The Bible speaking in the Book of Mark, Chapter 3 and Verse 25 says “And if a house be divided against itself, that house cannot stand.” If a house shall not stand if it be divided against itself, how much chance will an army stand if fights break out within its ranks at the brink of victory?
In the year 2014, the Peoples Democratic Party in Osun State was at the brink of victory. With the financial, moral and structural backing of the Federal Government, Osun PDP had the first tactical leg in the door and it just had to move the second leg – ride on the waves of the growing resentment of Civil Servants against the style of governance of Aregbesola. The table was set for a sound victory, until fight broke out within the party’s ranks.
Leaders of the party, to whom followers would go to settle dispute, were the major actors in the crisis that ensued. Prince Olagunsoye Oyinlola, the man who until that time was the Leader of the party, moved to the All Progressives Congress (APC) and he was joined on that journey by the first Civilian Governor of the State, Alh. Isiaka Adetunji Adeleke. The damage that this movement caused to the chances of the PDP and her chances of winning that Governorship election, are better imagined. Aregbesola of the APC won that election and the rest is history.
Forward to 2018 and once again, the party stood at the threshold of a resounding victory. The ingredients of victory were different this time, but the chances were brighter than 2014. A lot of Aregbesola’s policies had backfired, leaving the State near-bankrupt and forcing Civil Servants into financial hardships occasioned by his government’s decision to resort to a modulated salary structure. Like the man of the Biblical Psalm 23, before the PDP was set a table in the presence of its enemies, but its indisciplined obsession with in-fighting cost it greatly.
After a Chairmanship tussle that rendered the party unstable for close to two years, the PDP first got torn into two significantly weakened pieces. Omisore, the biggest victim of the 2014 crisis now deciding to cut ties with the PDP and pitch tent with the Social Democratic Party (SDP). His exit from the PDP seemed to return the needed peace and unity to the PDP, albeit for the shortest time imaginable. Olasoji Adagunodo was now firmly in position as the Chairman of the party and Bayo Faforiji found his own satisfaction in the Chairmanship of the SDP.
Then came the Governorship Primaries in July 2018 where the party Chairman was reported to have supported a certain candidate against the interest of the biggest financiers of the party at the time – the Adeleke family. This day, July 21 2018, the PDP only managed to escape the blowing up of a gunpowder that it sat on throughout the process of the primary election that eventually produced Ademola Adeleke, who polled 7 votes more than his closest rival, Akin Ogunbiyi.
The primary election was won and lost, but the PDP in its signature lack of discipline, could not put the fierce contest behind it and unite to achieve the victory that was just within its grasp. The winner, the Adelekes, basked in the euphoria of victory so ‘bitterly’ that they virtually shut out every person who did not support their ambition till victory at the primaries. For them and their followers, it was winner takes all. The relationship between the family and Olasoji Adagunodo, the Chairman of the party, had broken down irreparably.
The camp that lost the primaries on the other hand, became laid back and unwilling to work with the victorious camp, citing instances of highhandedness on the part of the winners and the winning camp’s refusal to share other slots with them. The Ogunbiyi camp wanted the Deputy Governorship slot, but the Adelekes wanted someone they could consider to be loyal. Then Prof. Adeolu Durotoye left the PDP, Alh. Fatai Akinbade left the PDP, Oluomo Adejare Bello left the PDP. Where politics is supposed to be a game of large numbers, the PDP watched its numbers deplete and did close to nothing.
The party leadership blamed the Adeleke family for highhandedness, the Adeleke family blamed the party leadership, particularly Adagunodo, for insincerity and maladministration, and the two disunited factions went into electoral battle as a house divided against itself that stood no chance of standing. While the All Progressives Congress (APC) would unite and win the war before fighting, the PDP would fight itself on the way to battle and continue stabbing themselves in the back while the battle progresses. It has almost become an identity.
So many people believe that Ademola Adeleke was robbed at the Gubernatorial poll, but how easy would it be to rob him if his house had been United in its ambition? A landslide for the PDP was possible in 2018, until Omisore left with his One Hundred and Twenty-Something Thousand votes, while Akinbade and Bello left with their paltry figures too. A journey that was destined to be easy, then ended as a long torture, that ended in a painful loss.
A group of old and experienced hunters went into a large forest to hunt game. As the animal approached, they began arguing who should take the head and the lap, they argued and argued and by the time they realized they had to unite to make the kill, the game had escaped and they all returned home with nothing to show for their prides. Are PDP leaders and stakeholders not experienced enough to know that only after victory should spoils of war be shared? Are they so clouded by personal interests that they cannot set personal differences aside to achieve victory?
This is 2020 and while the PDP should be focused on putting the Oyetola government on its toes, the in-fighting has started again. As if cursed to always bicker at the slightest chance of victory, the party is again tearing itself down, hoping to achieve victory in disjointedness. Are the forces who want Adagunodo out of office aware that the forces who want Adagunodo in office are also members of the PDP family with valid votes and some influence in their respective domains? Are the forces who want Adagunodo to remain in office aware that the forces who want Adagunodo out of office are also party members who wield influence in their own corners? Are both forces aware that no house divided against itself will stand?
Assuming he (Adagunodo) truly committed huge infractions for which someone would want his head, is the turnout of the Zamfara APC Chairmanship tussle not enough lessons for whoever wants to get the man out of office by crude means? Does the PDP hate victory so much that it will risk the Zamfara/Rivers outcome just because they cannot resolve internal crisis? Does the party hate success at the polls so much that it will banish some of its members to hell and hope to go to electoral war with soldiers who would have spent half their energies on fighting their Comrades? Is the party cursed or is it just comfortable with electoral failure?
In retrospect, the Adeleke family seems to be involved in all of the crisis that cost the PDP victory in the last three Gubernatorial polls. It is safe to say however, that with the level of blessings that God has bestowed upon this family, it has no need to engage far less endowed persons in fights that will lead to wastage of the family’s resources or the diminishment of its huge public image. If the family is not directly sponsoring the crisis but is only being mentioned in them, it is also safe to say the family is blessed enough to be able to bring warring parties to the table of dialogue, just for the sake of peace. This family cannot allow political dealers to push it into wrong decisions that will hasten the sinking of the PDP, under circumstances that will call the family’s name to question. That family does not need the Governorship seat to be great; the seat is in fact, a burden to its already gold-plated name.
Osun PDP needs no new crisis at this time. If Adagunodo stole money truly, I dare say he is not the first party Chairman to do this. If there are facts to prove the theft, elders have a way of making a culprit repent and become loyal. Or are there no such great elders within the PDP? Are there not lots of other solutions than a forceful ejection of a Chairman that will result in another round of crisis? Are we not Yorubas again?
Cutting off the head is not the solution to headache. But if the PDP decides to continue cutting the head to cure its headache, then it must get used to losing fatally at the polls. The financiers of the party must get used to wasting billions every four years on a venture that would cost less if only unity is forged. The noisy followers must get used to never tasting the sweetness of governance as they choose political bickering over success at the polls.
If the PDP won’t resolve its crisis now, then it must prepare for a loss in 2022. No matter how much the people love you, there is a limit to how much madness they will watch you display before turning on you – particularly when the initially bad option is now looking not so distasteful.
A pre-announced war does not kill a lame man, especially one that has common sense.
Abiola Esan, Coordinator, Osun Recovery Project
