PDP: Winners and losers of Supreme Court verdict

The victory of Ahmed Makarfi at the Supreme Court over the leadership crisis rocking the People’s 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 seized this opportunity to join PDP. A lot of them were waiting to see what would 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 the crisis in the broom party. The judgment will also affect the new political parties as they will die a natural death,” a political observer, Jide Kpelumi, told BDSUNDAY in Abuja.

The party’s chances may have been boosted by 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 judgment last Wednesday, the five-man panel of the apex court unanimously declared Makarfi as the authentic leader of the party.

The ruling party APC 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), a faction of All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) 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. The Supreme Court held that Makarfi is the authentic PDP chairman. Can you imagine the damage the crisis 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 geniuses. 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 has risen to the challenge of saving Nigeria’s wobbling and imperiled democracy. A virile 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 these 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 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 judgment were not just PDP. The whole of Nigeria today was waiting for this judgment. 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.

With this victory, observers are watching keenly to see how the party will manage its new found success as a viable opposition party in Nigeria, with less than 390 working days to the 2019 polls.

Below are winners and losers of the apex court verdict.

Winners

Ahmed Makarfi

Chairman, PDP National Caretaker Committee, Ahmed Makarfi, entered national spotlight again after he was appointed at the May 21, 2016 Port Harcourt National Convention.

He has the backing of all organs of the party namely: National Executive Committee, Board of Trustees, National Assembly Caucus, PDP Governors Forum, National Caucus, PDP Ex-ministers Forum among others.

He is seen as the new face of opposition in the country and his selling point is his acceptability across the six geopolitical zones. The wild jubilation that greeted the Supreme Court verdict across the country and his non-confrontational brand of politics has endeared him to the hearts of many Nigerians.

Goodluck Jonathan

Although former President Goodluck Jonathan made futile attempts to mend the fences between the Sheriff and Makarfi camps, his body language suggested that he was on the side of Makarfi.

At a peace meeting convened by the ex-President in April this year, Sheriff staged a walk out on the former President, accusing him of bias and disrespect.

His action marked a turning point in the crisis as the few party members that had sympathy for him in the Makarfi camp, jettisoned him after they felt he crossed the line by walking out on Jonathan who party members admire as the pride of the party.

Fayose/Wike

Chairman, PDP Governors Forum and Ekiti State Governor, Ayo Fayose and his counterpart from Rivers State, Nyesom Wike, had been on the forefront on the onslaught against Sheriff.

Although they initially supported the former chairman, the tides changed after he started promising some of the governors position of running mates to him as presidential candidate of the party in the 2019 polls.

This pitched them against Sheriff, as the governors led by Fayose and Wike opted for a new leadership. At one point, the outspoken Ekiti Governor threatened to decamp from the party if the former Borno State governor had won in Supreme Court.

PDP Ex-Ministers’ Forum

From the onset, members of the PDP Ex-Ministers Forum had kicked against Sheriff’s emergence as national chairman.

The group which has now established itself as a force to be reckoned with in the affairs of the political party, has been justified with the Supreme Court verdict.

It maintained its loyalty Makarfi despite the verdict of the controversial High Court judge, Okon Abang and the Appeal Court, which favoured Sheriff.

Members of the forum include: ex-minister of Special Duties, Saminu Turaki (SAN), former Aviation Minister Femi Fani-Kayode. Others are: Esther Nenadi, John Odey, Mike Onolememen,
Bala Mohammed, Ibrahim Shekarau among others.

Losers

PDP

Despite Makarfi’s victory at the apex court, observers believe the biggest loser in the 14-month-old crisis is the main opposition party.

For a political party that was yet to recover from the shock of the defeat of the 2015 general elections, the party lost a lot of mileage during the over one year leadership crisis, as it was unable to take advantage of the crises rocking the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), which analysts say has failed to deliver its campaign promises to Nigerians.

Rather than tackle APC as its common enemy, both Sheriff and Makarfi factions went all out to outdo each other at a time a viable opposition is needed in the country. The development made the ruling party have a field day, while the party lost governorship elections in Edo and Ondo States as well as most areas where bye-elections were conducted in the last 14-months.

The crisis also saw the opposition party losing some of its members to either the ruling party or other political parties due to the lingering crisis. Those who ended their marriage with the PDP during the crisis include former Senate President Ken Nnamani; former Governor of Old Anambra State Jim Nwobodo; ex-Enugu governor Sullivan Chime; 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.

Political commentators, however, hope that the party would be able to manage its success by virtue of the apex court verdict by repositioning itself as a viable alternative platform.

Ali Modu-Sheriff

The former Governor of Borno State was at the centre of the crisis. He was in the All Nigeria People’s Party (ANPP) from 1999 to 2013, All Progressives Congress (APC) from 2013 to 2014 and PDP from 2014 till date.

His insistence to hang on as National Chairman and transmute himself as the party’s presidential candidate in the 2019 general election, backfired, as the Supreme Court carpeted the former national chairman for engaging in forum shopping and displaying “infantile desperation to cling to office at all cost”.

All along, he was described as a mole planted in the opposition party to destroy it and turn the country into a one-party state.

His declaration that God will determine his 2019 ambition was a clear indication that the former governor and federal lawmaker was eying the Presidency.

To some analysts, this could be the end of the ex-senator’s political career, as his name is synonymous with crisis, judging by the controversies that have trialed his membership of ANPP, APC and PDP. But then, this is Nigeria, where, according to analysts, people easily forget yesterday.

Cairo Ojougboh

Cairo Ojougboh was former National Vice Chairman (South-South) of the party. His ambition to upstage Uche Secondus as Deputy National Chairman met a brick wall as he fell out with his governor, Ifeanyi Okowa, who insisted he retained his seat as National Vice Chairman, which (he) Ojougboh objected.

When he took his case to the national level, it became obvious to him that he had lost. He wanted to return to his former office, which the party at the zonal level had given to another aspirant. This made him to pledge loyalty to Sheriff who made him Deputy National Chairman.

Initially, he was against Sheriff when the governors were backing him. Immediately the crisis between the governors and the former chairman erupted in 2016, he switched loyalty to Sheriff. Following the landmark judgment, the politician has lost on both ends.

Kashamu/Uzodinma/Agbonayinman

The Chairman, Senate Committee on Customs Hope Uzodinma; his counterpart from Ogun State Buruji Kashamu and the lawmaker representing Egor/Ikpoba Federal Constituency Johnson Agbonayinman never hid their allegiance to Sheriff while the crisis lasted. The two senators, who controlled factions of PDP in their respective states, were reported to have given the former chairman the financial backing to prosecute the battle with the Makarfi camp.

However, with last week’s judgment, the three federal lawmakers may have automatically lost their return tickets should they seek re-election in 2019 on PDP’s platform.

Nwofor                   

One of the lawyers to Sheriff, Beluolisa Nwofor lost his rank as Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) even before the Supreme Court judgment.

Nwofor had represented Sheriff in a suit at the Appeal Court seeking the declaration of Jimoh Ibrahim as the authentic PDP candidate in the Ondo State governorship election of November 2016. He accused the panel of justices led by Ibrahim Saulawa, which was presiding over the case, of bribery and bias, and he asked it to withdraw from the matter. Following the allegations, the court suspended its hearing until the Supreme Court gave it the go-ahead to do so.

In June, the Legal Practitioners’ Privileges Committee stripped Nwofor of his SAN title over act “unbefitting of the holder of the rank”.