Why ogun PDP remains in disarray

The crisis threatening the Ogun State Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) is far from being over. In spite of the frantic efforts to bury their differences, the warring chieftains remain implacable. Assistant Editor LEKE SALAUDEEN examines the root of the crisis and why it has defied solution.

There seems to be no solution in sight to the crisis rocking the Ogun State chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). Since its defeat in 2011 by the defunct Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), the PDP has not fully recovered from the shock. The party is fragmented into three groups and the crisis continues to fester.

It all started prior to the 2011 general elections; as a proxy war between former President Olusegun Obasanjo and former Governor Gbenga Daniel over the control of the party structures ahead of the polls. The gladiators were divided over the choice of the party's governorship candidate. Obasanjo had insisted that former Sole Administrator of Ekiti State, General Adetunji Olurin, should get the ticket, while Daniel preferred his long-time protégée and former Managing Director of the Gateway Holdings, Mr Gboyega Isiaka, for the role. The party became polarised, with the Daniel camp breaking away to contest the election on a different platform. The division proved to be their undoing; as the two groups eventually lost out in the election.

In an attempt to regain power in 2015, remnants of the party after the exit of Obasanjo and the Daniel camp re-united. This includes supporters of Senator Buruji Kashamu and that of former Speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon. Dimeji Bankole. But, it was not enough to stop the All Progressives Congress (APC), led by Governor Ibikunle Amosun, from retaining power.

Shortly after the elections, the cracks that were hurriedly patched for the purpose of regaining power widened once again, with gladiators moving in different directions. It became apparent that the centre could no longer hold during the failed bid to rebuild the party nationwide, when the three gladiators conducted separate ward, local government and state congresses. The arrow heads are Hon. Ladi Adebutu, son of multi-billionaire business mogul, Chief Adebutu Kessington, who represents Remo Federal Constituency in the House of Representatives; Senator Kashamu and Hon. Bankole.

Adebutu, who is backed by his father and Bankole are pitched in a fresh battle against Kashamu who also has the financial war chest to prosecute any political battle. While Adebutu has his eyes firmly on the governorship seat in 2019, Bankole is said to be bent on taking his own pound of flesh from Kashamu who single-handedly stopped him from picking the party's governorship ticket for the 2015 polls.

A chieftain of the PDP in Ogun State, Hon. Sikirulai Ogundele, attributed the division in the chapter "to the selfish interest of Kashamu". Ogundele, who is the Chairman of the Adebutu faction said: "We started having problems when Buruji Kashamu when he came up with a deceit that was supported by Daniel. We found out later that Kashamu was out to use our political fortunes to enrich his business interests through a diabolical organisation he called 'Omo Ilu Foundation'. He forced many members of the party to take an oath of allegiance to his leadership.

"Later, he took the party leadership to court on certain issues. With the support of former President Olusegun Obasanjo, he had his way. He used court injunctions to take over the structure of the party. Kashamu later frustrated Obasanjo, Daniel and other notable leaders out of the party.

"What Kashamu did to the PDP in Ogun was the height of deceit. In 2011, he started selling party tickets for political offices to the highest bidders. In 2015, we had the opportunity of regaining power in the state, but we could not capitalise on it because of the selfish interests of Kashamu. Like he did in 2011, he fixed prices for elective offices. Those who could afford to pay were given the tickets; it was a cash and carry business.

"He didn't put into consideration the popularity of the candidates. For instance, Kashamu foisted Bisola Clark, the wife of Ijaw leader, Chief Edwin Clark, on the Ogun Central Senatorial District as candidate. She is an Egba woman, but not popular among the people. She doesn't stay in Abeokuta. Still, Kashamu gave her the senatorial ticket at the expense of a popular candidate."

A member of the Bankole group, Mr Adedotun Adetona, agreed with Ogundele. He confirmed that the seizure and firm grip of Kashamu on the party's structure forced former President Obasanjo, with whom he had a running battle since 2010, to suddenly quit the party along with his supporters in the run-up to the 2015 general elections. According to Adetona, it was in a bid to pre-empt Kashamu's deft moves that Obasanjo decided to call it quits.

He said: "It was when Obasanjo got wind of the plan by the state executive committee of the party loyal to Kashamu to expel and disgrace him that he hurriedly called a press conference in his Abeokuta Presidential Mansion and announced his decision to quit the party. He did this in a dramatic fashion, by tearing his membership card in the glare of cameras.

"The supremacy battle between Kashamu and the remnants of the Obasanjo camp dragged on and culminated in the party's defeat in the 2015 general elections. The party could only boast of one senatorial seat won by Kashamu himself, two House of Representatives seats, one won by Adebutu and nine House of Assembly seats.

"Rather than consolidate on this modest achievement and strive for better performance in future elections, the party became more divided, with each group jostling for its soul. The Adebutu and Bankole groups are upset with the way and manner Kashamu has taken over the party's structure. Kashamu has remained the major financier of the party since 2011 when he took the structures from Daniel. As a result, he became the alpha and omega of the PDP in Ogun. He determines who gets the PDP's tickets for various elective offices.

