The protracted crisis rocking the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the South West region has not abated, as the two belligerent groups, one led by former Governor of Ekiti State, Mr Ayodele Fayose and the other led by the Governor of Oyo State, Seyi Makinde are maintaining a hard stance. While most PDP leaders in the region like Olu Alabi, Elder Wole Oyelese, Prof. Akitoye – Rhodes and Chief Olabode George are backing Makinde, Fayose is being supported by the party chairmen in Lagos, Ogun, and Ekiti States among others.
The leaders’ support for Makinde according to information gathered by the New National Star is derived from the party’s convention that a governor is the leader of the party in a state and if there is only one governor in a zone or region, automatically he becomes the party’s leader in that zone. As it is, Makinde is the only PDP governor in the South West and so by party’s convention, he is the leader of the PDP in the region.
Surprisingly, many political watchers cannot fathom why Fayose who has benefitted from the same position as the only governor and leader in the region will oppose Makinde’s leadership. New National Star investigation revealed that there were some underlying factors that led to the hard position being taken by Fayose and Makinde. The PDP chairman in Ondo, Hon. Fatal Williams and his executive are with Makinde. They even recently paid a solidarity visit to him. Some members of the party who recently visited Fayose were suspended by the state executive. And they include former PDP chairman in Ondo, Chief Ebenezer Alabi, Lad Lajomo, Oyedele Ibini, a state Lawmaker, Rasheed Elegbeleye and former Publicity Secretary, Ayo Fadaka.
New National Star investigations revealed that the Makinde Group are promoting the candidature of former Deputy Governor of Oyo State and former Ambassador to Lebanon, Taofeek Arapaja as the South-West Vice-Chairman.
Fayose Group has Eddy Olafeso from Ondo State as the South -West Vice Chairmanship candidate. He was a former SW Vice Chairman of the party. Fayose Group wants him to return to the same position. In Osun State, the chairman of the party, Soji Adagunodo was removed following a vote of no confidence passed on him by the executive and this was ratified by NWC. The new chairman is Sunday Bisi but Adagunodo is in court and he got a judgement from a State High Court in Ikirun reinstating him back to his position as chairman. So in Osun, Adagunodo and Bisi are laying claim to Chairmanship.
Genesis of the crisis
The crisis started in August last year during the various state congresses of the party. In Ekiti where Fayose hails from, there were two factions, two state congresses which led to parallel executive of the party in the state. The faction led by Fayose produced Bisi Kolawole as the state chairman, while the other group led by Senator Abiodun Olujimi has Kehinde Odebunmi as the state chairman. Olujimi is the senator representing Ekiti South and is the Senate Minority Leader. While the National Working Committee of the party in a purported letter supported and agreed that Bisi Kolawole from the Fayose faction is the chairman, Makinde seems to differ.
Thus, a crisis erupted with Fayose saying that Makinde can only be the PDP leader in Oyo State and not in Ekiti State. Also, while Fayose favoured the retention of Eddy Olafeso – led South West executive of the party in the region, Makinde favours the retention of the caretaker committee. When the crisis blew open, Fayose started attacking the elders of the party that backed Makinde. He went further to describe Makinde in unprinted terms, but the Oyo governor has refrained from towing the same path.
At the height of the crisis, youth members of the party attacked Fayose at the grand finale of the campaign for the 2020 Ondo governorship election in Ondo Town last October. The youths who openly assaulted Fayose accused him of openly ridiculing Makinde who they said is the leader of the party. It took the intervention of Makinde and elders of the party to rescue Fayose from further assault at the campaign ground.
The underlying factor is that Fayose believes if he controls the state executive of the party in Ekiti State and controls the regional executive, he will have an easy way in selecting who will be governor in his home state in 2022. He, therefore, sees Makinde as a stumbling block in his efforts to produce the next governorship candidate of the party in the next year’s election in Ekiti State.
Preparation for zonal congress
The two zonal factions have produced their candidates for the zonal congress fixed for Saturday, March 6, 2021, in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital. It was, however, gathered that the Fayose group or faction is not comfortable with Ibadan as the venue of the congress and so some members of his group are already in court to seek the postponement of the congress . Last Thursday, Makinde accused the national legal adviser of the party of supporting the court case in order to postpone the South West zonal congress of the party. He called the national executive of the party to call the legal adviser to order. He said the South West zone of the party was ready for its zonal congresses, adding that party leaders in the zone were already working towards a united party. According to him, it is unthinkable to see a PDP as the plaintiff and defendant in a case deliberately filed to truncate the peace existing within the party.
Makinde said: “I specifically, put on notice that the national legal adviser of PDP has not done well. When the issue of the party structure in Lagos came up, I met him personally and advised him that look we have alternative dispute resolution mechanisms in this country, especially when it’s an internal affair of the PDP. “And he said no, we are going to defeat them in court. But, I was of the opinion that if we defeat them in court, what exactly are you going to get out of it? Now, he has started the same antics with the South West zonal congress. How can you file a case and then you instruct legal representation for the plaintiff and for the defendants? I don’t think that is acceptable.
So, we expect the National Working Committee of the party to deal with that decisively. “At the meeting, we reaffirmed the zoning arrangement for the positions of the South West zonal executive. Also, each state by now has been able to put together a unity list, which we intend to take to the congress proper. But yesterday, I heard of disturbing news that our National Working Committee is planning to postpone the South West zonal congress because some people went to court to complain about the location for the conduct of the congress. “There are three things that are coming out of the court move. One, I want to say that PDP has moved from allowing within its fold, reactionary elements to hold sway. Maybe in the past, it was possible for elements within PDP to collude with the National Working Committee to file cases where they are the plaintiffs and defendants.
“And they also tried to corrupt the judicial system in Nigeria. That will not be allowed because this is a PDP that is getting ready to take the mantle of leadership in this country. We want to provide leadership that is above board for the country and we cannot be seen within PDP to do something that will compromise any aspect of governance in Nigeria.” He added: “Finally, we are ready in the South West PDP to have a congress that will produce the zonal executive that is acceptable to the majority of the people of the South West.
“As the only serving PDP governor in the South West and a very interested party in the growth and development of our party, we do not foresee a parallel congress. That is why we are putting members of the National Working Committee of the party on notice that they must do what is right in this instance and I believe they will do what is right.”
Also, a group within the Lagos State chapter of the PDP, the PDP Collectives has also called on the National Working Committee of the party to call the national legal adviser to order over his tacit support for the suit seeking to postpone the South West zonal congress of the party. The group in a release it issued titled: “PDP is on the path of self destruction” and signed by its Chairman, Prof. Tejumade Akitoye-Rhodes said the role of the national legal adviser in a purported law suit that seeks to derail the congress is rather disingenuous, suspicious, offensive and in bad taste, saying if allowed to subsist, it will lay a very dangerous precedent that may eventually set the party on the path of implosion. As the crisis rages, Fayose has however, boasted that if Makinde does not want him to work against his reelection, he should respect him. He declared that “if Governor Makinde continues to disrespect me, I will work against him.”
Meanwhile, a former Minister of Power and Steel, Dr. Wole Oyelese, has blamed the crisis in the South-West chapter of the PDP on the inability of the party’s National Chairman, Prince Uche Secondus to call the warring factions to order. Oyelese said Secondus should have cautioned the warring factions, stating that if the PDP national chairman had called Makinde and Fayose to resolve the crisis, the embarrassing situation would have been averted. “It is unfortunate that the party at the national level allowed things to get to this level,” Oyelese bemoaned.