Dickson’s tough job for PDP, Jonathan in S-West

The work of the Governor Seriake Dickson reconciliation committee of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) would be crucial for President Goodluck Jonathan’s immediate political ambitions. Underneath is a presentation of the issues that are bound to come the way of the panel

IT was no doubt an act of  personal sacrifice for Governor Serikae Dickson taking the new job of chairing the latest reconciliation panel of the PDP.

Governor Dickson was supposed to commence his annual holidays on August 5 and reconciling the ever bickering members of his party was not his idea of a holiday.

“The leave had been planned to commence from the 5th of August, 2013.The decision to move the date was among other things informed by the governor’s present role as chairman of the PDP Reconciliation Committee, the need for expeditious attention to the committee’s job and other pressing state duties,” an aide of the governor disclosed in a statement last week.

However, his restraints were after some initial hesitation immediately cast aside as the duty before him was clearly defined: The job of putting the party in order in the 13 opposition states. Inaugurating the Dickson committee last week, PDP National Chairman, Alhaji Bamanga Tukur, emphasized that the panel must put it as a priority to win back the 13 states presently in the hands of the opposition political parties.

Winning back the opposition states would inevitably depend on restoring peace in the 13 states almost all of which are today in disorder.

It was against the background of the crucial importance of restoring order that the president, it was learnt, insisted that his most trusted confidant among the governors, that is Dickson, whose governorship was a personal project of the president should lead the reconciliation.

Of course, the announcement of the Dickson committee was met with immediate disapproval in some quarters with some alleging that he was not very versed in PDP politics to lead such a move. Others quarreled that he was as much a problem in the crisis to be a peacemaker.

From Right, Vice President Namadi Sambo, President Goodluck
Jonathan, Chairman Of PDP, Alhaji Bamanga Tukur, Deputy National Chairman, Sam Jaja and Chairman Board Of Trustees Of The Party, Chief Tony Anenih at the PDP’s 61 National Executive Committee recently

Plethora of reports
Those assertions were besides the plethora of reports of past reconciliation moves in the party that have remained unimplemented. Irrespective of the odds, Dickson has taken to the job with much aplomb. For him, the fact that restoring peace in the party is key to the Jonathan 2015 project, is a driving force.

The focus of the national party on achieving peace in the South-West is against the background of the near total grasp of the newly registered All Progressives Congress, APC on the politics of the South-West. With an estimated 14 million registered voters, the South-West comes only second to the North-West in the number of registered voters in the country.

Giving the present political
issues between the president and most of the governors in the North-West, it undoubtedly has become important to his policy team to secure the South-West well ahead of the presidential primaries likely due in late 2014.

That, however, is a tall order which in the mind of some of the president’s minders needs a man with a bulky political frame.

However, there is strong reservation that the regime in the national secretariat of the PDP has since 2011 chosen the wrong characters in its dealings with the region leaving some of the entrenched political stakeholders to adopt the posture of siddon look. The Dickson committee would be especially tasked in addressing the problems in the different states.

Ogun PDP and the task of reconciling Obasanjo, Daniel, Martins-Kuye groups with Kashamu’s.

The crisis in the party in Ogun State is multifaceted and that is despite the presence of many eminent party men, the first among whom is former President Olusegun Obasanjo. In fact, the abundance of eminent men may have turned into a disadvantage as the party is now split among the most eminent men.

The major crisis ravaging the umbrella party in the state has been hinged on supremacy tussle amongst the heavyweights in the party who include Chief Obasanjo, former governor of the state, Otunba Gbenga Daniel, former Minister of Commerce and Industry, Senator Jubril Martins-Kuye and a multimillionaire businessman and Ijebu-Igbo, Ogun State-born Prince Buruji Kashamu, who is firmly in possession of the party about a year ago and has received not less than 10,000 defectors from other parties including the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN).

Since Obasanjo was dispossessed of the structure of the party few months ago by the NWC, the former president and his followers have stayed away from the affairs of the party in the state. Otunba Gbenga Daniel who was the South-West coordinator of the party has equally not had it rosy of recent and is said to be the pillar behind the resurgence of Labour Party in the state in recent times.

Also, on his own now is Senator Jubril Martins-Kuye who is said to be preparing to leave the party ahead of the 2015 general elections.

The state governor, Senator Ibikunle Amosun has reasonably latched on to the crisis in the PDP to enjoy a largely unfettered reign in the polity.

The Dickson committee would have to seriously massage egos in Ogun State especially that of President Obasanjo and also call to caution elements in the national secretariat of who are said to be pulling the strings of the crisis in the state as a way of having their own back on Obasanjo and their larger enemies in the South-West.

Patching the tattered clothes in Ondo: Since the former governor of the state Dr. Olusegun Agagu was ousted through the courts in 2009, the PDP umbrella has remained largely in tatters and factionalised into two blocks with the former governor leading a group and the other led by the duo of Prof Olu Agbi and Chief Segun Adegoke. Agbi was a former ambassador to Austria while Adegoke, remarkably, was once Agagu’s political adviser.

Agagu is in full control of the state executive with Hon Ebenezer Alabi as chairman.

Agagu’s group alleges that the Agbi-Adegoke group is a puppet of the incumbent governor, Dr Segun Mimiko while the Agbi-Adegoke faction accuses the Agagu tendency of partnering with the defunct ACN to sabotage Mimiko. The differences between the groups recently came to the fore when the Mr. Toye Olofintuyi-led Reconciliation Committee set up by the South-West secretariat of the party visited the state.

They presented different irreconcilable opinions on the resolution of the crisis rocking the party in the state before the committee on the illegitimacy of the structures paraded by the two groups.

