PDP crisis worsens in Lagos

.As Sheriff, Makarfi groups sell separate forms for LG poll

.Makarfi’s NCC keeps mum

The leadership crisis currently bedeviling the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) which has sharply factionalised the opposition party into two different groups, seems to be getting messier despite the fact that a suit over the matter is currently pending before the Supreme Court.

The two factional groups within the party-the court recognised National leadership of party, led by Senator Ali Modu Sheriff and the Senator Ahmed Makarfi-led National Caretaker Committee (NCC), findings showed, have started selling forms to aspirants for the forthcoming local government election in Lagos State.

The two factions, according to checks carried out, have set up two parallel bodies selling nomination and expression of interest forms to the various aspirants for Chairmanship and councillorship positions for the election.

Other states which are already planning to conduct council elections include Jigawa and Benue states among others.
Governorship election in Anambra State is scheduled to hold later this year, while those of Ekiti and Osun states will hold next year.

The parallel sale of nomination forms by the two factions, it would be recalled, contributed largely to the electoral defeat suffered by the PDP during the governorship elections held in Edo and Ondo states few months back, during which the party produced two governorship candidates in the two states.

While the last Edo State governorship election was held on September 28, 2016, that of Ondo State took place on November 27 last year.

The All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate in Edo State, Mr. Godwin Obaseki, won the election, while the party’s (APC) candidate in Ondo State, Barrister Oluwarotimi Akeredolu, equally emerged victorious.

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) accorded recognition to the governorship candidate produced by the Senator Sheriff-led faction in the Ondo State election, Mr. Jimoh Ibrahim, while his candidature was later upturned by the Court of Appeal, who upheld Mr. Eyitayo Jegede, who emerged from the primaries held by the Senator Makarfi-led National Caretaker Committee, few days to the election.

The confusion that ensued over the matter and the shortness of Eyitayo’s clearance by the Appeal Court to the election date, were believed to have contributed to his loss to Akeredolu.

The appeal filed by the Makarfi’s faction of the PDP against the ruling of the Port Harcourt Appeal Court ruling is currently pending before the Supreme Court.

The apex court has already adjourned the case till May 24 to enable lawyers to Senator Sheriff-led PDP to respond to the various issues raised by counsels to Senator Makarfi’s National Caretaker Committee.

Contacted over the development, the acting National Publicity Secretary of the PDP, Hon Bernard Mikko told The Daily Times that the only recognised leadership of the party is the one under the Chairmanship of Senator Modu Sheriff, stressing that anybody dealing with any other body is just on his own.

Mikko, a former member of the House of Representatives, stated that PDP is one and that the judgment of the Court of Appeal over the matter is very clear and unambiguous.

He said: “The PDP is one. There is not argument over this. The judgment of the Court of Appeal, which sat in Port Harcourt, Rivers State capital, is very clear on this. There is no ambiguity at all.

“The only recognised PDP is the one under the national Chairmanship of Senator Ali Modu Sheriff. Anybody dealing with any other body different from the party led by Sheriff is on his own. This we have made very clear to all the members of the party nationwide.

“We are the determined to win the forthcoming Local Government election in Lagos State and the subsequent ones in the country. So, what we are calling for now is the unity of members of the party. PDP is one. We don’t have any faction anywhere. We must all speak in one voice”.

When contacted on phone, the National Publicity Secretary of the NCC of the PDP, Prince Dayo Adeyeye, did pick the call put through to his mobile phone by our correspondent.

It would be recalled that the Sheriff-led executive of the PDP and the NCC of the party, headed by Makarfi, had in most times been speaking from different dimensions over same issue in the recent time.

Meanwhile, the two factions of the PDP in Lagos State are accusing each other of stalling efforts being made to present a united front ahead of the July 22 local government elections.

The Chairman of a faction of the party in the State, Mr. Segun Adewale (Aeroland), alleged that the Moshood Salvador faction of the party was not working for the success of the party in the forthcoming election.

Adewale told NAN on Friday in Lagos that the Salvador faction, aligned to the Ahmed Makarfi-led national PDP Caretaker Committee, had frustrated all reconciliatory efforts to present a strong showing of PDP at the polls.

“I am the authentic chairman of the PDP in the state because the court has pronounced the Ali Modu Sheriff faction to which I belong as the authentic national leadership.

“That is the status quo and I remain the state’s chairman except the apex court gives a contrary judgment.

“Even with that, the council polls are coming and I have made reconciliatory efforts to the Salvador’s faction so that the council can do well at the poll,’’ he said.

According to him, the Salvador faction has, however, kept on frustrating the efforts.

Adewale, who contested the Alimosho Federal Constituency seat in 2011 and Lagos West Senatorial seat in 2015, losing to Sen. Olamilekan Solomon on both occasions, said his faction was, nonetheless, doing all its best for the PDP to do well at the polls.

He urged the party’s supporters to remain steadfast, urging them to work relentless for the success of the party at the polls.

Reacting, Publicity Secretary of the PDP in Lagos State, Mr. Taofik Gani, described the allegations by Adewale as falsehood.

Gani said the Salvador group was the first to initiate a peace process ahead of the polls but that the Adewale group shunned all efforts and boycotted meetings arranged by Salvador.

“If there is any faction frustrating the peace process, it is the Adewale group. We were the first faction to initiate a peace process and we arranged meetings at Protea Hotel to ensure we do well at the polls but the other group boycotted.

“While we were doing that, the Appeal Court pronounced the Sheriff group to which Adewale belongs as the national leadership of the party, and this made the issue more problematic.

“The other group started seeing themselves as the faction with legitimacy and leverage at the party in the state; they started dictating to everybody even when the matter is at the Supreme Court.

“They invaded the secretariat with some people and forced people out. They did not have respect for us and the elders of the party and are scuttling efforts for the party to be one,’’ he said.

He, however, said the only way forward for the party to come together and put up a strong showing at the council polls was for both parties to recognize and respect each other to achieve a common goal.

The Lagos State Independent Electoral Commission (LASIEC) has fixed July 22 for the poll and July 29 for runoff.