...As AD Holds Fresh Convention Today
By Tokunbo Adedoja
The Alliance for Democracy(AD), which has been bedeviled by leadership crisis for about a year now, has finally taken a bold step to resolve its internal wrangling through a fresh national convention tagged 'Unity and Reconciliation Convention'
Today, about 4,500 AD delegates from the 36 six states of the federation are expected to gather at the Onikan stadium in Lagos to participate in the 'unity' convention to elect new leadership for the party.
Today's convention, which is coming less than a year after two parallel conventions of the party were held in Lagos and Abuja, may however be the last opportunity for the party to resolve the leadership crisis which has almost consumed its soul.
AD had been bedeviled by post convention crisis following the emergence of two national chairmen at a separate convention held in Abuja and Lagos on December 16, 2003 by the two factions in the party.
While former Governor Bisi Akande emerged as national chairman at the convention held at Onikan stadium in Lagos, Senator Mojisoluwa Akinfenwa emerged at the one held at the Eagle Square in Abuja. INEC however, announced its decision not to recognise either of the two factions.
At a meeting with the members of the Michael Koleosho pre-convention national executive on February 11, 2004, INEC gave the party up to October ending to resolve its crisis. Though, INEC did not state what form of action it would take should the party fail to resolve its crisis at the expiration of the ultimatum, indications are that the option being considered by the commission is to cease to have any dealing with the either of the factions and any recognised organ of the party.
The implication of this is that, should there be a cause for even a bye-election by reason of death or recall of a member of parliament, the party would not be able to field any candidate as the electoral commission would have nothing to do with it.
Apart from the ultimatum, the commission also gave the party four options through which the present crisis rocking it could be resolved.
The options include the settling of the crisis by members of the party themselves, the voluntary invitation of the commission to play mediatory role with the power to give a final verdict, the recognition of the faction which have the largest followership or the conduct of another national convention to be supervised by the National Convention Committee appointed by the pre- December 16, 2004 leadership of Koleosho.
In its position paper to the party, INEC made it clear that a fresh convention was the best way out of the crisis plaguing the party. The commission, while recommending the four options, equally outlined their pros and cons.
INEC emphatically said that it would be very reluctant to be part of the second option which is the recommendation for voluntary invitation of the commission to mediate in the crisis on the condition that its verdict would be binding.
The electoral commission also stated in the position paper that the third option, which is the recognition of the faction that has the largest followership and that has been conducting its affairs in line with the party's constitution could lead to a plethora of court cases which would be time wasting and also drain the commission's purse. INEC equally said that past experience has shown that the option would further plunge the party into deeper crisis as the unrecognised faction may continue to lay claim to the party's leadership.
Apart from this, the view is that the first option, which is the settling of the schism in the party by members of the party themselves may prove to be a wild goose chase since the two factional leaders have refused to compromise their leadership for each other. If the reactions that greeted the attempts by the pan Yoruba socio-political organisation, Afenifere to recognise one of the factions is anything to go by, then finding away out of the crisis through this option may be a mirage.
Also keen observers of the trend of events in the party and constitutional experts have posited that holding a fresh convention was the most plausible way out of the crisis rocking the party. The argument is that should the party members even resolve the leadership crisis amicably by themselves, a convention would still be required to ratify the resolution reached in compliance with the party's constitution which stipulates that the leadership of the party must emerge from a national convention.
In a bid to beat the commission's ultimatum, a couple of months ago, leaders of the party from the 36 states of the federation gathered in Lagos for three days to find an acceptable solution to the crisis plaguing the party.
It was at that meeting, which was attended by not less than a hundred party chieftains from all the states of the federation, that the decision to convene a 'unity convention' where a new leadership of the party would emerge was first made.
The stakeholders meeting was said to have been followed by series of meetings between members of the National Convention Committee inaugurated by Koleosho's pre December 16, convention national leadership, who had aligned with either of the factions.
The outcome of all the meetings was the coming together of all the members of the National Convention Committee, who were in the two factions, under the chairmanship of Alhaji Ibrahim Hassan to conduct a fresh convention.
While Akande has expressed his willingness to submit himself to another convention, Akinfenwa has continued to maintain his claim to the leadership of the party, though members of the National Convention Committee, who served in the committee that conducted the parallel convention in Abuja where he emerged last December have joined forces with the Hassan led NCC to conduct toady's unity convention.
Should today's convention be successful, AD would regain its position as a major opposition party and would be put in good stead ahead of future national and state polls. If its however fails to make use this 'last chance', the party and its dreams may go into oblivion.
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