The victory of Ahmed Makarfi at the Supreme Court over the leadership crisis rocking the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), signals a new dawn for opposition parties in Nigeria, analysts have said.
Political commentators believe that Nigeria will not only have a vibrant opposition but will also put the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) on its toes, ahead of the 2019 general elections.
This comes as observers posit that the apex court verdict has saved Nigeria from sliding into a one-party state.
“The victory by Makarfi will witness gale of defections from APC to PDP. and political gladiators in the ruling party on the fence before now will also cease this opportunity to join PDP. A lot of them were waiting to see what will happen to PDP and now that there’s a strong alternative platform, with Nigerians bearing the brunt of economic recession, the goodwill for APC has waned and this may deepen further deepen the crisis in APC. The judgement will also affect the new political parties as they will die a natural death,” a political observer, Jide Kpelumi, told BusinessDay in Abuja.
The party’s chances may have been boosted with its victory at the Osun West senatorial bye-election last Saturday.
The main opposition political party, which ruled the country for 16 years – 1999 to 2015 – has been enmeshed in leadership crisis since the May 21, 2016 botched national convention in Port Harcourt, with Makarfi and Ali Modu-Sheriff laying claim to the national chairmanship position of the party in a manner that defied political solutions.
However, in a judgement on Wednesday, the apex court declared Makarfi as the authentic leader of the party.
The crisis saw the opposition party losing some of its members to either the ruling party or other political parties due to the lingering crisis facing it, including former Senate President Ken Nnamani; former Governor of Old Anambra State Jim Nwobodo; former Corps Marsh, Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC), Osita Chidoka; former Presidential adviser, Doyin Okupe; Chairman, Senate Committee on Public Accounts, Andy Uba; his counterpart in Finance, John Enoh as well as Nelson Effiong.
The ruling party is also enmeshed in crisis with the likes of ex-Vice President Atiku Abubakar, former Lagos State Governor Bola Tinubu, Senate President Bukola Saraki, former Kano State Governor and current senator Rabiu Kwankwaso, former Speaker House of Representatives and current Sokoto State Governor Aminu Tambuwal, said to be aggrieved over the way the party is being run.
The ruling party is currently divided along blocs of defunct Congress for Progressives Change (CPC), Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP) and New People’s Democratic Party (N-PDP).
As the Makarfi group pops champagne to celebrate the victory, other experts believe the biggest loser is the PDP, as it lost mileage during the over one year crisis.
This school-of-thought believes the opposition party was unable to take advantage of the crises rocking the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), which has failed to deliver its campaign promises to Nigerians. This development, it argued, made the opposition party lose elections in Edo, Ondo and virtually all areas where bye-elections were conducted in the last one year.
“We know about weak political institutions. Today(yesterday), Supreme Court held that Makarfi is the authentic PDP chairman. Can you imagine the damage just between Makarfi and Sheriff has done to the political space in this country?
“I’m from Edo State. I’m not a politician. But I know that but for these two people, the results in the Edo State election may have been different. The same thing in Ondo State. But they go about, nothing happens to them,” Paul Idornigie, a professor, Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) and head, Department of Commercial Law, Nigerian Institute of Advanced Legal Studies, stated in Abuja on Wednesday.
On his part, constitutional lawyer and human rights activist Mike Ozekhome (SAN) said the apex court verdict has saved Nigeria from sliding into a one-party state.
In a statement titled: “The Intervention of the Supreme Court in Resolving the PDP Crisis” the lawyer said: “It saved the most potent opposition,the PDP,from self-destruct and internally generated volcanic eruption.There is no doubt that the Ahmed Makarfi and Modu Sheriff factions were apples and oranges,when compared on an imaginary scale of genuiness. One was Japanese,the other,Taiwanese,in terms of originality and imitation.
“While the Makarfi faction appeared to have been fighting for the survival and wellness of the heart and soul of the vertically and horizontally fractured party,that once imperiously boasted of ruling Nigeria for over 60 years in a stupor state of power inebriation,Modu Sheriff and his faction were bent on destroying it completely.It must have made the ruling APC green with envy in terms of the Sheriff’s huge capacity to exert maximum damage to PDP’s corporate existence.
“Have you ever seen a supposed opposition party fraternising with and eulogising the ruling party on every step taken,never criticising it,yet tongue lashing its own party? Have you ever seen where a warring faction became allergic to a settlement that would raise its party up from its nadir of doldrums?
“Once again,the judiciary, the whipping “boy” of our democracy,has risen to the challenge of saving Nigeria’s wobbling and imperiled democracy.A vilire opposition constitutes the heart and soul of democracy.The alternative is dictatorship”
Addressing party faithful who besieged the national headquarters of the party in Abuja, Makarfi called for reconciliation of aggrieved members based on equity, equality and values.
He described his victory at the Supreme Court as an affirmation of the powers of political parties.
The party chieftain urged his supporters to guard their utterances, adding that in the next few days, various organs of the party would meet to strategies the way forward.
“This victory is not just for PDP, it’s for democracy. This affirms the powers of political parties. This affirms the powers of convention of all political parties. The battle we fought was not a battle for PDP alone. It was a battle for democracy, it was a battle for supremacy of party men and women to decide their destiny. And it’s a battle to do away with dictatorship in political parties and this will never repeat itself.
“There’s no victor, there’s no vanquished. We must be open to reconciliation. But there’s a caveat: reconciliation does not mean we take what belongs to people and give it to you. Reconciliation must be based on equity, equality and values.
“With this caveat, we should be prepared and willing to reconcile with everybody. Anybody that can meet this criteria, we should be willing and open to reconciliation with such a person no matter who they are. Please, in our personal interactions, we should not throw insults because our other party men and women lost. We should continue as friends, knowing that there are things we can do together, there may be things we may not be able to do together. But we are willing to do everything to do everything on the foundation that I had mentioned. And I urge them to come forward, join hands with us and let’s see how we move PDP forward.
“And I assure you that those who have been waiting for this judgement were not just PDP. The whole of Nigeria today was waiting for this judgement. And the eagle has landed.
“We are going to consult within the next two to three days. And come up with a programme of meetings between Monday and Tuesday. And these meetings will include Expanded Caucus, BoT and NEC so that we can take some far-reaching decisions on how to take the party forward” he said.
He called for Muslim and Christian prayers for ailing President Muhammadu Buhari and PDP BoT Chairman Walid Jibrin whom he announced “suffered some stroke about two days ago”.
Other leaders of the party including Chairman, PDP Governors Forum Ayo Fayose; Deputy Senate President Ike Ekweremadu and member Board of Trustees Jerry Gana asserted that with this victory, the party is now repositioned to reclaim power in 2019.
With this victory, observers are watching keenly to see how the party will manage its success, with less than 400 working days to the 2019 polls.
OWEDE AGBAJILEKE, Abuja
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