PREAMBLE
The issues leading to the purported conduct of the South West PDP zonal congress are too familiar to begin a recount here. But suffice it to say that history is about repeating itself in the South West. It should be recalled former Ekiti State Governor, Engr. Segun Oni-led zonal exco was sacked because of the same executive lawlessness and disobedience to a valid court order. What happened then? The rightful delegates from Ogun State under the leadership of Engr. Adebayo Dayo were prevented from taking part in the zonal congress and they went to court to invalidate the outcome of the congress, saying that whatever was done without them could not stand.
THE ISSUE
In this instant case, seeing that our tenure was being threatened by some powerful interests within the party in the South West, the Secretary of the Zonal Exco, Chief ‘Pegba Otemolu, approached the court to seek to interpret the constitution of the PDP on our tenure of office.
In the Suit No. FHC/L/CS/605/2016, which was filed by Chief Otemolu against the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), PDP, its National Chairman, Alhaji Ali Modu Sheriff and National Secretary, Prof. Wale Oladipo, the plaintiff submitted that it was wrong for the party and its national officers to contemplate organizing a zonal congress for the South West since the Zonal Executive Committee members were elected on the 11th of October, 2014.
He contended that since we were elected to serve four years tenure, our term will end on the 11th of October, 2018.
Chief Otemolu also prayed the court to grant him an interlocutory injunction preserving members of the zonal exco in office pending the determination of the suit.
Granting the plaintiff’s prayer, Justice Ibrahim Buba of the Federal High Court, Lagos held, “That an order of interlocutory injunction is granted to the Plaintiff/Applicant restraining the 2nd, 3rd and 4th Defendants from conducting or permitting or recognizing any election into the offices of the South West Zonal Executive Committee pending the hearing and determination of the Originating Summons”.
The background to this was set on the 4th of May, 2016 when two separate meetings were held in Ijebu-Igbo, Ogun State and Akure, Ondo State. While the Ijebu Igbo meeting was called by the Zonal Exco, in consultations with some BoT members and majority of the state excos in the zone, Governors Ayo Fayose and Olusegun Mimiko called the Akure meeting.
While we stated our resolved to support the incumbent National Chairman, Senator Ali Modu Sheriff, to continue his efforts to reposition the party at the May 21, 2016 National Convention, the Akure gathering was silent on where it stands even though it agreed to share the positions zoned to the South West PDP by the National Zoning Committee and approved by the National Executive Committee (NEC) of our great party, to wit, the National Secretary, National Publicity Secretary and National Auditor.
Another point of divergence was on the tenure of the zonal executive. While the Ijebu-Igbo meeting noted and resolved that since the zonal exco came into office in October 2014, it should remain in office till 2018 when its four year tenure will elapse; the Akure named the Zonal Executive as some of the positions to be shared afresh among the states.
This was the first indication that there was an imminent threat to our continued stay in office, against the dictates of our party’s constitution. It was when all attempts to make those who felt threatened by our continued stay in office to see reason with us that the zonal secretary decided to approach the court for a judicial interpretation of our constitution.
After going through the bundle of evidence, which included the party’s constitution, the result sheet and the report of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), among others, the court in its wisdom gave an order restraining the national leadership of our party and INEC from going ahead with the congress.
The order was duly served on INEC and on the National leadership of our great party, as attested to by the National Secretary, Prof. Wale Oladipo.
But, surprisingly while the National Secretary, who is the head of the party secretariat, acknowledged that he had been served the court order and said that the party had decided to abide by the order, Fayose boasted that the congress would go on in spite of the court order, saying the party should ignore any “abracadabra court order”.
Of course, members of the Congress Committee who he had single-handedly handpicked also parroted his views, saying the congress would hold. They claimed that the National Chairman had given them the go-ahead to conduct the congress.
True to their boasts, they purportedly held the zonal congress on Saturday where Fayose again demanded the judiciary to be wary of those who only seek to win elections through the courts and not through elections.
OUR POSITION
From the foregoing, it is clear that no one seeks to perpetuate himself in office or seek to win elections through the courts as claimed by Fayose. But, what we have invited the court to do is to simply interpret the party’s constitution as it relates to our tenure in office.
The court then said the zonal congress should be put on hold, pending when the issue placed before it is determined.
But, rather than obey the court, those who were supposedly elected and took the oath of office to uphold the law have chosen to deride and circumvent it. Governors Fayose and Mimiko are in office today because the law permits them to be. They derive their legitimacy to be in office and compel their citizens to obey them because of the law. That is why there are no two governors in Ekiti and Ondo states. They cannot be governors and be party administrators at the same time. They cannot be governors and be judges in their own case, all at once.
The drafters of our constitution inserted the immunity clause not just to stop the executives from being distracted in the performance of their functions and duties but also because they thought them to be reasonable people who would not abuse their offices and the trust reposed in them. It beats my imagination that Governor Olusegun Mimiko of Ondo State, who, to a large extent, has remained silent, could lend himself to such acts. Governor Mimiko is a more matured and balanced character. What is more, he is a product of the law. That is why the governorship election is going to hold later this year in Ondo State and not in 2019. He came into office in 2009, after a long drawn legal battle. Thus, his first four years tenure ended in 2012 unlike his other colleagues who came into office in 2007 and whose four years tenure ended in 2011. He was re-elected in 2012 and that is why his second and final term will end in 2016. So, what is different in our case?
What is clear from the contraption called the zonal congress held last Saturday and which Governor Mimiko seems unaware of is the fact that he has been given the short end of the stick. Fayose encouraged him to host the illegal congress even when he knows it cannot stand; so as to clear the way for the emergence of his anointed candidate for the National Publicity Secretary of our party, among others.
He wants to be in firm control of the party’s structure in the South West in order to position himself as a Vice-Presidential candidate in 2019. It should be stated that Fayose’s outright dismissal of the court is not unexpected. He seeks to foist his choice of candidates on the party. The PDP does not need such acts of impunity; impunity belongs in the PDP of yesteryears. We need a more temperate and matured set of people who will strategically sell the party to Nigerians
Leadership goes beyond populism and playing to the gallery. Some of our so-called leaders lack manners. They talk and act in a manner least expected of them – queer and irrational. Yet, they seek to justify their actions even when they know they are wrong. They lack the grace and gumption to accept their mistakes. Otherwise, what is difficult to understand in the fact that an exco has four years tenure of office? Why do they want to stand truth on its head and ride roughshod over a legitimate exco?
CONCLUSION
The decision of the national leadership of our great party and INEC to obey the court order is commendable. However, they must go beyond mere rhetoric and stand firm, going forward. They have a duty to issue reports invalidating the exercise even before the court nullifies the contraption called zonal congress. They should show to all and sundry that the age of impunity and political cum executive recklessness is gone for good. And that no one, no matter how powerful, is bigger than the law.
It is on this note that I wish to implore all our respectable governors, leaders, elders and other stakeholders, to stand up for the truth and call Governors Fayose and Mimiko to order. They should desist from plunging the party into avoidable crisis. For instance, the so-called officers and delegates who emerged from the illegal congress could contaminate the National Convention and render its outcome null and void, if they are allowed to participate in the convention at the expense of the legitimate officers and delegates.
All we are saying is that there is no justification for the election of new officers into executive positions in the zone when the tenure of the current officers has not expired.
· Ogundipe is the National Vice-Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party in the South West.
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