Analysis: One party, two chairmen and the confusion in PDP

In the past few days, the me­dia have been awashed with the activities and crisis rock­ing the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and till this very moment, there is no light at the end of the tunnel for the party.

This follows a ruling by the Abuja Fed­eral High Court, sitting at Apo which nullified the 2014 amendment that paved the way for Ali Modu Sheriff’s emergence as the party national chairman.

With this development, the PDP’s journey to peace has gone south as the amendment in the party constitution has just boomeranged and now works against some factions of the party.

READ ALSO: Leadership tussle: Sheriff secures major decision against PDP

The court, in a judgment by Justice Valantine Ashi, declared as “unconstitutional, null and void”, purported amendment of Article 47 Rule 6 of PDP constitution, 2012, at a special National Convention the party held on Wednesday and Thursday, December 10 and 11, 2014.

It voided the said amendment on the basis that there was no compliance with mandatory provisions of Article 66 (2) and (3) of the PDP constitution.

“By reason of the above, the purported amendments introduced to the constitution on the aforesaid dates, are hereby set-aside.

“All persons, individuals, servants or agents of PDP parading themselves as national officers of the PDP pursuant to the purported amendment which has now been nullified are hereby restrained from further parading themselves in these capacities,’’ Justice Ashi held.

The judgment followed a suit marked FCT/HC/CV/1867/2016, which was lodged before the court by a chieftain of the PDP in Ondo state, Chief Joseph Jero. PDP was cited as the sole defendant in the matter.

Ali Sheriff was brought on board to complete the tenure of Ad­amu Mu’azu, who resigned shortly after the party lost the 2015 general elections. Even with the pronouncement by the highest organ of the party, the national convention, that his tenure has expired, Sheriff argued that Ma’uzu was elect­ed in 2014 and not appointed and as such his tenure would expire in 2018 against the par­ty’s directive.

But investigation showed that Mu’azu was actually appointed to complete the tenure of Alhaji Bamanga Tukur, who was forced to resign when the governors under the platform of the party kicked against his leadership style.

Mu’azu was picked as the PDP chairman at a meeting between former president Goodluck Jonathan and the governors of the party at the Presidential Villa in Abuja.

READ ALSO: Abuja High Court sacks Ali Modu Sheriff as PDP chairman

The investigation showed that the PDP violated the constitutional requirement of political parties having periodical election, for the purpose of electing its principal officers on a democratic basis.

While this has come out good for some, it doesn’t look too good for Sheriff’s faction.

But he has continued to maintain that he remains the party national chairman, adding that the National Caretaker Committee headed by former governor of Kaduna state, Ahmed Makarfi, put in place by the national convention is illegal.

While Makarfi has the back­ing of PDP governors, Board of Trustees (BoT), National As­sembly caucus, the state chair­men and stakeholders of PDP, Sheriff is enjoying the support of some lawmakers, some for­mer governors, some sacked National Working Commit­tee (NWC), members and also some stakeholders of the par­ty.

From the on-going activities in the party, the question of vibrant oppo­sition is not at the moment on the table of the PDP. This is because the only opposition being played by the PDP is the attacks and counter-attacks both the Sheriff and Makarfi’s camps are hauling at each other.

And while Sheriff recently accused Makarfi of invading the party’s national secretariat with Fulani herdsmen, Makarfi accused Sheriff of trying to re-enact the Boko Haram crisis in the Federal Capital Territory and other states.

Now, the question on the lips of many is would PDP survive this crisis with the Edo and Ondo governorship election just around the corner?

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