THE legal jousting going on for the control of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) does not seem to be ending soon. Ali Modu Sheriff has locked horns with Ahmed Makarfi in a deadly game that has defied every attempt to make peace. But the balance of power favours Senator Makarfi, with the wealthy Senator Sheriff however sustaining his adamantine resolve to reclaim control of the party gifted him in February for three months.
No matter what Senator Sheriff does, the party will not support him. They distrust him, and are wary of his money. They have already thrown in their lot with his opponent, whose tenure they have extended for 12 months. At the centre of the conflict are Governors Ayo Fayose of Ekiti and Nyesom Wike of Rivers, two quarrelsome, voluble and impatient politicians. Had they shown the wisdom and sound judgement needed to pull their party out of the mess it found itself, they would have avoided the mistakes that pushed them into Senator Sheriff’s fatal embrace.
Ex-president Obasanjo said the PDP was a dying party. It won’t die, at least not now. Instead, the party will defeat Senator Sheriff’s resolve and regain some of its lustre. But whether they will win in 2019 will depend on whether the factors that predisposed the APC to victory in 2015 align in their favour between 2018 and 2019.
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