By Omoniyi Salaudeen
the recent emergence of Ekiti State Governor, Ayodele Fayose, as the new Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Governors’ Forum has renewed the prolonged struggle for the control of the South-west chapter of the party. The contest is now between the elders’ group loyal to a former deputy national chairman (South) of the party, Chief Bode George, on one hand and its two other rival factions led by Senator Buruji Kashamu and Governor Fayose.
Fayose’s emergence, which received a loud applause from many enthusiastic supporters of the party, followed the termination of the tenure of the outgoing Governor of Ondo State, Olusegun Mimiko. The National Chairman of the Caretaker Committee of the party, Senator Ahmed Makarfi; the chairman, Board of Trustees of the party, Senator Wali Jibril; and the leadership of the party in the National Assembly, Senator Ike Ekweremadu, had all endorsed the choice of Fayose as the new chairman. They described him as a real party man who would boost the growth and development of the party.
Fayose, while delivering his acceptance speech, also promised to build the ‘wall of Jericho, surround the party, assuring that he would embark on a total mobilisation of party members nationwide ahead of the 2019 general elections. To actualize this dream, he needs to embark on the task of rebuilding from his South-west zone which has been in disarray since the party lost out to the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the 2015 general elections. Charity, they say, begins at home. Regrettably, however, the omens are not too good, at least, for now.
Back home in his Ekiti State, the recent ruling of the Federal High Court in Ado Ekiti which sacked the state working committee of the PDP led by Gboyega Oguntuase, and declared the faction led by Williams Ajayi as the authentic one is a major setback to his desire to reposition the party. The court had asked members of the Oguntuase-led committee to vacate office because their election was not approved by the National Working Committee of the party. Oguntuase’s faction is loyal to Fayose, while Ajayi’s group is loyal to Buruji Kashamu, the PDP senator representing Ogun East. Both Fayose and Kashamu groups have been struggling for the soul of the party.
All is also not well with the elders’ group, which has raised the alarm over the alleged plot by some people to change the zoning arrangement which gave the position of national chairman to the South-west and by implication the consensus agreement to support Chief Bode George as its candidate. According a former minister of transport, Ebenezer Babatope, stakeholders in the party had met in Akure in the run up to the botched Port Harcourt convention where it was unanimously agreed that George should be supported as a consensus candidate for the position.
The resolution followed the party’s decision to zone the positions of national chairman, treasurer and deputy national publicity secretary to the South-west. According to Babatope, the Akure meeting had in attendance Governor Olusegun Mimiko of Ondo State, his counterpart in Ekiti State, Ayodele Fayose, Senator Iyiola Omisore, Senator Yekinni Adeojo, Teslim Folarin, Chief Bode George, Prof. Taoheed Adedoja (another aspirant from Oyo State), Erelu Olusola Obada, Chief Ebenezer Babatope and Alhaji Lasisi Oluboyo, among others.
But a shocker came from Jimi Agbaje, a former governorship candidate of the party in Lagos State, who suddenly decided to join the chairmanship race. And, of course, not a few people were jolted by his action especially being the godson of Bode George.
At a recent press conference in Lagos, Babatope said some interest groups within the party were working to sideline George and throw the slot open to the South. Recalling the intrigues that trailed the botched Port Harcourt convention, he blamed Fayose and some other governors for the conspiracy against George.
He said: “The last time we were in Port Harcourt for convention, it was some of the governors that queued up with some of these elements to fight Bode George. And it wasn’t Bode George they were fighting; they were fighting those of us who belong to the same age group with Bode George. Like we told them in Port Harcourt, we wish them the best of luck. But as far as we are concerned, the best interest of the PDP is what matters to us.”
Literally spiting fire, he threatened to join hands to pull down the party and bury it, if George was denied the slot. “This is one of the reasons we are crying out now. It was conceded to us at the Port Harcourt convention that South-west must produce the chairman of the party. But now they want to change the game plan by throwing it open to the South. What part of the South are they talking about? We have not even executed what we agreed on in Port Harcourt and they want to move it from South-west to the South. That is wrong. When the party took the decision, they said presidency must go to the North. We didn’t say it must go to the North-west or North-east. But on the issue of chairmanship, the party said it must go to the South-west because we have never produced the national chairman of the party,” he explained.
He insisted that the only way to get the party out of the quagmire was to concede the chairmanship slot to the South-west. “The way out is for us to team up together to be united, focused and determined to present in 2019 the best of the best as our candidate. But we must stay by our zoning arrangement. While the North produces the president in 2019, South-west produces chairman of the party,” Babatope added.
For now, the party appears to be rudderless, as there is no consensus on any particular leader to provide direction. According to a former secretary of the PDP in Ekiti State, Dr. Temitope Aluko, going by the constitution, the National Vice Chairman, Makanjuola Ogundipe, is supposed to be the leader of the party in the South-west. But he said a huge array of powerful contestants made it difficult for the party to build a consensus on a particular person who would provide leadership direction.
Aluko dismissed Fayose’s desire to assume the South-west leadership position of the party as a misplaced priority and self delusion. In an interview with Sunday Sun, he said: “The need to replace Governor Mimiko of Ondo State necessitated the emergence of Governor Ayodele Fayose as the Chairman of PDP governors in the South-west. Don’t forget that there was no election because he is the only remaining governor on the platform of the PDP in the zone. How then can you now assume that such a person will lead the party in the South-west? Constitutionally, the National Vice Chairman, Makanjuola Ogundipe, is supposed to be the leader of the party in the South-west. But he cannot also claim to be the leader of South-west because he was given that position based on the choice of some leaders.”
According to him, the recent ruling of a Federal High Court in Ado Ekiti, which affirmed the Williams Ajayi-led executive as the authentic State Working Committee, has signaled the end of Fayose’s dictatorship in the state. “You will agree with me that all well wishers in Ekiti and founding fathers are quite happy with that landmark judgment of the High Court because it has given the party back to the people. Now, we are going to follow the constitution of the party. The founding fathers will now be able to use the knowledge of the party to enhance the organization of the party,” he stressed.
Those he regarded to be eminently qualified to lead the party include Chief Bode George, Senator Iyiola Omisore, Senator Celement Awoyelu, Prof Tunde Adeniran, Senator Abiodun Olujimi, Ogundipe, among others. But based on a perking order of relevance, he said he would give his vote to Kashamu as South-west leader. His words: “With all these names, you will agree with me that south-west has an abundance of leaders. As for me, right now and forever, Senator Buruji Kashamu is my South-west leader. If you ask the zonal chairman, Makanjuola Ogundipe, he will also tell you Kashamu. Apart from the fact that he is the chairman, South-west Mobilization Committee which is responsible for grassroots mobilization for PDP in the South-west, he also has a reasonable followership. Besides, he has his own structure in all the six states in the South-west.
“But leadership in the South-west has many fronts. When you are looking at it from the point of view of founding fathers, Bode George is the leader. Bode George had been the deputy national chairman (South); he had worked with different presidents on the PDP platform. If you are looking at it from the perspective of party hierarchy, Ogundipe is also a leader. If you are looking at it from the executive power to put down resources, you can say Fayose is a leader. You can equally consider Senator Abiodun Olujimi as a leader. But she was made a senator through the help of some people,” Aluko added.
He said the time had come for all stakeholders to join hands together to reorganize the party. “What is important for us is to harness those fronts and choose one person as a major leader. We should use the constitution of the party to harness these leaders to produce a united front that will bring us back to power. For now, we don’t have a leader who can call a meeting and all of us will be there,” he concluded.