Still at War with Itself
By Augustine Adah
Monday, September 22, 2008
The Lagos State chapter of the People’s Democratic Party, PDP, is going into the council election, a badly disunited front
The Lagos State chapter of the People’s Democratic Party, PDP appears to have a great challenge reconciling aggrieved members ahead of the October 11 local government elections in the state. Since the 2007 general elections, the party leaders have been torn apart by internal wranglings, which were recently aggravated by the party's adoption of consensus formula in selecting its flagbearers for the forthcoming local government elections.
Nanzing Pyennap, a PDP member and secretary-general Arewa community in Lagos, admitted that part of the problem is the party’s inability to allow for a level playing ground in the nomination of candidates for the October election. "The crisis would have been better managed if all aspirants were given the opportunity to test their popularity at the primaries," Pyennap said.
But Olatunji Shelle, the state secretary of PDP, said the party is now better positioned to contest the election and assured that it would win in some local government areas. His confidence was based on the reconciliatory meeting of the party held on September 12, at the party secretariat where aggrieved members who lost out during the election into party offices and the last local government primaries were promised compensation with federal board appointments. He described the reconciliation as the best thing that has happened to the party in the state.
But a source said Shelle was being economical with the truth, pointing out that a meeting called last week to resolve the dispute between various factions actually ended in a stalemate. The main actors in the state chapter of the party could not agree on the sharing formula for sharing the few available positions that are coming from the federal government.
Since the general election in 2007, PDP in Lagos State has been factionalised into three. At the moment, there is a faction loyal to Bode George, the former national deputy chairman (South), another faction is loyal to Musliu Obanikoro, the party’s governorship candidate in the 2007 election and high commissioner to Ghana while the third is loyal to Adeseye Ogunlewe, a former minister of works.
Pyennap informed Newswatch that another meeting to resolve the internal crisis has been slated to hold at Obanikoro’s campaign office. "I don’t want to sound pessimistic, but unless we resolve our differences as fast as possible, it will be difficult for the party to win the October 11 election," he said.
Other aspirants who spoke to Newswatch were optimistic of the party’s impressive outing in the forthcoming local government polls. Ogunsanya Olusegun, a councillorship aspirant in ward E2, Epe Local Government area, does not share the view that the squabble in the party was capable of negatively affecting its performance. He said what the party needed was to present honest and credible candidates for the elections.
Sumaila AbdulGaniyu, a native of Kogi State and an aspirant for councillorship seat in ward B Ojo Local Government area shares the view that the crisis within the party has been resolved, and that nothing can stop it from winning the local government polls.
Reported by Joseph Onyekwere
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