COLLAPSE OF CEASEFIRE: MEND issues two-week ultimatum

SUNDAY VANGUARD, JULY 10, 2016, PAGE 41
THE SHERIFF/MAKARFI STALEMATE
PDP more divided ahead of Edo,
Ondo polls
*The forces behind sacked National Chairman
•Makarfi
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
•Sheriff
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
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.
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
PDP
also
m
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.