From Oluseye Ojo, Ibadan

A fresh breath of life is being given to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Oyo State. The beacon of hope became well-pronounced following the recent visit of National Caretaker Chairman of the party, Senator Ahmed Makarfi, to some political gladiators in the state.

But questions are being raised whether the fresh breath will actually revive the ailing party, which many believed had succumbed to coma shortly after the 2015 general elections.

Makarfi, during the visit, held meetings with former governor of the state, Senator Rashidi Ladoja; representatives of an ex-governor, Otunba Adebayo Alao-Akala; as well as an oil magnate, Oluseyi Makinde. He also visited former Minister of Justice, Mr. Richard Akinjide, SAN and former member of Board of Trustees of the party, Alhaji Yekeen Adeojo.

Why they defected

Ladoja served as governor from 2003 to 2007 on the PDP platform. Shortly after he came to power, he had issues with his political godfather, Alhaji Lamidi Adedibu, the late strongman of Ibadan politics. The crisis snowballed into Ladoja’s impeachment. He was out of power for 11 months before he was later reinstated by the court to complete his tenure.

Ladoja sought for a second term in office in 2007, but he could not win the PDP ticket. He lost the ticket to his deputy, Alao-Akala, who was the governor during the period of impeachment. Alao-Akala won the election with the support of Alhaji Adedibu.

In a build up to the 2011 general elections, Alao-Akala too wanted a second term in office and Ladoja too wanted to run again; to the extent that by 2010, it was obvious that the political calculations in the PDP was not going to favour Ladoja , which probably made him to dump the party.

He was later to move to the Accord Party, with his entire structure from the PDP. On the platform of Accord, he contested the 2011 and 2015 governorship polls in the state, but he lost lost to the incumbent governor, Senator Abiola Ajimobi, who is running his second term in office on the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC).

Like Ladoja, Alao-Akala also served as governor between 2007 and 2011, though he sought re-election, he lost to Ajimobi. During his tenure, he had issues with the then Senate Leader, Teslim Folarin, who represented Oyo South at the National Assembly on the platform of PDP. Though, Alao-Akala stayed in the party after 2011 polls with the hope that he would run for the governorship in 2015 as PDP candidate, the then national leadership of the party however favoured Folarin ahead of him. Folarin emerged as PDP candidate, thereby forcing Alao-Akala to join the Labour Party (LP), where he secured the governorship ticket and ran for the 2015 election. But after the election, he again defected to the APC. As at the time of filing this report, he is yet to announce his return to the PDP.

Also, Seyi Makinde left the PDP for the Social Democratic Party  (SDP) shortly after the PDP governorship primaries, shortly before the 2015 general elections. He was the SDP gubernatorial candidate during the last general elections.

Daily Sun’s findings show that but for the internal crisis within the PDP shortly before the 2015 polls, it would have been difficult for APC to win the governorship in the state.

Makarfi’s visit

The Makarfi’s visit to Ibadan was therefore seen as a deliberate effort to hold together the centre of the party, ahead of the 2019 general elections in the state. And the meeting afforded Ladoja and Makinde the opportunity to articulate their grievances, including why they dumped the PDP. They also spelt out conditions for their return to the party.

Markafi was accompanied on the visit by former minister of Information, Prof Jerry Gana; former governor of Ogun State, Otunba Gbenga Daniel; former minister of Power and Special Duties, Elder Wole Oyelese; former minister of State for Federal Capital Territory, Oloye Jumoke Akinjide; former Leader of the House of Representatives, Mulikat Akande-Adeola, and Senator Ayo Adeseun .

Others were: former minister of Special Duties and Sports, Prof Taoheed Adedoja; the only PDP member in the House of Representatives from Oyo State, Segun Odebunmi, and Senator Olufemi Lanlehin.

Demands of Ladoja, Alao-Akala and Makinde

Ladoja and Makinde listed conditions for their return to the party, to include waiver and restoration of internal democracy in the party at all levels. But Alao-Akala did not receive the Markafi-led national caretaker executive committee in person because he was abroad. However, his supporters led by Wale Ohu received them on his behalf.  Ohu promised that he would deliver Makarfi’s message to his principal.

Giving reasons for dumping PDP, Ladoja, who is the National Leader of Accord, said: “Something pushed us out of PDP. We did not want to leave PDP at the time we left, though we suffered. We wanted to stay on with PDP, maybe we failed to manage our success.”

According to him, his return to the party would be such that the whole structure of the Accord would move to PDP. He also asked for waivers and probably amnesty for the prospective returnees to PDP so that there would be equality.

