Constitutional lawyer, Dr. Silva Opusunju, examines the crisis in the opposition Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, in this interview with The AUTHORITY. Excerpts:
Given your background as notable constitutional lawyer, can you give us an overview and backdrop to the crisis bugging the opposition Peoples Democratic Party?The battle for the control of the PDP intensified after the resignation of its substantive Alhaji Adamu Muazu and the entrance of Chief Uche Secondus as acting national chairman of the Party. Uche Secondus was later bared from administering the party by the decision of the FCT High on December 16, 2015, in a suit brought by Alhaj Gulak.
The decisions of the lower and appellate courts were hinged on the provisions of the party’s constitution which in effect mandated the replacement of Secondus as acting chairman with a party member from the same geo-political zone as Muazu.
The trio of Alhaji Mohammed Tukur the predecessor to Muazu and Gulak are from the North-east zone of Nigeria. While the suit of Gulak awakened the party, it also attracted the interest of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), fringe groups and 2019 political hopefuls into the affairs of the PDP. These raised further complications and factionalisation of the PDP into three parallel groups, initially. Already bruised by Governor Amaechi’s decampment before the general election to help found the APC, the exodus continued as the factions and the Board of Trustees could not reconcile internal difference. Optimism was fast dissipating. There was and still is talk of merger arrangement as the only salvation because the party is said to have an admirable national structure built over 16 years of its existence and control of central government.
In all these unfolding drama, what in your view is the role the party’s Board of Trustees ought to have played?
Constitutionally, the Board of Trustees is conferred with the competence to take measures it deems fit in order to reposition and re-build confidence in the Party. Part IX, Article 32(5) of the Constitution of the Peoples Democratic Party (as amended in 2012) states that, I quote – “The Board of Trustees shall, subject to the provisions of the Constitution…``…ensure highest standards of morality in all the activities of the Party by acting as the conscience of the Party, with power to call to order any officer of the Party whose conduct falls below the norms…; …ensure high morale of members of the Party and that the Party enjoys a good image before the Nigerian populace and is in good political health; … co-ordinate the sourcing of Party funds., …be vested with the assets of the Party and shall serve as custodians of such assets.”
As a result of the Board’s incapacity to act, one party faithful went to court to seek the removal of all existing national officers as a starting point to re-instill confidence, discipline and integrity in the party. The plaintiff in Dr. Emmanuel Fijabi vs. PDP and 15 others prayed the court to sack the entire National Working Committee (NWC) in a suit on behalf of himself and Concerned Members of the Peoples Democratic Party filed at the Federal High Court, Abuja on April , 2016. He relied on mostly on Sections 142(2) and 187(2) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (as amended), and the relevant provisions of the PDP Constitution. Other matters were filed which heightened the controversies and forced the emergence of former Governor Ali Modu Sheriff as the party’s chairman to exhaust the tenure of Muazu and during the period, lead a convention where new officers of the NWC will be freely elected by members.
Talking of Senator Ali Modu Sheriff - his emergence theoretically should have created some stability in the party going forward. What happened?
The emergence of Sheriff would have ordinarily ended the crisis rocking the party. But this was not the case because members suspected that the governors were again orchestrating the same impunity that caused the party its fortunes at the 2015 general elections. Something else also happened! The independence of Sheriff soon collided with the tendencies of the PDP governors. Not being able to control the chairman, the governors plotted his exit at the Port Harcourt Convention held on May 12, 2016 as one of two factional conventions of the party.
While the Abuja Convention produced Dr. Ibrahim Mantu (former Deputy Senate President) and Professor Tunde Adeniran as co-chairs under the leadership of Prof Jerry Gana; Sheriff out-foxed the governors by peremptorily cancelling the Port Harcourt Convention in exercise of his powers. He then sealed the fate of the Port Harcourt Convention with a court order restraining the party from conducting elections into his office, that of the National Secretary, and National Auditor. The Port Harcourt Convention immediately collapsed, and Sheriff’s deputy Mr. Secondus, inaugurated a new National Caretaker Committee under the leadership of Markafi as chairman.
