Despite the fact that the next general elections will take place in four years’ time, the two biggest personalities of the Peoples Democratic Party in Lagos State, Musiliu Obanikoro and Chief Bode George, have renewed their rivalry over the control of the party structure in the state.
Obanikoro, who is the Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, and George, who is a former National Vice Chairman of the party, are currently battling for the control of the State Working Committee which is the decision making organ of the party.
The Chairman of the party, Capt. Tunji Shelle (retd.), is widely believed to be a stooge of George who was his superior in the Nigerian Navy. It was believed that for the influence of George to be curtailed, Shelle must be removed.
In what was described as a coup, the members of the SWC invited journalists to an impromptu press conference at the Army Officers’ mess in Yaba on Monday. However, the venue was later shifted to the state headquarters of the party. At the time, the secretariat was unoccupied because Shelle was on an assignment for the party in Ibadan. The SWC members, who were escorted to the secretariat by armed policemen, listed 14 allegations against Shelle.
While reading out the allegations, the secretary of the party, Mr. Wahab Owokoniran, accused Shelle of mismanaging the campaign funds of the party and taking some decisions that were detrimental to the party.
He said, “He (Shelle) unilaterally rendered the party structure inactive before, during and after the 2015 elections without the approval of the state executive committee. Funds were allocated to various party members and officials according to his wishes instead of seeking the approval of the SWC.”
Shelle was also accused of “surrendering the responsibility of the party to an interest group within the party during the elections.”
The SWC accused Shelle of sidelining the treasurer and the state secretary (Owokoniran).The committee also accused Shelle of manipulating the outcome of the party’s primaries last year which, they claimed, ultimately affected the performance of the party at the polls.
The SWC, therefore, announced the removal of Shelle and appointed the vice chairman of the party in charge of Lagos-Central, Mr. Kamaldeen Olorunoje, as the acting chairman.
In his acceptance speech, Olorunoje promised to carry all members of the SWC along, adding that he would investigate the cause of the party’s defeat at the polls.
“Let me state categorically that all members of the committee shall be part of this effort to reform the party. I assure you that you will not be left behind. You will be taken care of adequately,” he said.
Shelle, who later held a press conference, denied the allegations levelled against him. He said the SWC did not have the power to remove him, saying as such decisions could only be taken by the National Executive Committee of the party.
Shelle, who maintained that he is still the chairman, said an aggrieved aspirant orchestrated the attempt to remove him.
He said one of the aggrieved aspirants in the party’s governorship primary sponsored his removal.
The party primary which Mr. Jimi Agbaje won, caused a friction within the party last year as Senator Musiliu Obanikoro, and his loyalists rejected the results until President Goodluck Jonathan intervened and appointed Obanikoro as the Minister of State for Foreign Affairs.
Shelle said, “The idea to impeach me was conceived long before the party primaries took place. Efforts were made to rig the primaries and I stood my ground to prevent the illegalities. Until now, the so-called opposition within the system has not accepted defeat at the primaries.
“I tried as much as possible to curtail their excesses so that their actions would not affect our chances in the general elections and I was able to do this until Monday when they carried out their failed coup.
“The emergence of Agbaje as the PDP candidate was not well received by these people who did the impeachment. They were disappointed and were, always, finding a way to fight back. Agbaje remains the best candidate ever produced in the history of the party and I have no regrets whatsoever to have presented Agbaje and other qualified candidates for the elections.”
The Lagos PDP boss, who refused to vacate the party secretariat, said those who plotted his removal would be sanctioned by the party.
Shelle, while quoting the party’s constitution, said, “Section 59 (3) states the procedure for removing a member of my status. It states, ‘Notwithstanding any section of this constitution relating to discipline, no executive committee at any level except the National Working Committee shall entertain any question of discipline as may relate or concern a member of the National Executive Committee, president, vice president, governors, deputy governors, ministers, ambassadors, special advisers or members of the legislative houses
“By Section 31 (1), I am a member of the National Executive Committee and I have been attending meetings said so they cannot remove me. I remain the chairman of the PDP in Lagos State.”
Shelle also maintained that the money which the SWC people were talking about was meant for pursuing the party’s numerous cases at the Election Petitions Tribunal.
However, sources within the party said Obanikoro sponsored the chairman’s removal. They argued that a large number of the SWC members belong to Obanikoro’s faction of the party.
Reacting to the development, a group within the PDP, Concerned Members of the State Caucus and PDP Stakeholders in Lagos, said Obanikoro induced members of the SWC so that he could hijack the party structure and pave the way for him to emerge the governorship candidate of the party in 2019.
