PDP after the crises

The Supreme Court last week put an end to the protracted tussle for leadership of the leading opposition Peoples Democratic Party [PDP] when it declared Senator Ahmed Makarfi as the authentic chairman of the party. The Supreme Court described Senator Ali Modu Sheriff as “power hungry.” The three-man panel of justices said in the course […]

The Supreme Court last week put an end to the protracted tussle for leadership of the leading opposition Peoples Democratic Party [PDP] when it declared Senator Ahmed Makarfi as the authentic chairman of the party. The Supreme Court described Senator Ali Modu Sheriff as “power hungry.” The three-man panel of justices said in the course of the two years’ dispute, Sheriff displayed an “infantile desperation to remain in power.” In the lead judgement read by Justice Bode Rhodes Vivour, the apex court held that Makarfi’s appeal challenging the February 17 verdict of the Court of Appeal Port Harcourt Division had merit and dismissed Sheriff’s preliminary objection.

The court ruled that the national convention, being the highest organ of the party, was in order when it dissolved the National Executive Committee [NEC] and set up the caretaker committee headed by Makarfi and that the Port Harcourt convention of May 21, 2016 which removed Sheriff was validly convened. The unanimous judgement said Sheriff’s resort to the courts, including the May 20, 2016 resort to Federal High Court, Lagos which stopped the PDP convention was an afterthought, having submitted himself to electoral screening committee and was screened out for failure to show three years’ tax clearance certificate, party membership card and voter’s card as required by law. The apex court also noted that Sheriff filed 10 different suits in different courts within one year in his bid to remain in power; it said those suits will gather dust in judicial archives.

Justice Vivour admonished politicians to stop engaging in “forum shopping” and that heads of courts should always assign cases of the same nature and content to a single judge so as to avoid getting conflicting judgements. Truth is that the Makarfi-led caretaker committee too had gone to court severally challenging some of the favourable judgements obtained by Sheriff. The two factions must therefore share the blame for subjecting their party to public ridicule. It was ironic indeed that an experienced political party could not find a political solution to its leadership crisis despite several in-house mechanisms for conflict resolution. The bulk of the blame must go to PDP governors who resorted to impunity and brinkmanship in appointing and removing party chairmen.  Sheriff was made PDP chairman in February 2016 barely two years after he dumped APC in protest. He was not even among the 15 people that indicated interest in completing the tenure of Ahmadu Adamu Mu’azu. His appointment at PDP’s 68th NEC meeting was said to be in line with section 47(6) of the PDP Constitution, which empowers that organ to fill a vacant position with a person from the zone where the officer originated from.

But curiously, members of PDP Board of Trustees led by Walid Jibrin and former PDP ministers all rejected the emergence of Sheriff on the grounds that he did not have firm knowledge of party intrigues and would not manage it well during trying times. But PDP governors looked the other way, saying Sheriff was the only persona that could take the party out of the woods. The governors deployed indiscretion and impunity in the selection process. Not long afterwards, Sheriff fell out with most PDP governors, including Ayo Fayose and Nyesom Wike. They then used all tricks to drive him out of the office but he stubbornly resisted until the Supreme Court closed the chapter. While it lasted PDP lost a lot of its leaders and followers, lost contact with reality and failed to serve its role as leading opposition party.

Gladly, Makarfi has extended an olive branch to Sheriff and his supporters. Ex-President Goodluck Jonathan, who also contributed to the party’s travails by abandoning his leadership role after losing the 2015 election, has now risen to the challenge of revamping the party. PDP has slated a non-elective convention for August 12 which could strengthen it. We hope PDP leaders have learnt their lessons and we expect the party’s rejuvenation to force the ruling APC to reinvent itself as well.