The main opposition, the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) has moved to resolve the leadership crisis that has engulfed its Lagos State chapter in recent times, with a peace committee from the national headquarters of the party Wednesday met with PDP leaders in the state.
The Lagos PDP has been engulfed in internal crisis since after the 2019 general elections over who is the authentic state chairman and leader, a division that has spit the party into two camps.
Segun Adewale, a leader of the party in the state had been laying claims to the chairman position, alleging that the Agboola Dominic-led state executive expired last December, and that based on the 2016 state congress of the party, he was the legally recognised state chairman.
The crisis has been further aggravated by infighting and counter-accusation among leaders of the party in the state, who accused each other and the Agboola Dominic-led state executive of working against the party’s interest in the 2019 election.
However, in a bid to find a lasting solution to the crisis and check the poor performance of the party in subsequent elections in the state, a peace committee led by former Senator Ben Obi and a chieftain of the party in Ekiti State, Abiodun Olujimi, and others, met on leaders Wednesday at Raddison Blu Hotel in Ikeja
Sources at the meeting told BusinessDay, Thursday, that several leaders of the party in the state, including the governorship candidate of party in the 2019 gubernatorial election, Jimi Agbaje, were in attendance and they urged the national leadership to follow the constitution of the party in running the affairs of the state.
The source further stated that there was a unanimous agreement among the chieftains that there was the need to reduce the influence of some leaders of the party in the state, while the next state executives should emerge through a transparent state congress.
Speaking on the meeting in a telephone interview with BusinessDay, a former chairman of the party in the state, Tunji Sheele, said it was time all aggrieved leaders forgot the past in order to move the party forward, stressing that he was ready to make sacrifice for peace to reign.
“Yes, they came on a fact-finding mission and they met with us and they are back in Abuja to submit their report. We were all there, some leaders spoke well and some did not.
“A lot of people just joined politics to insult people, some of them that were there are not real PDP members, they went to contest in another party and came back; we know them.
“But the party has to move forward. I am ready to move round and resolve things, it is just some people are not sincere,” Sheele said.
The former chairman, however, dismissed insinuations by some chieftains of the party in the state that, Bode George a leader of the party in the state was holding Lagos PDP to ransom.
“What they are saying is not true, that is their thinking. Do they have what it take to run a party? When they need something it is Bode George they run to; there is none of them that has not benefited from him. If the man leaves the party they would know we don’t have a party,” Sheele added.
However, a South-South leader of the party in the state, Sunday Ekanem, told BusinessDay that the Ben Obi peace committee may not achieve meaningful success because the real issues that led to the current disagreement would not be settled.
“I don’t see anything coming to out of that meeting, they came last year, and what did they achieve? The real issue is being neglected. It is not just to come and share positions and go,” Ekanem said.
However, Segun Adewale, in an interview with BusinessDay expressed satisfaction with the outcome of the meeting.
Adewale, however, cautioned against imposition of another set of state executive members on the party by Bode George, threatening that he would vehemently stand against such a decision again.
According to him, “They did well, everyone spoke their mind, I am ready for peace, but Bode George must not impose anybody on the party from the back door again. If that happens I am ready to sack such people again.”
“The people want the party to liberate them, there is no reason why we can’t win election in Lagos for 20 year now, the people are tired of APC and the same APC is using some people within the party to divide us, because they don’t want Lagosians to be liberate,”. Adewale said.
In recent months, the current crisis as led to the defection of some leaders of the party to the ruling All progressive Congress (APC) notably among them is the former Minister of Works, Adeseye Ogunlewe.
Lagos PDP only won a state Assembly position seat and a federal House of Representatives seat in 2019 general elections in the state.
Inibong Iwok
