The forces behind sacked National Chairman

By Ben Agande, Abuja

The Federal High Court sitting in Port-Harcourt, Rivers State, last week, ruled that the process that led to the setting up of the Caretaker Committee of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP)  at its last  national convention was in accordance  with  the provisions of the constitution of the party. By the  judgment, the court had, according to some observers, conferred legitimacy on  the Senator Ahmed Makarfi-led Caretaker Committee which is  in a contest with the former  Chairman of the PDP,  Ali Modu Sheriff, and his group who  equally laid claim to the leadership of the party.

In  the judgement, Justice  Mohammed Liman  also  held that Sheriff  didn’t have the power to unilaterally postpone the PDP convention, since there was a caveat in the  party’s  constitution that he was to preside over the national convention with other national officers of the party.

“The first defendant,  from undisputable evidence, participated from the very initial stage of summoning the convention from the level of national executive council, appointed a national convention organising committee, he filed to contest , was screened but disqualified from  participating in the convention. So from this scenario, it is logical to assume that he was not prevented from participating in the convention. It will also not come from him that the convention was not properly convened.  The first defendant submitted himself for screening, purchased the form for the screening. The screening was widely reported in the media,” Liman said. The judge said Sheriff  did not attend the national convention but went ahead to postpone the exercise when delegates from all parts of the country were already at the venue. He said the unilateral action of Sheriff violated the constitution of the PDP, adding that if he had attended the convention and proposed postponement of the exercise was rejected, he would have been vindicated. “The National Chairman should have attended the convention and propose postponement. He would have been vindicated even if they rejected it”, he said.  Liman said the Deputy National Chairman of the party was in order to have presided over the convention in the absence of the National  Chairman because conditions under which he could assume such powers were clearly spelt out in the constitution of the party.  His words: “Article 35 provides that the Deputy National Chairman shall assist the National Chairman, deputise for the National Chairman in his absence. It is obvious that the Deputy National Chairman can preside over the convention in the absence of the National Chairman.”

But if anybody expected that the court judgment  was going to put an end to the  crisis in the party, a huge disappointment awaited  him. As it has become the norm with Sheriff since losing out at the Port-Harcourt national  convention of the PDP, he has defied the governors elected on the platform of the party  and insisted that he remains the Chairman, hinging his claim on  orders  his group had obtained from the various courts.

In one of such interlocutory orders, an Abuja High Court presided over by Justice Okon Abang, restrained the Independent National Electoral Commission,  INEC, the “PDP and their agents from dealing with or according any facility required by law (regarding the gubernatorial elections to be conducted by INEC in Edo and Ondo states) to any other person or groups other than  the Sheriff, Prof Wale Oladipo and Fatai Adeyanju-led NWC of the party.

For those behind Sheriff’s emergence as Chairman of the PDP  from the blues, the last thing on their mind was the leadership crisis that the party is  embroiled in. While the promoters were counting on his alleged deep pocket to stabilize the PDP in the aftermath of its defeat in the presidential election of last year, the potentials of his wanting to stay on in power were not factored-in when the merits of his chairmanship on the party was being worked out. So when the governors elected on the platform of the PDP  tried, without success, to railroad Sheriff out of the convention when it became obvious that he was no longer willing to do their biddings he bared his fangs.

Although there is no denying the fact that many party members seem to be against the leadership of the former governor of Borno State, he has been able to galvanize a few, even if controversial members of the party, to his side. It is the few but powerful members that have sustained the leadership battle in the PDP that  threatens  the chances of the party in the forthcoming governorship elections in Edo and Ondo states.

SHERIFF’S SUPPORTERS

When Sheriff fell out with  PDP governors as a result of his unilateral cancellation of the Port-Harcourt convention, which the governors insisted must go on, it was widely believed that his tenure as the Chairman was getting to the end. Recent events in the party, however, point to the contrary.

With almost all the major stakeholders in the party against  him, the question that comes to mind is, where does the former Borno governor draw his strength to sustain the fight that he has so far done successfully?

A careful interrogation of the Sheriff personae will provide an insight into why he may endure the fight for much  longer.

