Makarfi, Sheriff factions tearing Lagos PDP apart

While Ali Modu Sheriff and Ahmed Makarfi were slugging it out for the chairmanship position of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), members of the Lagos State chapter of the party were also fighting one another.

Although the Supreme Court has long settled the case between the duo of Sherrif and Makarfi, the effect still lingers. The Lagos State chapter of the PDP has not been able to put its house in order long after the leadership tussle was settled.

While some members were loyal to Makarfi, some others leaned towards Sherrif. Sherrif’s financial muscle was very difficult for some members to ignore. Some of them had ambitions to run for elective positions. Given the fact that the PDP no longer controls the center, they believed that they stood a better chance, supporting a moneybag.

Chief Segun Adewale, famously known as Aeroland was the Chairman of the PDP before Moshood Salvador took over officially.

His time at the helm was a turbulent one as he was opposed by those loyal to Makarfi. When the Supreme Court sacked Sherrif and declared the Senator Ahmed Makarfi-led Caretaker Committee as the authentic leadership of the PDP, Adewale handed over the secretariat of the party to the Board of Trustees (BOT) in Lagos.

The National Caretaker Committee had requested that he hand over the secretariat to Chief Bode George and other members of the PDP Board of Trustees in Lagos State.

However, Adewale made a remark that indicated that the crisis was far from over and that any little dispute could ignite the flame. Addressing journalists shortly after moving out of the secretariat, he said, “It is quite unfortunate that those, who were campaigning against PDP while in Labour Party, now want to take over the secretariat.

“I was the one mobilising for the party during last Saturday (August 2017) local government elections in the state. Even at that, I am ready to leave the secretariat, the Police asked us to sign an undertaking that there will be peace in Ikeja. I am not fighting with anybody, because if we continue this way, we will continue to lose elections in Lagos,” Adewale said.

Reports had it that the crisis rocking the party at both the national and state levels made those loyal to Mr. Moshood Salvador to make an alliance with the Labour Party. Salvador was the factional chairman loyal to Sen. Makarfi, who was declared by the Supreme Court as the authentic chairman.

In order for peace to reign in the party, there was an agreement between the two factions that the new party chairman, Moshood Salvador would implement the party’s 65-35 percentage appointment agreed upon.
Today, Salvador is being accused of going against that agreement. They say he has refused to implement it. As a result some leaders are calling for his removal. Leaders from the Lagos East Senatorial District on March 8, passed a vote of no confidence on the party chairman over his refusal to implement the agreement signed by the warring factions.

The party’s local government chairmen are also against Salvador. They gathered in Ikorodu last week to move a motion to remove him from office, saying that they would meet next week to elect a new chairman.

Their grouse with the embattled chairman is that he gave less appointments to the Markafi-led faction of the party. They allege that an agreement was reached that the Makarfi-led faction should be given 65 percent of appointment while Sherriff-led faction should be given 35 percent.

A former deputy chairman of the party in the state, Chief Ola Apena said, “We must go back to 65 percent. The fight has just started. Salvador is a saboteur. He did not want Chief Bode George to be the National Chairman. He worked against him.”

Also, a former state organizing secretary, Chief Taiwo Kuye, said they gathered to mount pressure on Salvador to implement the 65-35% agreement but since he (Salvador) refused, “Salvador must go and he is gone already.”

Some members of the PDP, believe that Salvador, like some other bigwigs of the party are working for the ruling APC in order to scuttle the chances of PDP at the polls in 2019.

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A member of the PDP who pleaded for anonymity in a chat with The Next Edition revealed that “This is the handiwork of the APC. It is obvious that Salvador and some other members whose names I don’t want to mention have been compromised. They are being controlled by the APC. He must be sacked.”

The PDP chairman in Ajeromi-Ifelodun Local Government Area, Evangelist Israel Ogunrinde, in the same vein, stated that, “Salvador is no more our chairman. Anything short of 65-35 is a lie. No local government was given any representative. It is a fraud. Salvador is no more our chairman.”

In reaction, the party chairman dismissed the leaders and accused them of what some members are accusing him of. He alleged that some of the leaders against him are working for the APC to undermine efforts by the PDP in capturing Lagos in 2019. He said, “Our party is moving forward. The APC cannot sponsor some miscreants to divide our party. If anybody believes he/she can cause crisis in our party, it won’t work.”

Meanwhile, another chieftain of the PDP in Lagos State, Chief Adeseye Ogunlewe, has urged members to work together for the progress of the party in the state.

Speaking with the press last week, the former Minister of Works said the party would not realise its objective of winning elections in the state in 2019 if members work at cross purposes.

It remains to be seen if the warring factions will forge a common ground for the sake of the party. Political analysts are of the view that in a democratic setting, opposition parties like the PDP should keep the government of the day on its toes. Failure by the PDP members to put their house in order may, therefore​, just see members of the ruling party become more autocratic without any voice to checkmate them.