A few months ago, another factional Convention was truncated by a court order obtained by Sheriff. In fact if that Convention had held, it would have also ended in a fiasco as aspiring National Chairman Chief Raymond Dokpesi, Prof Adeniram, Chief Olabode George etc., would have headed to court to challenge the outcome and other infractions of the party leadership. In response and without regard to the Constitution of the party, the PDP governors extended the tenure of the Markafi Committee and injected Secondus into same Committee. But in a swift reaction, the Board advisedly reversed the tenure of Markafi and his team to three months and also decreed that future Convention must be held in Abuja..
The trio of Alhaji Mohammed Tukur the predecessor to Muazu and Gulak are from the North-east zone of Nigeria. While the suit of Gulak awakened the party, it also attracted the interest of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), fringe groups and 2019 political hopefuls into the affairs of the PDP. These raised further complications and factionalisation of the PDP into three parallel groups, initially. Already bruised by Governor Amaechi’s decampment before the general election to help found the APC, the exodus continued as the factions and the Board of Trustees could not reconcile internal difference. Optimism was fast dissipating. There was and still is talk of merger arrangement as the only salvation because the party is said to have an admirable national structure built over 16 years of its existence and control of central government.
In all these unfolding drama, what in your view is the role the party’s Board of Trustees ought to have played?
Constitutionally, the Board of Trustees is conferred with the competence to take measures it deems fit in order to reposition and re-build confidence in the Party. Part IX, Article 32(5) of the Constitution of the Peoples Democratic Party (as amended in 2012) states that, I quote – “The Board of Trustees shall, subject to the provisions of the Constitution…``…ensure highest standards of morality in all the activities of the Party by acting as the conscience of the Party, with power to call to order any officer of the Party whose conduct falls below the norms…; …ensure high morale of members of the Party and that the Party enjoys a good image before the Nigerian populace and is in good political health; … co-ordinate the sourcing of Party funds., …be vested with the assets of the Party and shall serve as custodians of such assets.”
As a result of the Board’s incapacity to act, one party faithful went to court to seek the removal of all existing national officers as a starting point to re-instill confidence, discipline and integrity in the party. The plaintiff in Dr. Emmanuel Fijabi vs. PDP and 15 others prayed the court to sack the entire National Working Committee (NWC) in a suit on behalf of himself and Concerned Members of the Peoples Democratic Party filed at the Federal High Court, Abuja on April , 2016. He relied on mostly on Sections 142(2) and 187(2) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (as amended), and the relevant provisions of the PDP Constitution. Other matters were filed which heightened the controversies and forced the emergence of former Governor Ali Modu Sheriff as the party’s chairman to exhaust the tenure of Muazu and during the period, lead a convention where new officers of the NWC will be freely elected by members.
Talking of Senator Ali Modu Sheriff - his emergence theoretically should have created some stability in the party going forward. What happened?
The emergence of Sheriff would have ordinarily ended the crisis rocking the party. But this was not the case because members suspected that the governors were again orchestrating the same impunity that caused the party its fortunes at the 2015 general elections. Something else also happened! The independence of Sheriff soon collided with the tendencies of the PDP governors. Not being able to control the chairman, the governors plotted his exit at the Port Harcourt Convention held on May 12, 2016 as one of two factional conventions of the party.
While the Abuja Convention produced Dr. Ibrahim Mantu (former Deputy Senate President) and Professor Tunde Adeniran as co-chairs under the leadership of Prof Jerry Gana; Sheriff out-foxed the governors by peremptorily cancelling the Port Harcourt Convention in exercise of his powers. He then sealed the fate of the Port Harcourt Convention with a court order restraining the party from conducting elections into his office, that of the National Secretary, and National Auditor. The Port Harcourt Convention immediately collapsed, and Sheriff’s deputy Mr. Secondus, inaugurated a new National Caretaker Committee under the leadership of Markafi as chairman.
A few months ago, another factional Convention was truncated by a court order obtained by Sheriff. In fact if that Convention had held, it would have also ended in a fiasco as aspiring National Chairman Chief Raymond Dokpesi, Prof Adeniram, Chief Olabode George etc., would have headed to court to challenge the outcome and other infractions of the party leadership. In response and without regard to the Constitution of the party, the PDP governors extended the tenure of the Markafi Committee and injected Secondus into same Committee. But in a swift reaction, the Board advisedly reversed the tenure of Markafi and his team to three months and also decreed that future Convention must be held in Abuja..
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