“If we look back, it was only the PDP that was in power at the federal level when PDP governors were impeached wrongly. The PDP governors that were impeached were Ayo Fayose in Ekiti State, Chris Ngige in Anambra State, Joshua Dariye in Plateau State and Diepreye Alamieyeseigha in Bayelsa State. So, what is the essence of being in a group when you are not getting the protection of that group?”

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Ladoja, who stated further that he received Makarfi with the executive members of Accord, both at the state and national levels, said he held the meeting in high esteem, adding: “we want to get that assurance that we will be equal in the party, that all the years we have been out will count for us. We should not look at it that Ladoja is coming to PDP. We should look at it that Ladoja and people, who have faith in him by going with him into Accord, are coming to PDP.  If the terms are right, and the terms being right is just equality for everybody. I’m not asking for any special thing.

“So, once we get those assurances, we’ll sit down in our caucus and I can assure you that within the next few days, or even the next few hours, we will come and raise our hands up that the people have come back to claim their rights in their party.

In the same vein, Makinde said he left PDP in 2015 because the then national leadership of the party did not create a level playing field for all the gubernatorial aspirants, adding that he and his followers would return to PDP if the chairman could guarantee him that there would be internal democracy within the party.

“I’ve been part of the reconciliation process by Prof Gana. We’ve been consulting, and talking. I joined PDP in 2002. I worked for Sen. Ladoja then, he won. I singlehandedly financed the PDP in Oyo South till 2007. I left when things got worse.

Makinde said with Makarfi’s visit and assurance of level playing field, he could say: “I am 99 per cent in PDP,” adding that the remaining one per cent was for him to take the national leadership of SDP into the know of his proposed political move.

Makarfi speaks

The National Caretaker Committee Chairman of PDP, Makarfi, in all the places he visited reiterated his promise that the party was committed to creating a level playing field for all members, including the returnees, adding that there would be amendment to the party’s constitution during the national convention of the party slated for December this year.

At the national convention, new national officers are to be elected for the party. The convention is also expected to ratify the party’s new constitution, which will take effect immediately after the ratification and would be binding on all members including those being expected to join the party from other political parties.

Makarfi said registration log would be opened soon for all members of the party, including returnees, adding that after the registration, the congresses of the party would be held.

“We have put things on hold in Oyo in order to integrate right from beginning. So, let’s start together, let’s start altogether as one family.    Everything we’ll develop, we are going to develop it together. Also, it is important for your people to hear, but it is also important they hear from us.

“The only way forward politically in Nigeria is for the only party with national spread, the PDP, to come back to its basis and bring all its members back, create a level-playing field and entrench internal party democracy so that the slogan of ‘power to the people’  will become real.

“Ladoja is a great observer of things in Nigeria. He loves the country, the people of the state and he always speaks for them, either in power or when out of power. We are here to take you back to where you belong because the party needs you as well as the people of Oyo State and Nigeria. I have the mandate of everybody in the party to bring you back.”

At Akinjide’s house, Makarfi said he led other members of the party to his residence to ask for his fatherly blessings. In his response,  Akinjide contended that “Nigeria is at a critical stage” and PDP leaders must come together to take critical decision, saying there should not have been quarrel that made things to fall apart within the party in the first place. So, PDP leaders, he counseled, must settle their grievances and form a united front to “rescue the country from this critical stage.”

He also promised to assist Makarfi toward rebuilding PDP, urging him to carry all members along in order to create a sense of oneness.

Stakeholders’ meeting

A few weeks before Makarfi’s visit to Ibadan, former deputy chief whip of the Senate, Hosea Agboola, convened a stakeholders’ meeting in Ibadan, where he predicted that Ladoja, Alao-Akala, and Makinde would return to PDP soon.

Agboola, who served in the seventh National Assembly, said the leadership of PDP had been in talks with Ladoja and Alao-Akala, who both served as governors on the platform of the party.

“As far as we are concerned, Makinde is more or less in PDP. He met with national officers and said he was back in PDP. We met with Senator Ladoja and he told us he is coming to PDP. Our people are also talking to Alao-Akala who has assured them he will come back too.

“Across the state, reconciliation is ongoing, and even across the country and PDP is going to win the central government and also take back the state government in 2019. Our national leaders are also discussing with Ladoja and Alao-Akala and they have promised they will come back to the PDP and I believe they will join us.”

Also, Alao-Akala confirmed that although PDP national leaders were in talks with him and discussing his return to the party, he remains a member of  the APC in the state, adding: “the fact that they are talking to me does not mean I have rejoined them. As of today, I am a member of the APC.”