NJC’s Hammer And Intrigues Of PDP Peace Move

The recent peace move in the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has sent tongues wagging on the reason for the sudden sheath of swords by the two factions of the party. In this report, OMONU YAX-NELSON, examines factors and issues in the dramatic peace moves in the opposition party.

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) jolted its critics and took political enthusiasts by surprise when it announced a truce in its intricate web of self-inflicted controversies and contradictions.

The sudden peace moves brought huge sigh of relief to Nigerians, who analysts say were already getting apprehensive with the seemingly endless internal squabbles in PDP.

The apprehension of Nigerians is borne out of the fact that, the intractable crisis in the PDP has greatly undermined its ability to provide a virile opposition to the ruling all progressives Congress (APC).

Political pundits have maintained that the crises that engulfed the PDP, shortly after it was defeated in the 2015 general electios have severely weakened its architecture and have also reduced the party’s roles in virile opposition to mere rabble-rousing in the name of criticism.

However, the unanimity and speed with which the two factions of the PDP resolved to sheath their swords have continued to raise the suspicion of grapevines.

One narrative that has become very rife is that, there is more to the latest twists than ‘let the sleeping dog lie.’ It is believed in the political circle that, many ‘colour waters’ may have passed under the bridge in the PDP fence-mending process.

A highly-placed source at the Wadata Plaza national headquarters, who pleaded anonymity because of the vintage of his position in the party, told LEADERSHIP that the push and pull in the party died with the stern warning and revelation by the Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Mahmud Mohammed that certain judges were under investigation.

The CJN had while delivering an address at the special session of the Supreme Court to mark the commencement of the 2016/2017 legal year and swearing-in of new Senior Advocates of Nigeria said the National Judicial Council (NJC) had received petitions against some judges who delivered conflicting judgments and that the council was already investigating the petitions.

The source said, while the PDP crisis lasted, it was the willing elements in the judiciary that were fueling the crisis with contradictory, perverted ‘jankara’ and controversial judgments.

The source added that, with the recent NJC’s hammer on Justices Oluyinka Gbajabiamila and Saliu Saidu, all of Federal High Court in Lagos, Justices Idris M.J. Evuti and Tanko Yusuf Usman of the High Court of Niger State, the NJC has demonstrated its resolve to weed out the bad eggs of the judiciary.

He stressed further that, now that the judges knew that their roles in the instability in the PDP is under searchlight, and with many of them already leaking their wounds and many more likely to face disciplinary actions, they may not be disposed to continue as willing tools in the chess pool of the PDP money bags.

The sources clarified further that, with this development, the captains and combatants in the PDP, who employ and deploy; twist and turn the fate of the party, have come face to face with the reality of giving up the fight, since their willing judges are already walking the tight ropes.

Recall that the CJN particularly said that the NJC is investigating judges delivering conflicting judgments in same cases.

The origin of the crisis that has bedeviled the PDP is still debatable. While some are of the opinion that the PDP’s decay dated back to when it was formed in 1998, others say it all began when the party suffered an eye-pooping defeat in the last general elections.

There are groups who believe that, PDP’s woes began with the decision of the former President Goodluck Jonathan to contest the 2015 presidential election.

But for those who believe that the PDP’s deterioration started in 1998, they argued that it started the moment the party was handed over to “undemocratic opportunists”, who knew nothing about the purpose and vision of the party.

This school of thought averred that the first mistake that ruined the prospects of PDP was sacrificing Chief Alex Ekweme’s ambition for Chief Olusegun Obasanjo’s, who knew little about the vision of the PDP as of the time the latter was practically forced to contest on the party’s platform in 1999.

They said, this was evident in the fact that, by the time Chief Obasanjo was leaving power in 2007, the party had become a shadow of itself.

This school of thought believes that PDP’s defeat in 2015 climaxed the gradual deterioration in the party’s architecture that began immediately it was formed in 1998.

The party’s implosion, according to analysts, did not come as a surprise, because they reasoned that the party’s consistent resistance to self-regeneration by entrenching credible internal democracy, was a time-bomb waiting to explode.

Following the shock it suffered, the PDP had as part of its recovery process, set-up the Senator Ike Ekweremadu Committee to unravel the causes of the party’s woeful performance in the 2015 general elections. The committee turned-in what political watchers applauded as the antidote to the party’s blink future.

However, events in the party took turn for the worse, when the serving governors on the party’s platform, arm-twisted the rest of the party’s critical organs to install Senator Ali Modu Sherriff as interim national chairman, so as to assuage the Ahmed Gulak group, who had instituted a court action, claiming that the North-East zone must be given the opportunity to complete its tenure short-lived by the forced resignation of Alhaji Adamu Mauzu.

Immediately the Borno-born politician stepped into the Wadata Plaza, all indications pointed to the fact that, he was not in a hurry to leave.