parley, Agagu said he was not responsible for the party’s woes and fingered the ministerial list as being responsible for the grouse within the fold. He took time to explain the process the state executive took at arriving at the list.

He was of the opinion that if members felt shortchanged in anyway; a review of the list could be looked into.

At the end of the parley, a six man committee was set up to resolve the crisis and also with the aim of engaging aggrieved members in dialogue to address their grievances and re-integrate them into the party.

The decision followed the outcome of a meeting held with the National Acting Chairman of the party, Alhaji Muhammed Haliru Bello and the South West National chairman, Alhaji Tajudeen Oladipo.
In a communiqué issued after the meeting, the leaders commended the timely intervention of the acting national chairman, zonal chairman and former President Olusegun Obasanjo in the matter and said they were readyaccept their directives on the contemporary challenges facing the party.

The Communiqué was signed by Messrs Bitire Solomon, Adewale Adeseke and Adeleke Olokungboye.
Having agreed to rescind all suspensions and immediately embark on dialogue to resolve all contentious issues and grey areas forthwith, the leaders directed the State Executive Council to comply with this directive by lifting the suspension imposed on Prince Tokunbo Kayode, SAN.

It also accepted the recommendation that changes in the executive of the party be deferred until early next year when statutory congress would be convened for the purpose of electing a new executive for the party at all levels.

The communiqué further stated that the State Executive Council of the party was to set up committees  “to assist in the administration, mobilisation, organisation of the party or any other such committee that it may deem necessary in accentuating the growth and progress of the party.”

Furthermore, aggrieved members were enjoined “to immediately embrace dialogue in resolving their crisis with the party instead of the current combative posture.”

Moreover, leaders of the party resolved to hold a stakeholders meeting at least once a month with a view to providing regular input into the administration of the party.

On the misgivings against some members of the State Executive Committee as regards the non inclusion of their names on the list forwarded to the President for political appointments, the meeting said that the list can still be reviewed.

Some leaders of the party were accused of being the brains behind the crisis because of their individual ambitions to the detriment of the party.

Ministerial list
On the other hand, the party leadership, in an attempt to set the records straight, went ahead to enlighten aggrieved members on the process it took to arrive at the ministerial list sent to the presidency.

In a letter dated 16th of May, 2011, which was addressed to the Acting National Chairman of the PDP, the state chairman and secretary of Ondo PDP respectively, Dr Omotayo Dairo and Barrister Sola Oludipe said,  “we have chosen the timely option of bringing to your esteemed notice, our well considered outline of criteria employed by the leadership of our party in the state, in the composition of the aforesaid list of 10, bearing in mind the general attitude of our political players that tends to adore the vice of egotism as a virtue, thereby undermining the integrity of our efforts in this particular exercise.”

The leadership nonetheless faulted attempts by some members of the party to thwart the party’s chances of sending its own list of ministerial nominees as directed by the national headquarters of the PDP.

Aside this, Messrs Dairo and Oludipe said the party mandated its State Working Committee to arrange a two-tier layers of consultations to ensure a support base that was broad and generally accepted.

The duo explained that the starting point for the process was“requesting each of the 18 local government chapters to forward three names to the secretariat. The next stage of consultation was em-panelling a screening committee comprising all three senatorial candidates; three members of the House of Representatives; five others leaders each from the three Senatorial District and members of the State Working Committee.”

In addition, the leadership stated that to provide arguable basis for their actions, four identifiable criteria were distilled and agreed upon by the Screening Committee for the selection process.

Though some members are of the view that Agagu threw his weight around to ensure his name and those of his cronies were on the ministerial list, the state chairman debunked these insinuations.

Dairo, in his letter, to the PDP’s acting national chairman, said in selecting the 10 names, the factors of self, ego and parochialism found no space maintaining that “we endeavored to be above board. We make bold to say that we dutifully demonstrated beyond measure the priceless element of transparency in the selection process.”

Most members of the party are earnestly yearning for all warring members to sheathe their swords. They hoped that reconciliation would be achieved soonest to reposition  the party for future polls.