While the faction loyal to Agbi insisted that there was no state executive committee known to the law, the party elders’ forum expressed confidence in the leadership of Chief Alabi as chairman of the party in the state.

The Agagu group said the faction loyal to Agbi must publicly renounce its support for Governor Mimiko before they could be re-absorbed into the party.

Also, they said the faction loyal to the LP governor must withdraw the frivolous case it is pursuing against the duly elected executive of the party. They accused some leaders of the party of  “coming up with phenomenon known as ‘PDP Gbasibe’ after the party had picked its candidate for the last governorship election.

They added that the group abhorred a situation where the party is seen as a property of an individual in the person of Dr Agagu.

The Agagu group is also pissed off by the support that the Presidency tactically gave to Dr Mimiko during his re-election. Also, major political positions ought to be reserved for PDP members were given to Labour Party members following the closeness of Mimiko to President Jonathan.

Oyo PDP: One party, four parts: In Oyo State, the Dickson committee would be confronted with a party that is split almost in four parts. The warring camps as gathered, are allegedly led by Chief Adebayo Alao-Akala, Jumoke Akinjide, Senator Teslim Balogun, Elder Wole Oyelese, Dr. Dejo Raimi, Yekini Adeojo and Senator Lekan Balogun.

Remarkably, Alao-Akala, who was unarguably the biggest fighter among the PDP governors and helped the party to gain the little presence it has in the South-West, according to some stakeholders, has been particularly marginalized by the new tendency in the party that has focused on money moguls from Ogun State to give direction to the party in the zone.

Alao-Akala it would be recalled was the only state party leader in the zone, who was able to fend off the offensive of the defunct ACN and was able to deliver the only PDP senator from the South-West. Alao-Akala who lost the gubernatorial election by about 30,000 votes was also able to deliver eight out of 14 federal constituencies in Oyo State to the PDP in 2011.

“It is people like Akala that they should be looking at to drive and re-energise the party in the region,” one leading stakeholder from Oyo State said last Monday.

With Akala lying low it is not surprising that the party in Oyo remains split.

Alhaji Gbolarumi Azeem, however, demurred claiming that there are no more factions in the state an assertion that is heavily contested by Oyelese another party chieftain. Oyelese on his part has cautioned the party to move fast to heal wounds and wondered why reports of previous reconciliation committees that were set up were set aside. Oyelese also suggested that the 2007 state executives should be brought back to conduct a state congress.

It’s George versus the others in Lagos:  Since 1999 the PDP, in Lagos State has been in opposition following its consistent dismal performance in the polls. The party, however, has been in the firm grip of Commodore Bode George (rtd), the party’s erstwhile deputy national chairman.

Gov. Dickson

But the George tendency with his men in firm control has lately been severally challenged but found unshakable. In the latest effort, Dr. Oluyomi Finnih recently alleged that the party in the state has been dissolved.

Dismissing the claim, chairman of the party in the state, Captain Tunji Shelle (rtd) stated that the Lagos PDP has been given a clean bill of health as far as 2012 congress is concerned.

As the reconciliatory committee ship of the PDP berths in Lagos, it is expected that the seeming feud among George, Filani and Finnih is settled, if the party is to wrest power from the Action Congress of Nigeria, ACN, in Lagos state come 2015.

Osogbo: Multi-faceted crisis
The PDP crisis in Osun State has both local and national colourations. The national coloration of the crisis has to do with efforts of those believed to be foot soldiers of the president working for his second term ambition to clip the wings of the other group working closely with former President Obasanjo to frustrate the second term ambition.

The two major personalities leading the ground war are Senator Iyiola Omisore for Team Jonathan with the immediate past governor of the state, Prince Olagunsoye Oyinlola leading the Obasanjo crowd. Presently, the party structure, is in the full grabs of Omisore and it is not surprising that the state chapter recently endorsed Dr. Jonathan for a second term.

Campaign office
The group has also subsequently opened a campaign office for the president in the state. It was noteworthy that none of those in the Obasanjo crowd such as Oyinlola, former secretary to the state government, Alhaji Fatai Akinbade, Hon Wole Oke and Senator Akinlabi Olasunkanmi attended the event.

The campaign office located along Gbongan road, Osogbo is owned by Senator Omisore which he used as his gubernatorial campaign office until the 2010 Court of Appeal judgment which pronounced Rauf Aregbesola as the authentic winner of the April 14, 2007 governorship election in the state. The Omisore group has the support of Alhaji Shuaib Oyedokun, a member of Board of Trustees of the party and Minister of State for Defence and Oyinlola’s former deputy, Erelu Olusola Obada.

The state chairman of the party, Alhaji Ganiyu Olaoluwa is believed to be enjoying the support of the national leadership of the party to ensure President Jonathan secures maximum votes from Osun during the national congress of the party and Senator Omisore, a personal friend of Vice President Namadi Sambo is rumoured to be serving as link between the state chapter of the party and presidency.

On the other hand, the group working with Obasanjo and Oyinlola has three out of the four major gubernatorial aspirants with Omisore, being the only known exception.

The three are Alhaji Fatai Akinbade, former SSG under Oyinlola’s administration,  Hon Oluwole Oke, a two term member of the House of Representatives member  and chairman House Committee on Defence, and  Senator Akinlabi Olasunkanmi , former Minister of Youths during Obasanjo’s second term in office in its fold.

The group, it was learnt, is being sidelined in the scheme of things in the party and reconciliation would entail Abuja dealing with the two factions with an even hand and removing the suspicion that the party at the national and state levels are working for Jonathan and Omisore to win the presidential and gubernatorial tickets respectively.