Two prominent leaders of the main opposition Peoples Democratic Party-former Delta State governor, Chief James Ibori and the Governor of Oyo State, Mr. Seyi Makinde, have been saddled with the herculean task of bringing back lasting peace to the troubled Lagos State Chapter of the party.
Currently, Lagos PDP is having two men laying claim to the office of its chairman-Dr. Adegbola Dominic, who took over when Hon. Moshood Salavador dumped the party for the ruling All Progressives Congress in the run up to the 2019 general elections and Dr. Adedeji Doherty, who recently won an election conducted by the National Working Committee of the party purportedly to elect a new state chairman.
In the build-up to the election that threw up Doherty as the party’s new state chairman, Dominic and some members of the PDP approached a Lagos High Court to stop the election slated for November 13, 2019.
Justice Taofikat Oyekan-Abdullahi of the Lagos High Court ordered the party to maintain the status quo in an enrolment order filed before the court by the Lagos State PDP Chairman, Dr. Adegbola Dominic and seven others.
But the National Working Committee ignored the court order and held the election, compounding the situation.
How will that issue be resolved? Who would step down among the two chairmen? These are the questions that our correspondent put across to the former Deputy National Chairman of the party and coincidentally the leader of the party in Lagos State, Chief Olabode George.
George in his response said the two men leading the reconciliation efforts were eminent leaders with huge experience, saying all who wish PDP well should also wish them well in the assignment given to them.
According to him, “They called on Governor Makinde and even invited a Grandmaster, Master of Politics, former governor of Delta State, Chief James Ibori, to look into the crisis. What else does he wants in the party? He only wants peace, nothing more.
“When the founding fathers built this party, our prayers were that for the next 50 years PDP will be ruling. It was our jagajaga behaviour that sent us to the canvass. But they have spoken, that they will see how to manage the situation. Remember the story of Solomon and the two women. King Solomon listened to A and listened to B and he said if you are both claiming this child, let us divide the child into two. He knew for real the child would be dead. The one who was not the mother was the one saying cut it, but the mother of the child said no, give the child to her instead of killing the child. Didn’t you see the truth? Truth will prevail, justice will prevail, and equity will prevail. Those are the tripod on which any sane organization stands. If you remove one leg, it becomes wobbling. So, I was happy the governor intervenes. To me, it is only God Almighty that we should give all the Glory. In every situation just thank him.
“As I said, Governor Makinde is very cerebral, brilliant, possesses good academic, good managerial skills. He cannot come, and I will say no, no I don’t want to see you. He is the mediator, he has come here, and he has talked to us.”
To kick-start the reconciliation process, Ibori and Governor Makinde recently met with George, former minister of transport, Chief Ebenezer Babatope; a factional chairman of Lagos PDP, Adegbola Dominic; former deputy governor of Lagos State, Senator Kofoworola Bucknor – Akerele and other chieftains of the party.
Speaking after a closed door meeting, which was held at the Lugard, Ikoyi office of Chief Geroge, Makinde maintained that the meeting was successful.
He described it as a mission accomplished, stressing that it was high time the APC was put on notice. He said that PDP was giving a warning signal to the ruling APC in the state to prepare to pack out of the Alausa Governor’s Office.
When asked about the absence of Adedeji Doherty, a factional chairman of the party, Governor Makinde remarked that there was no need to jump the gun as the unity of the party in Lagos had become sacrosanct, stressing that APC had just been put on notice as to what was going to happen in Lagos State.
George, who spoke about the outcome of the meeting, said, “There will always be issues and with wisdom from the Almighty God, we would be able to resolve whatever differences.”
He assured that the party had a solution and they had all agreed that unity in the party had become very important.
“There will always be issues and with wisdom from the Almighty God we would be able to resolve whatever differences. We have proffered solution so that we can work together,” he said.
He said that the factions would be reached out to and the National Working Committee would also be contacted. He maintained that it was because the NWC wanted peace that it reached out to Makinde to broker peace.
George stressed that the party had no dictators or emperors, and everyone was ready to work as a team. He said that there would be consultations and whatever was suggested at the meeting would be communicated to others.
Reacting to the issue of those people who could be said to have benefitted from him politically, but now on the other side, he said, “I am not in politics because I want them to follow me like fools, as if there will never be a day I will no longer be there. I belong to the family of the Macaulays, the first family of Nigerian politicians. We can disagree in the process of interactions, but the beauty of being an elder is to call them together. I was military governor at the age of 42, worked in the Villa, served with the first civilian elected government. I was first Vice National Chairman of PDP South-West, became Deputy National Chairman South and finally Deputy National Chairman overall.”
He stressed that anywhere his name was mentioned, people would chorus, “PDP man!”
He stated that he would not allow people to draw daggers to destroy what he and other founding fathers had laboured to build, stressing that the beauty of listening and resolving, where some would take and also lose in certain areas, was the game of democracy.
Makinde’s comment that the Lagos APC should start getting prepared to quit Alausa Government House, however, stirred the hornet’s nest as the Lagos State chapter of the APC did not seem to be comfortable with the statement.
The State Publicity Secretary of the party, Seyi Oladejo, berated Governor Makinde for his statement that the party’s days were numbered in Lagos.
He said, “My candid advice to Governor Seyi Makinde is this Igbo proverb that ‘those whose palm kernels were broken for them by some benevolent spirit should learn to be humble.’
“His Excellency is apparently still excited that he managed to attain his dream office after series of electoral defeats. He needs not forget that he leveraged on the storm in the Oyo State APC family”.
“His lack of experience in governance at any level has become apparent within nine months of false starts and lack of developmental ideas. It will take more than the still-born unity amongst gangsters to take Lagos State from the path of progressive governance.”
Oladejo stressed that it appeared Makinde had the spirit of clairvoyance through which he was able to predict his political future of imminent defeat in future elections. He pointed out that the governor could boost his democratic credentials by obeying court orders as regards the issue of local government chairmen.
The PDP on its part felt that APC was already jittery that its days were numbered, which according to the main opposition party, could explain why the chieftain of the party could stoop low as to make demeaning remarks about Makinde’s statement.
The party insisted that APC should be concerned about how to redeem its image after over 20 years of bad leadership, instead of wanting to throw tantrums at an obvious truth spoken by a governor, which according to the party, was an obvious truth.
Speaking with The Point, Lagos State secretary of the PDP, Prince Muiz Dosumu, said that for those who understand Lagos politics to a large extent, the state could not be won by just mere noise-making in the media, but through rigorous activities at the grassroots, which the party had done before and would still do better again.
He corroborated what Governor Makinde said, adding that after the reconciliation the PDP would come out stronger in Lagos State and would be able to give the APC a run for their money in the 2023 general elections.