PDP and its colour flags

Since coming into limelight, Sheriff has presented an image of a political juggernaut who takes no hostages and brooks no opposition to his leadership. When he fell out with Mala Kachalla whom he installed as the governor of Borno  at the beginning of the present political dispensation, the embattled PDP leader,  credited with a huge financial arsenal to prosecute any political war, single-handedly  took the ticket from Kachalla who decamped from the defunct  All Peoples Party (APP)  to the  former  Alliance for Democracy (AD)  with ignominy. His subsequent eight years tenure  as  governor of Borno  cemented his hold on the then APP and extended his sphere of influence to the national level which was crowned with his appointment as the Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the now also defunct All Nigerian Peoples Party (ANPP). It is this influence that he finds very handy in the imbroglio that he is in presently.

Beyond the reach and capacity of Sheriff, he has the support of very powerful politicians  who are ready to back him all the way. Though the raison d’être for the support from these  powerful individuals may be at variance with why Sheriff is insisting on remaining in office against all odds, they are united by their disdain for certain key players in the PDP who are opposed to Sheriff.

Prominent  among those whose support the PDP leader  counts on to cling on to the party chairmanship  is Senator Buruji Kashamu. Kashamu’s short and controversial   political trajectory has shown him as a man who thrives in controversy. In the last one year or so, he has fought  battles on several fronts. Apart from his  attempts to stave off his deportation to the United States of America to face some charges, the Ogun senator has used his alleged deep pocket to bulldoze his way through the tricky politics of the South-West and registering himself as a power to contend with. He sees his support for Sheriff as a sure way of retaining his influence on the politics of the South-West and possibly extend same to the national level.

Another strong backer of Sheriff is Chris Uba, the Anambra born political giant alleged to be behind the move to remove a former governor of Anambra State, Chris Ngige, in 2003. Since that incident, Uba has had his hand in many controversies  that dogged Anambra politics. In fact, he challenged the emergence of his brother, Andy Uba, as the senatorial candidate in the last election and pursued the case to the Supreme Court.

Chris Uba’s support for Sheriff is as much a matter of political self-survival and relevance as to expand his sphere of influence. For a man who has the record of being the youngest member of the Board of Trustees of the PDP, he cannot afford to see his investment in the party blown away by the emergence of a  leader that he would not have an influence on. Sheriff appears to be giving him a listening ear that he is not sure to get from any other outsider that he may not be too familiar with.

Another prominent supporter of Sheriff is Senator Hope Uzodinma from Imo State. Senator Uzodinma is locked in a fierce battle with the former Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Emeka Ihedioha, over who controls the structure of the party in the  state. Ihedioha, who was the party’s governorship candidate in the 2015 elections in Imo still has his eyes on the seat that he lost to Governor Rochas Okorocha.  Uzodinma, who is also not new to controversy, is also determined to have a try for the governorship election of the state when the tenure of the incumbent expires. With Ihedioha neck deep in his support for the Makarfi-led Caretaker Committee, it was natural that Uzodinma would pitch his tent with Sheriff. He was rewarded with the chairmanship of the Sheriff-led faction of the PDP gubernatorial election committee for Edo State. Although INEC refused to recognize the primary conducted by the Sheriff group, they are not willing to let go of the contestation   for the state as the faction also conducted its primary and came out with Matthew Iduoriyekwemwen as its candidate.

WINNERS AND LOSERS

With Sheriff and Makarfi sticking to their positions without any sign of compromise, it appears that the ultimate loser in the fierce contest for power would be the party in Edo. Although the main faction of the PDP has elected Pastor Ize Iyamu as the candidate of party for the September election in Edo, the intransigence of  Sheriff who has also produced a candidate for same election in the name of same party will seriously jeopardize the interest of the party in the election. With INEC caught in  legal cross-fire that both parties in the feud have resorted to, there is potent fear that, at best, the PDP would be going into the election as a divided house or, at worst, risk not being put on the ballot.

Unless both parties in the leadership crisis allow common sense to prevail and look at the greater interest of the party, the PDP, which has been decimated because of its dismal performance in the last general election will be rest assured that it would sacrifice its bright chances in the Edo  election on the altar of ego. The ultimate loser would be the people of Edo who would not be availed of all the options they   would have chosen from.