The group in a statement by its secretary, Lanre Hassan, said all members of the SWC should be sacked and not only Shelle because it was the entire party that failed to win the governorship election.
The statement read, “We know Obanikoro gave the 34 SWC members money to vote the chairman out. When will the PDP stop all this politics of corruption and imposition? The person who wants to be an acting chairman lacks the profile, capacity and political expediency to lead us.
“Shelle is not the problem. The problem of Lagos PDP is Obanikoro and Bode George because of their aggressive style of politics. They both lost their polling units. All leaders who lost their units will not have our respect again. This is the time to reinvent the party and not destroy it.
“Failure to address this crisis and restore peace will lead to protests. We believe Obanikoro’s action to sponsor the removal of the chairman and replace him with his stooge is to demystify Bode George and pave the way for his political ambition to run for governor in 2019, and place his son as the Speaker of the House of Assembly. It is obvious that he didn’t work for Agbaje or the PDP’s success and should be sanctioned for anti-party activities.”
Reacting to the allegation, however, Obanikoro said he had nothing to do with Shelle’s removal. He, however, commended members of the committee for removing Shelle.
The minister said it would be hypocritical of George to be calling for the removal of the National Chairman of the party, Adamu Mu’azu, on account of his failure to secure victory for the party but at the same time defending Shelle who also failed to ensure the PDP’s victory at the governorship poll.
Obanikoro said George was the de facto chairman of the party in Lagos, not Shelle. He, however, argued that with Shelle’s removal, things would change.
He said, “How is it possible that I was behind Shelle’s removal? Am I a member of the committee? Besides, people who are loyal to Bode George also signed Shelle’s impeachment. The SWC is made up of about 40 members and over 30 people signed the notice.
“I am not fighting Agbaje. Shelle should stop making excuses. Shelle has been against Mu’azu and he is George’s boy. George has been calling for Mu’azu’s removal because we lost an election. If Mu’azu must go, why shouldn’t Shelle go?
“Shelle has lost complete control of the party. Let him summon a meeting and let us see how many people will attend. George is the chairman of Lagos PDP, not Shelle. When the Lagos PDP members who won elections sign a letter rejecting Shelle, he will know the true situation.”
Another governorship aspirant, Babatunde Gbadamosi, who is known to be close to Obanikoro, supported Shelle’s removal. He said Shelle contributed to the party’s defeat by supervising sham primaries.
He described the new factional chairman, Olorunoje, as “a sagacious fellow who has, over the years, proved to be a loyal member of the party.”
He explained that in the wake of the just-concluded general elections in the United Kingdom, the leaders of political parties that recorded failures resigned voluntarily and that Shelle should have followed suit without persuasion.
He accused Shelle of conducting a primary election that brought the PDP brand into disrepute both in Lagos State and the entire nation.
He added, “The PDP was on the verge of a major electoral coup prior to the governorship primary last year. But Shelle and his handlers mismanaged the process so severely that they brought the PDP, both in Lagos state and the nation, into serious disrepute.”
However, George told our correspondent that those behind Shelle’s travails were ignorant of the party’s constitution.
George said it was unfortunate that those who had contributed nothing to the party were the ones fuelling the crisis. He said it was disheartening that at a time when the party should be forging ahead and restrategising on how to be a formidable opposition to the All Progressives Congress, the party was dealing with an internal crisis.
He said, “I think Obanikoro is naive. This is the biggest success our party has ever recorded in Lagos State. I was in this party long before Obanikoro joined us from the jungle. Is he not the one behind this whole mess? Didn’t he lose as well?
“He went to set up a parallel committee despite the huge amount of money given to him to campaign. Did he deserve to be a minister? But he was given. He sponsored some miscreants to remove Shelle but, of course, those ones don’t even know the party constitution.
“People like Obanikoro never contributed to the party. He only enjoys the benefits of the party. It is only the NEC that can remove or suspend a member of the committee. Shelle is a member of NEC by virtue of being a chairman. We have been receiving commendations all over Nigeria that Lagos PDP did well. Obanikoro should not destabilise this party, he met us here.”
Also, the state publicity secretary of the party, Mr. Taofik Gani, said Shelle’s removal was unconstitutional and thus null and void.
As the crisis rocking the party intensifies, political observers say the trouble could tempt the 14 candidates of the PDP that won the House of Representatives and House of Assembly elections to defect to the All Progressives Congress thereby weakening the PDP further.
If the PDP does not put its act together, the APC could extend its consecutive rule in Lagos to 24 years come 2019.
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