From Ndubuisi Orji, Abuja
The leadership crisis in the opposition party is taking a serious toll on its caucus in the lower chamber of the National Assembly. The ranks of the partys caucus in the Green chamber is depleting by the day.
The PDP is currently broken into two factions led by national chairman of the party, Senator Ali Modu Sheriff and chairman of the party’s National Caretaker Committee, Senator Ahmed Makarfi.
Since the PDP’s botched national convention in Port Harcourt on May 21, 2016, it has been crisis galore for the party that once prided itself as the “ largest party” in Africa.
In recent times, members of the party in the House of Representatives have been defecting to the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).
A forthnight ago, a PDP member of the House from Akwa Ibom State, Hon Emmanuel Ukoete, crossed to the ruling APC. Ukoete’s brings to three the number of PDP members that have dumped the troubled party recently.
Others who defected earlier include Hon Tony Nwoye and Hon Emmanuel Udende from Anambra and Benue states respectively. When the duo cross carpeted to the APC, they equally cited the leadership crisis in the party as reason for their defection.
In a letter to the Speaker, Hon Yakubu Dogara, notifying the House of his defection,which was read at the plenary, the lawmaker said he was leaving the PDP because of “ irreconcilable” differences in the party which has led to its factionalisation.
Ukoete, who represents Ukanafun/Oruk Anam Federal Constituency, said the other reason for his defection is “the string of legal battles,” trailing the leadership crisis in the PDP, which might end in “ fiasco.”
Immediately the speaker finished reading the letter, APC members present at the plenary swarmed round Ukoete to welcome him into their fold, with chants of “ APC, Change! “
As the APC members celebrated the new entrant into their caucus, the minority leader, Leo Ogor ( PDP, Delta) raised a point of order.
While recognising Ogor, the Speaker, jocularly told the minority leader to specify which of the PDP factions, he belongs to before speaking.
Speaking on the defection of the former PDP member, a visibly pained Ogor said it is not true that the opposition party is factionalised.
Ogor said the defection of Ukoete would be challenged in court, so that the latter can go back for a fresh election and see if he can win an election on his new platform.
The minority leader added that “democracy is not about jumping ship”.
Ogor’s threat that the opposition party would take its case to court is not new. He made same threat in June last year when Nwoye and Udende defected. Besides, several efforts have been made to reconcile the party leadership at various levels, but so far nothing much has happened in that regard.
After Ogor’s speech, shouts of “ PDP, Power to the People ! “ by the opposition party legislators, rented the air.
Speaking on the defection, the majority leader, Hon Femi Gbajabiamila (APC, Lagos) admonished Ogor to accept the loss with equananimity .
He admonished the leadership of the minority party to brace up for more defections.
“ I understand the feeling of the minority leader. But I believe that he should accept the loss and more to come,” the House leader said.
Ironically, the day before, Senate Minority leader, Godswill Akpabio had protested the defection of Senator Andy Ubah to the APC not knowing that right in his home, one of his disciples has jumped ship.
Besides the defections, the leadership crisis in the PDP have also affected the cohesion of the party caucus in the House, as the caucus has been split between Sheriff and Makarfi.
The split in the caucus became obvious recently. Ogor had issued a statement expressing support for the decision of the party’s National Caretaker Committee to challenge the judgment of the Court of Appeal in the party crisis.
The Appeal Court, Port Harcourt division had affirmed the former Borno governor as the “ authentic” national chairman of the PDP.
In response to the judgment, the minority leader had stated that: “The PDP caucus of the House of Representatives wishes to state categorically that it finds the Court of Appeal verdict that nullified the decision of the national convention of the PDP on May 21 , 2016 and reinstated the Modu Sheriff leadership very discomforting. The Caucus supports the decision of the Ahmed Makarfi Caretaker Committee to seek redress at the Supreme Court. The Caucus appeals to all leaders and members of the Peoples Democratic Party to please remain calm and focused, standing firmly on the position that there is no way the party will accept the Ali Modu Sheriff contraption which is yet to demonstrate any genuine iota of love for the party.”
But a PDP House of Representatives member from Imo State, Hon Goodluck Opiah told Sunday Sun in a telephone interview that Ogor’s statement is not a true reflection of things within the party caucus in the Green chamber.
“ What is obvious is that there are quite a number of PDP members of the House who are in full support of Senator Ali Modu Sheriff’s leadership of the party” , the lawmaker said.
However, another PDP House member, Hon Joe Edionwele from Edo, who aligns with the position of the minority leader maintains that the House caucus recognises Makarfi as the leader of the party.
He said that it may just be one or two House of Representatives members, who are with Sheriff.
“When they (Sheriff group) call for meeting, how many persons attend from the Senate and the House. But when Makarfi calls meeting, we are more than 70,” he said.
Edionwele added : “If you look at it objectively, it is Makarfi that is the national chairman.It was done through convention. Now the court is saying Sherrif is the chairman. We have to test it out at the Supreme Court.”
Hon. Adekoya Adesegun Abdel-Majid, a lawmaker from Ogun State, who has pitched his tent with Sheriff, also described the claim that the entire PDP caucus is with Makarfi as laughable.
“ Majority of us in the House of Representatives, we are very surprised to read that, we endorsed Senator Ahmed Makarfi as the National Chairman of our great party
“To put the record straight, there was no where such endorsement took place; we were never consulted. Such an endorsement must be personal opinion to the author of that statement
“The truth of the matter is that majority of us are for Senator Ali Modu Sheriff, and if you want to prove me wrong let us do head counting and the result will be overwhelming. Majority of our colleagues will stand for Sheriff anywhere anytime”.
Keen observers say the division within the party caucus in the House is bound to affect its ability to speak with one voice in the House.
There are also indications that as the PDP crisis festers, more legislators on the platform of the party who have been hobnobbing with the ruling party will use the crisis as an alibi to cross-carpect, a situation that will further weaken the caucus.
This is especially as most of the legislators who have aligned themselves with one PDP faction or the other did so because of the political dynamics of their respective states.
This is more pronounced in states where the PDP is fictionalised at the state level.
Analysts argue that in the run-up to the 2019 general elections, many of the legislators who may lose out in the power play in the PDP in their respective states would likely defect to other political parties.
It was reliably gathered that a group of PDP federal legislators from one of the South East states may be heading to APC if their camp loses out in the power tussle in the opposition party.
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