Thursday 19 September 2013

Lagos PDP: Let’s rest the old warhorses


With the poor showing of the Lagos chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) during the 2011 governorship election, some stakeholders and members seem to be gathering fists for the next election, calling for a sanitisation of the party's leadership in the state.
Crisis may not be alien to various state chapters of the PDP in the country, but for its Lagos chapter, it would be apt to describe it as, one day one trouble chapter that has no rudder, and like wandering sheep, moves without any direction.

Given that the party does not have any known parallel executive with the Captain Tunji Shelle-led team, the fragmentation within the party, to say the least, is alarming. Groups within the party only mind the dictate of their own contact leader, who does not owe any allegiance to the state executive.
While many analysts believe that the PDP in the state ought to have leverage on the marginal success and maximum goodwill it received from the public after the local government election in 2011, pull the string of grievances amidst its members together and find means of taking a leap for the repositioning of the party for future elections.
The problem the Lagos PDP is having is still the same issue of overbearing influence of the elders who have been using similar tactics of politics and seems to have lost touch with the reality of modern politics as it concerns the southwest.
Look at how Ibrahim Babajide Obanikoro single-handedly put the ACN and Tinubu on their toes at the last local government election in Ikoyi-Obalende. These crop of new politicians understand the rudiment of grassroots politics combined with modern tactics of wooing the electorate.
Presently, if you look at the approach of the new zonal chairman of the PDP in the southwest, Adedeji Doherty, you will be impressed at his engagement on issues. It takes a cultivated man to administer that seat the way he is currently doing.
I think it is high time the national headquarters and the Presidency excuse these old hands from the core activities and day-to-day running of the PDP in Lagos. The likes of Ogunlewe, Bode George, Yomi Finnih and the rest should be allowed to take a rest from the core affairs of the party. They are always fighting themselves in public and this has continued to erode their image in the eyes of the public.
Although, there have been repeated moves for reconciliation in the party, this has always met brick wall, owing to personal ego and the winner-takes-all mentality in some of the party chieftains.
Speaking recently at a southwest stakeholders forum held at the Lagos, former Minister of Works and a chieftain of the party in Lagos, Senator Ogunlewe, beckoned to the party leadership in the zone to come to the aid of the Lagos chapter, saying, 'we are just patching up because our reconciliation is not done yet.'
Clearly, with the 2015 general elections fast approaching, there might be need for a paradigm shift in the helms of leadership in the party, if the party aims to get anything meaningful in all forms of election especially in the Presidential election where millions of eligible voters mostly youths, may take consolation in the words of their peers in the PDP, if the party and the Presidency give them the opportunity to manage the affairs of the party.
The appointment of a solid ministerial nominee from Lagos has eluded the state since 2007 after the elections, which has thrown the party into disarray.
It began with the successful removal of the Lagos State Gubernatorial nominee in 2007, Sen. Musiliu Obanikoro from consideration by the Chief Bode George camp. The eventual nominee and benefactor, Chief Demola Seriki held the position with no meaningful impact for three years. After failing to secure the party's gubernatorial ticket in 2011 coming a distant third, he defected to the opposition party.
The same crisis short-changed the state when the then acting President Goodluck Jonathan dissolved the cabinet in 2010. This time it was former President Olusegun Obasanjo that took advantage by using Lagos State's ministerial slot for the appointment of someone who is not an indigene of Lagos State.
With the recent sack of nine ministers and the current polity of the President not likely to seek input from former President Obasanjo, the opportunity has presented itself for the crisis-ridden Lagos State PDP chapter to nominate a credible person to represent the state and serve in the President's cabinet.
Without any disrespect to the personal leadership and/or character attributes of those that form the leadership of the party in Lagos State, given their current composition and track record, it is safe to conclude that they are incapable of helping the Presidency achieve its goals.
The outcome of selecting the usual old hands as ministers, will only lead to chaos.
There are too many reasons why chaos will be inevitable, and they include: ambition, power tussle for state's party structure at the expense of others, jealousy, betrayal. The list is endless.

Victor Agbone writes from Ajeromi Ifelodun LGA, Lagos State


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