‘Supreme Court has resolved a fundamental question in Makarfi vs Sheriff face-off’

The recent judgment of the Supreme Court handing the staff of authority of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) to former Kaduna State governor, Ahmed Makarfi over Ali Modu-Sheriff of Borno State has been described as a verdict for the over 60 political parties in Nigeria on the fundamental issue of real ownership of a party.

A former senator and strong ally of the former president Goodluck Jonathan, told BDSUNDAY on Thursday, July 20, 2017, in his hometown, Nembe, Bayelsa State, that before now, it was unclear which organ of a political party was the most fundamental and most powerful.

This is as endless meetings have continued to go on at Jonathan’s Otueke home in Bayela State with politicians trooping to the place once again.

BDSUNDAY which visited the Ogbia-Nembe axis of Bayelsa State found that almost every important politician in the zone was coming from or going to Otueke where consultations are surely going on. It was learnt that the major issue on the lips of those trooping to the place is reconciliation.

Some insiders admitted that the court victory would not be regarded as the ultimate unless factions are rallied up to return to the fold. This was not however, the consensus as some groups believe that not everybody would want to come back.

The bigger reconciliation question around the table is said to be between the former president and his political godson, Seriake Dickson, governor of his home state. Insiders talked about how the former president picked Dickson up and gave him important positions until he made him governor by allegedly stopping Timipre Sylva on the throne in very controversial circumstances called ‘disqualification’.

Insiders wondered how such godfather and godson no longer relate nor talk. Jonathan is said to belong to the victorious Makarfi faction while the governor is said to be for Sheriff who is shunning reconciliation but is threatening to open a can of warms in his party. Many say for the fact that some governors and top persons in the PDP went to Maiduguri to convince Sheriff to come in as interim national chairman, that most secrets must have been revealed to the interim chairman to make his threats serious in nature.

Reacting to the Supreme Court verdict, a senator, Nimi Barigha-Amange said in Nembe: “Yes, the division in the PDP has been the biggest political crisis in Nigeria in recent times and the Supreme Court has decided on it. Conflict is normal even in families. If you cannot resolve it, you can call in an uncle. After, you will still live with your brother.”

He said: “We went to the Supreme Court not for PDP but for the highest court to decide who owns a political party. The Supreme Court has decided that the ‘people’ own the party, not an individual, not board of trustees (BoT), not national executive council (NEC), not the Central Working Committee (CWC). It is the Convention or Congress where every member will come and decide what to do. Now, all the political parties, over 60 of them, are all happy because they now know who owns the party.”

“For the PDP, we are happy, we are getting back to resolve the problems. What it will mean is that opposition would become strong again and without, democracy will suffer in any country. That is the significance of the judgment,” he stated.

On his political philosophy, the business magnet, Nembe high chief and community leader said: “My political philosophy is to rescue the poor by helping the underprivileged. I read Petroleum Engineering and worked in Elf (now Total) and from there read law. So, I have both science and arts in my life. I resigned from the oil industry to go into politics to join forces and help my people. The benefits are there such as the road you drove on to this place for the first time. We put pressure on the oil majors and the government to open a road to Nembe. We are still pressing to get it to Brass. My concern is how to help the masses of my community, my state and for Nigeria as a whole.”

Saying he comes from a very humble background and thus knew where the shoe pinches when one talks about poverty, Amange said: “So, I encourage those around me to look for how to get their daily bread. It is a spirit in me that I cannot change. Not that I have much but whatever I have, I like to give out. In the community I live in, I think I should help out. I do not like primitive accumulation. As I speak with you, I have no foreign account; I change naira into Dollars and travel, if I must.

“I have told my children not to expect me to accumulate wealth for them. I usually hint them jokingly that even this house here, I have willed it out to orphanage. I have orphanage home in Nasarrawa State near Abuja which I started when I was in the senate.”

He explained why he is deep into entrepreneurship. “You know, politics is not regarded as full time career here. If you want to join politics in Nigeria, look for where you will get your daily bread and use the political gains as bonus (jaja) in the sense that in the US, lawmakers can serve for 40 years but in Nigeria, if you manage to get to eight years, they say it’s another person’s turn. You are yanked off the scene. So, you have to look for your daily bread,” he said.

 

Ignatius Chukwu