BY AYO ESAN
THE Lagos State chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party, like many other chapters of the party in the South West, is currently enmeshed in a protracted crisis.
The crisis cannot be divulged from the one bedeviling the zonal executive of the party in the region.
It was in the midst of this crisis that it fielded a candidate in the Lagos East bye-election on December 5, 2020.
As expected, and in line with the notion that a divided house cannot stand, the party lost woefully in the bye-election. APC Candidate, Tokunbo Abiru, polled 89,204 as against the PDP candidate, Babatunde Gbadamosi, who got 11,257 votes.
This crisis has however been a persistent phenomenon in the party and this has resulted in its inability to win the Governorship election since 1999. The finest the party had done was to manage to elect one or two House of Representatives members and a few House of Assembly members.
Unfortunately, most of the lawmakers, midway or towards the end of their tenures, ditched the party and joined the ruling party in the state.
Attempt was made by Governor Seyi Makinde of Oyo State and the former Governor of Delta State, James Ibori, to reconcile the aggrieved members of the party last year. But hardly had they put finishing touches to the reconciliation efforts when another crisis erupted.
As of today, the executive members and the state chairman, Deji Doherty, are at loggerheads.
The crisis got to a head a few months back when the State Secretary, Muiz Dosunmu, announced, after a meeting, that the other executive members had suspended the Chairman for not carrying them along in his actions.
The State Chairman, Doherty, is believed to be in a faction loyal to the former Governor of Ekiti State, Ayodele Fayose, while the other members are reportedly with the Makinde faction.
Speaking on the crisis, former Deputy National Chairman of the party, Olabode George, linked the crisis to what he called external influence.
He said, “The problem we have in Lagos State especially is that we have people who would grandstand and say they are this or that and that they are with us, but they are not with us.
“They are with Bola Tinubu because of the pittance they get from him. They pretend they are here in PDP but they are moles. God will expose them and shame them.”
However, the Chairman, South-West PDP Reconciliation Committee, Olagunsoye Oyinlola, has assured that his committee has the wherewithal to address the problems confronting the Lagos State chapter of the party and bring about peace and unity to the fold.
He urged PDP leaders and faithful to cooperate with the committee to enable it to bring the party back to the winning way, saying that Nigerians were now yearning for the PDP to come back, due to the failure of the APC-led government.
He said, “They had suggested that the party in the state would be at peace, united and be able to win the state if only just five leaders, including Chief Bode George, Dr. Bimbo Ogunkelu, Chief (Mrs) Aduke Maina, were brought together and united.
“One thing that must be done is to get to the root cause of the problem and like I said, we are still going to meet the stakeholders who are concerned with what is happening in the party and until that is done, we might not be able to proffer the solution.”
“The people mentioned, they are all known to me. Please don’t forget that I was once a military administrator of this state and none of them is new to me. I think I am a step ahead in getting solution.
“They (party faithful) should please cooperate with the committee. Let’s bring back our party to the winning way. The people are yearning for PDP to come back because for every promise made by the APC-led government, it is a promise not fulfilled and I don’t see why we should not be elected,” Oyinlola added.
Oyinlola harped on the need for the party leaders and members to unite, recalling that the party lost to APC in 2015 because of lack of unity, adding that Nigerians could today see clearly that APC had never been equal in performance and keeping promises.
“We were in power, one of the things that took us out was the fact that we refused to unite and that was why we allowed them to come in and they took over power. But today, every Nigerian knows very well that the government of APC has never been equal in performance and keeping promises,” he said.
How easy will it be for the party to be at peace and united? Will the Oyinlola committee be able to enthrone permanent peace in the Lagos PDP? Answers to these questions are what political analysts and watchers of political events in the Centre of Excellence are awaiting.
Responding to the efforts of Oyinlola’s Committee to bring peace to Lagos PDP, the State Publicity Secretary, Taofik Gani, said, “Peace is possible. We can unite and if there is unity, PDP will surely give APC a run for its money. We pray for peace and unity in our party.”
Also speaking with THE POINT, the state Secretary, Muiz Dosunmu, said, “We are all craving for peace. The external enemy knows the implication of unity in our party and they are doing everything to cause problem, but God will shame them.”
