Osun PDP and its war of attrition

There seems to be no end in sight to the protracted crisis rocking the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Osun State. Correspondent SOJI ADENIYI writes on the implications of the division on the party as it prepares for the governorship poll.

There is a hurdle for the Peoples Democratic Party in Osun State to cross  ahead of next year’s governorship election. None of the two factions of the party is ready to sheathe its sword. Instead of ending the strife and rancour that was sustained by  the rift between the former national chairmen, Ali-Modu Sheriff, and Senator Ahmed Makarfi, the chieftains of the PDP in the state have continued to tear the party apart. They are concerned about their personal interests. Efforts of some leaders to reconcile the warring factions, led by Soji Adagunodo and Bayo Faforoji, are not yielding any positive result as the their supporters are at logger heads.

The caretaker committee set up to resolve the crisis failed in its mission. Sarafa Isola from Ogun State was the chairman of the caretaker committee to oversee a congress to produce a new acceptable executive committee after the parallel excos have been dissolved, following the court ruling sacking Sheriff. He was attacked by irate members, who accused him of manipulating the process to produce the new exco. They alleged that he was working for a faction with sympathy for Senator Iyiola Omisore, who was nursing a governorship ambition. Omisore from the Osun East Senatorial District had run twice on the platform of the party against Governor Rauf Aregbesola, who incidentally is from the same senatorial district  with him. It took the intervention of the men of the State Security Service (SSS) to normalcy after some gun men invaded the venue of the congress.

Apparently, there is no solution to the lingering crisis after the Isola caretaker committee’s attempt  to resolve issues, accusations and counter-accusations by members had failed.  However, Faforoji, a factional chairman said the committee had tried to be neutral. A member of the caretaker committee,  Bamidele Salam, defended  the fight at the party’s secretariat along Gbongan-Ibadan road. He said: “There was a fight and men of the State Security  Service (SSS) had to fire shots into the air to get somebody who was attacked away from the scene. Some people came to complain and there was a fight, but you know the usual security strategy to scare people away. That was what happened. The caretaker committee chairman was not attacked by gunmen. That is not true. Some four local governments had issues concerning the ward congresses and they mobilised people to the secretariat and a fight broke out.”

Moves by leaders in and outside the state to  settle disputes among members, which portend danger to the party’s electoral victory in 2018, have been largely unsuccessful. The Adagunodo faction  rejected the arrangement by the national leadership to harmonise positions among the factions Faforoji group is loyal to Senator Omisore when the congress in many wards were inclonclusive. According to Adagunodo, the harmonisation proposal was unacceptable. He maintained that the arrangement would not reflect the wish of the majority members of the party. He insisted on free and fair congress which when attempted ended up in fiasco.

Some party leaders had earlier sent a letter to the former National  Caretaker Chairman, Makarfi, to express their disaffection with the harmonisation agenda of the party.  In the letter, it was made clear that through due consultation with the leadership, stakeholders and members of the party across all the local government areas, it was clear that the harmonisation was not acceptable. They insisted that the due process and internal democracy must be followed, explaining  that the majority of the people that would benefit from the harmonization are those that did not obtain nomination forms during the congress.  The letter read in part: “We demand for the certified true copy of the results of the ward congress. We are not confrontational but leadership demands that we convey the position of our teeming party members in the state.”

The crisis has escalated with recent expulsion of some leaders of the party,  including the former National Secretary of the  Prof. Wale Oladipo, and a factional chairman, Soji Adagunodo.  Also expelled were the former chairman, Ganiyu Ola-Oluwa, and the secretary of the Soji Adagunodo’s faction, Bola Ajao. The development, according to a member of the party,  who preferred  anonymity, has dashed the hope of the PDP bouncing back in Osun State. He queried the authority of the Faforoji faction to expell members at a congress held in its secretariat on Gbongan Road. He said: “It was laughable that a faction set up a disciplinary committee to investigate alleged anti-party activities of  some members with a mandate to submit its recommendations to an unrecognised executive. Faforiji, said the the committee had recommended sanctions against those affected to instill discipline in the party. What kind of discipline?” He lamented that it was sad that the PDP in Osun State was yet to get its act together and act decisively to face challenge of the forthcoming poll.

Many people are of the opinion that the PDP has not provided a platform for the opposition against the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) in the state and therefore, may not be an alternative to the party. They forsee mass defection in the near future as the PDP leaders are only busy fighting among themselves to acquire power to be used for “selfish reasons.” The people said what they expected from the PDP is constructive criticism of the policies and programmes of the APC to keep the governor and his party on their toes and not the in fighting among PDP members. To them by now, credible candidates ought to have signified intention to run on the platform of the party and roll out their programmes which should be beneficial to the people and be an alernative to that of the APC.

Omisore is believed to be at the centre of the crisis because of his governorship ambition. To some people, he deserves to have a shot again at the governorship as a major financier  of the party and a ralling point. Others are calling on him to face the reality of the time which they say, demand for a vibrant candidate. They also said  if the PDP is to go by the rotational principle, the people of Osun East where Omisore and Aregbesola hail from had come spent their time.

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