"In their wisdom, the opposing groups argued that if they did not rise up now to challenge and checkmate the 'one-man-takes-all' style of Kashamu, the electoral fortunes of the party may dim further and prevent it from capturing the state in 2019."

Fatoki explained what led to the formation of the splinter group thus: "In order to put an end to Kashamu's impunity, we the like-minds in Ogun PDP decided to return to the drawing board, by first identifying the problems. We realised that Kashamu had turned the party into his personal property and was using our political fortunes to entrench his business interests. We came together, we mobilised our members against the self-acclaimed leader. We formed a formidable team, with Daniel and Adebutu.

"After we had gathered enough members to fight the monster, we went ahead to conduct ward, local government and state congresses. It was not only our group that held congress outside the one conducted by Kashamu group; the Bankole group did the same thing. It was a protest against the leadership of Kashamu. Ogun is an elitist state. Kashamu can't lead Ogun PDP. The likes of Kashamu can't be a councillor In Egbaland, because of his dented image. He can't lead our campaign; people will look at your leader and judge you."

The parallel congresses from where three parallel executives emerged have worsened the crisis in Ogun PDP. The simultaneous conduct of the state congress recently at three different venues, by party members loyal to each of the three combatants, suggests that reconciliation of the warring factions is not feasible. At the end of the exercise, a former Chairman of Ijebu North Local Government, Chief Adebayo Dayo, was elected chairman by the group loyal to Kashamu, while a former Commissioner for Lands and Housing, Chief Wale Egunleti, emerged chairman of the Bankole faction. The Adebutu group elected Ogundele as chairman.

There has been a growing apprehension within the party, as each faction continues to lay claim to the party leadership. A political analyst, Mr Duro Bankole, said: "The PDP in Ogun is in disarray. Nobody is sure which group conducted the authentic congress or which set of the executive is the authentic one. Each of the groups continues to lay claims to legitimacy and authenticity."

For instance, Ogundele argued that the congress conducted by his group was the authentic one and that the elected officials are the legitimate state executive council. He insisted that theirs is the constitutionally-recognised one and that it emerged to arrest the drift foisted on the party by the Dayo-led executive under the prompting of one man (Kashamu). He faulted the congress that produced the Dayo-led executive, saying it was an exercise in futility.

He said: "We went to court to challenge the Dayo-led executive that conducted the Kashamu group's congress. We got a court injunction restraining the faction from conducting or supervising the congresses. The Stakeholders Committee was put in place by the party at the expiration of Dayo's tenure on February 28. The committee headed by Chief Iyabo Apampa conducted the congress from where I (Ogundele) emerged as party chairman.

"This is why I am saying with confidence that we are the authentic executives of the party in Ogun State. We are also recognised by the zonal body (Southwest PDP). A stakeholder constituted by the party conducted our congress where I emerged chairman and that makes it legal and authentic. We got a letter from the Makarfi-led National Caretaker Committee, recognising us as the authentic state executive of the party. The Ogun State Electoral Commission has also recognised as the authentic state executive and that was why the commission accepted the list of candidates submitted by our group for the recent local government election."

But the Kashamu faction hinged the legitimacy of its congress on its recognition by the National Congress Committee Chairman for Ogun State, Mohammed El-Yakub, and the presence of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), which monitored the exercise. El-Yakub said he was not aware of any parallel congress in Ogun, "because we had designated centres and the congresses my committee monitored took place in those centres". He added that members of the committee monitored the exercise across the three senatorial districts and it was peaceful and smooth.

Insisting that the congress organised by the Kashamu faction was authentic, El-Yakub said: "We carried all the members along and asked any intending contestant to approach the party secretariat to obtain forms. We gave everybody a level-playing ground and equal opportunity. What I know is that some people cannot consider themselves as having conducted authentic congress without nomination forms."

On the authenticity of Kashamu group's congress, Dayo who emerged as chairman said: "There are no factions in Ogun PDP and there was only one validly conducted congress held on May 10, 2016. Any other arrangement anywhere that purports to be another 'parallel congress is nothing but a gathering of people whose motives and intentions are not clear and definitely not in consonance with the mood of the larger percentage of our members that are desirous of a rejuvenated, peaceful and progressive party."

The Secretary of the faction loyal to Bankole, Hon. Johnson Fatoki, said his group obtained its nomination form on which the congresses were conducted from the PDP national secretariat, Abuja. According to him, "the executive that emerged from our congress is valid; we followed the party guidelines."

Fatoki noted that divergent interests were fuelling the internal rancour in the Ogun PDP. He said: "It is about interests; some people want to use their interest to overshadow that of the group. So, I can't rule out 2019 connection in the internal rancour in Ogun PDP. In politics, there are bound to be competing interests, but it must not be at the detriment of the party. Personal ambition must not override the collective prosperity of the party."

Observers are of the view that "the PDP in Ogun State has lost its potency and slipped into political irrelevance, because of the inordinate ambition of its leaders. The PDP has ceased to be a viable opposition to the ruling APC; because of the expansionist tendencies and the crude ambition of its leaders in their bid to control the party structures".

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