In February 2010, at the height of the political upheaval that pervaded Nigeria following the long term-term absence of then President Musa Yar’Adua and his failure to officially hand over power to his Deputy, Goodluck Jonathan, the Senate passed a resolution making Jonathan, Acting President and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces. The House of Representatives followed with a similar resolution. This action, because it did not have a clear constitutional backing, became known as the Doctrine of Necessity.
The National Assembly’s excuse was that such an action became inevitable in order to prevent Nigeria from descending into chaos. As it stands, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) appears to have invoked their own “Doctrine of Necessity” to prevent the further slide of the party into a leadership abyss.
In recent times, there have been moves by the upper hierarchy of the PDP to quell the leadership crisis the party has been embroiled in.
These moves yielded positive fruits with the recognition of Senator Ali Modu-Sheriff as the National Chairman of the party by the Senator Ahmed Makarfi faction of the party.
The recognition came on Tuesday after party bigwigs met with former President Goodluck Jonathan.
Apart from the recognition, the Makarfi faction also agreed that Modu-Sheriff should chair the convention of the party being proposed for June 30.
This is a different tune from the one sung when the Port Harcourt Court of Appeal set aside a Federal High Court judgement delivered by Justice Mohammed Liman which recognised Senator Ahmed Makarfi as the chairman of the PDP to declare Ali Modu Sheriff as the authentic national chairman of the party.
At the time, former aviation minister Femi Fani Kayode had said he and other party members were puling out of the party to form a new party because they can no longer put up with sharing the same political party with Sheriff.
Fani-Kayode’s position was further given credence when Governor Of Ekiti State, Ayodele Fayose who, while speaking on behalf of the PDP Governors Forum,insisted the judgement “is nothing but a violation of our democracy.”
But Fayose has had to swallow his words after the governors elected on the platform of the party opted for political solution to the crisis.
National Secretary of the Sheriff-backed Faction, Prof. Wale Oladipo, revealed that Jonathan and the governors are to be thanked for the party’s decision to settle for a political solution.
Bayelsa Governor, Seriake Dickson said political solution is the best option in resolving the party’s crisis, adding that litigation would continue to cause more divisions in the party.
Asked who would preside over the convention, Dickson said that the Court of Appeal judgment which upheld Modu-Sheriff as the National Chairman of the PDP had already taken care of the question.
“If you go to the Appeal Court or Supreme Court and get judgment, you will still conduct a national convention, so political solution is be best option.’’
He said the committee views the proposal as part of the sacrifice to be made in order to reposition the party.
Now that the PDP has decided to put its house in order, instead of trading blames like members have been wont to do in the recent past, it is hoped that they would assume their role as main opposition and keep the foundering administration of the All Progressives Congress, APC, led by President Muhammadu Buhari on its toes.
It is also hoped that they have learnt their lessons that infighting will only hurt the party’s chances during elections as can been seen by the party’s performance in recent elections held all over the country.
What makes a man is standing firm with the consequences of the choices one makes knowing they will serve as lessons for us in future. The party must live with the consequences of a poor choice they made in the past and let the experience steer them forward.
What do you think about the PDP’s decision to opt for a political solution?
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