TheCable

The supreme court has inexorably ended the leadership tussle in the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

Not long after the party, which once touted itself to be the largest in Africa, lost the 2015 presidential election, it galloped into an internecine feud.

Ali Modu Sheriff, who emerged national chairman of the PDP after a prod and propping of governors elected on the party’s platform – Nyesom Wike (Rivers state) and Ayo Fayose (Ekiti state) — became a live threat to its existence.

SHERIF vs MAKARFI

At the PDP national convention in Port Harcourt in May 2016, Sheriff was edged out, and a committee led by Ahmed Makarfi was set up to handle the party’s affairs pro tem. This became the fount of a 14-month leadership battle between Sheriff and Makarfi.

In the legal battle which followed, Sheriff, who now had no support from the party’s key organs, savoured victories at the lower courts. In February, the appeal court declared him as the authentic national chairman of the PDP.

While all these throttled on, prominent members of the party left for other parties in droves. At the senate, five lawmakers – Andy Uba (Anambra), Yele Omogunwa (Ondo), John Enoh (Cross Rivers), Joshua Dariye (Plateau), Nelson Effiong (Akwa Ibom), who formed a percentage of the party’s minority share in the upper legislative chamber, defected to the All Progressives Congress (APC). They all cited the crisis in the party as the reason for their decision.

DEFEATS GALLORE

Also, in the deep of the crisis, the party lost two governorship elections. First, in Edo, and second, in Ondo. In the build up to the Edo governorship election, for instance, the faction led by Makarfi picked Osagie Ize-Iyamu as its candidate, while the Sheriff faction picked Matthew Iduriyekwemwen as its own standard bearer. Ize-Iyamu eventually took part in the election, but he was defeated by Godwin Obaseki, the APC candidate. It is safe to say the leadership crisis was largely responsible for this loss.

Again, in the run-up to the Ondo governorship election, two candidates of the warring factions were fielded – Eyitayo Jegede (for Makarfi) and Jimoh Ibrahim (for Sheriff). The appeal court held the gavel on this confusion. But it was only a few days to the election that the court recognised Jegede as the authentic candidate in the exercise. He barely had time to campaign. Rotimi Akeredolu won the election. The Ondo case is risible because the incumbent governor – Olusegun Mimiko – was a member of the PDP.

REBIRTH BECKONING?

However, there was light in the clouds of the PDP when Ademola Adeleke won the Osun west senatorial election last Saturday. Adeleke filled in the seat of his elder brother, Isiaka, who passed on in April. His victory came as a shock to many because he had defected from the APC to the PDP a few days before the election. Though, some political pundits are of the view that the party played no significant role in his triumph, it may be a sign of good things to come.

In conclusion, the victory of Makarfi at the apex court betokens a new dawn for the PDP, but it will be a lazy deduction to say all is now well with the party. The party has to contend with other troubles like poor funding, disunity, distrust and a battered image. The PDP has a lot of reformation and reconciliation to do if it is to regain its once formidable place in Nigeria.