BY BENEDICT NWACHUKWU, ABUJA
As the march towards 2023 general elections gathers momentum, the Peoples Democratic Party which considers itself as the largest party in Africa has remained enmeshed in crises. Since it was formed in 1998, no day passes without a new problem brewing in it. Just now, the party is engaged in what a top state member who doesn’t want to be publicly identified, described as “garment patching procedures ahead of the 2023 general election”.
He warned that except the process was carefully handled, it could rip open at the time and point the party least expected it and that could be disastrous for it.
He warned that it might not augur well for the party if it did a shoddy job of clearing the mess it had found itself now which led to the defection of members in droves out of it.
He added, “PDP needs a thorough surgical operation now that it still has some time to do it. But I fear it is doing a garment patching job. If care is not taken to expertly handle it, it may become a source of major embarrassment should it rip open in public and at a very awkward time. I guess you understand what I am saying?”
The PDP has never had a stable leadership, free from intrigues and petty crises, particularly, at the national level. Nonetheless, it bestrode the Nigerian political space for 16 years like a colossus. It clinched power at the centre in 1999 and not until 2015 did it lose it to the All Progressives’ Congress.
That shift from being a ruling party to being the opposition has left the PDP grappling with one problem or the other. Of recent, all eyes have been fixed on the national chairmanship position.
“Even when it was the ruling party, prominent leaders defected in droves to parties that were in opposition. Those that defected blamed the decision on leadership crisis within it
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Indeed, from the time of the founding national chairman, late Alex Ekwueme, through to the present, Uche Secondus, the party has experienced some tumultuous moments.
No national chairman of the PDP has ever enjoyed a peaceful reign, or served through his statutory tenure in office. It is either they are forced to resign or removed like fleas from the body of a pet.
Nevertheless, members of the party maintained that the incessant squabbles within it had been sources of their strength and a pointer to the fact that the PDP was not a “one man party” where decisions could not be taken without one individual.
The party, no doubt, has suffered a lot in the area of members’ defection in recent months. Even when it was the ruling party, prominent leaders defected in droves to parties that were in opposition. Those that defected blamed the decision on leadership crisis within it that could no longer guarantee their relevance in the party.
The worst case of defection the party ever witnessed was the 2014 defection of serving governors, Senators, House of Representatives, state house of assembly members and even ministers.
This action gave birth to what was then known as the New PDP, which later collapsed into an amalgamation that produced the ruling All Progressives Congress.
Beyond giving birth to APC, it became a very strong force behind the amalgamation because the PDP was not only upset, the mass defection derailed the party and handed the then opposition party the long sought for power. The PDP as a ruling party lost the election and could not retain power at Aso Rock Villa. Majority seat in both chambers of the National Assembly and some traditional states also went the other way.
When the PDP recovered from this major blow, many political commentators and observers believed the party would be better off, having learnt its lessons, but the party has proved that it cannot really do without internal rancor and squabbles.
Presently, the same cry of “the national chairman must resign” or “must go” continued to echo across the country. For many, a party that is thinking of wrestling power from the ruling party should not be embroiled in leadership or internal crises but rather pull itself together so as to actualize the dream of taking back power in 2023.
However, faithful party members have never seen the serial crises as a major issue, rather as a very minor distraction that helps the party position itself for major tasks.
When the citizens seem to have lost hope in the policies of the ruling party vis-a-vis the situations in the country generally, one would have thought the PDP as a major opposition party would cash in on that to reclaim power, but the unfolding events are a clear evidence that all is not well with the party and as such, it may wait for a longer time to return to the seat of power in Aso Rock Villa.
Rather than the party gaining more members, it keeps losing its members, even prominent ones for that matter to the ruling party. In not more than two months, three serving governors of the party defected to the rival party, some with the members of their state assemblies and commissioners, as well as retinue of political aides.
Still the PDP kept enmeshing itself in internal rancour, destabilizing its structures ahead of the general elections, less than two years away.
The party’s national convention was scheduled to hold in December for a new leadership of the party at all levels to emerge, but the squabbles that almost consumed the present Secondus-led National Working Committee has forced it backward to be held in October.
Whether this forced change of calendar would be the beginning of destabilization or reorganisation of the party remains a puzzle awaiting explanation.
A member of the House of Representatives representing Donga, Ussa, Takum and Yangtu federal constituency of Taraba State, Rima Wahulu, during a television programme, blamed the crises on selfishness and insincerity of politicians.
He said the party had been at the mercy of politicians because they were more interested in their ambition than the party.
“The crisis in PDP is not what you can blame on an individual. Everyone of us is guilty of causing the crisis whether in the past or now. When I wrote a letter about Secondus resigning I did mention that if we were to throw stones about who brought PDP to where it is now, the stones will hit everybody. There’s hardly any person that the stones will not reach. It’s a collective thing. There are PDP governors who confessed that they did anti-party in 2011 and 2015. There are many people who have come out to confess about the role they played in PDP losing the election in 2015,” he added.
Spokesman of the party, Kola Ologbondiyan, in his reaction, said the era of crisis had gone and the party was fully united again.
“We are out of crisis and there is no reason to talk about it now. We are back together as one big family and are sailing in one ship, so we are remaining focused.
“Our determination to rescue Nigerians from the draconic government of APC remains sacrosanct and that is the target we are pursuing. Therefore, we have put behind us the crisis because we are not marching backwards but forward. So whatever may have led to it or the previous ones as you pointed out is not relevant. What is relevant is that we have come out of it bigger and better. We are asking Nigerians to keep faith with us, we will not disappoint them,” he said.
The PDP hierarchy has been used to crisis. From the foundation, no chairman has served through his statutory tenure. It was worse when the party was in power as the ruling party.
Its manner of sacking the national chairmen became ridiculous to the extent that the position was debased.
It is on record that besides Ekwueme, the founding acting chairman who voluntarily resigned from the office, no chairman has served out his tenure without being forced to resign.
The Executive Director, Adopt A Goal for Development Initiative and co-convener Centre for Liberty, Dare Ariyo Atoyebi, described what was happening in the party as a reflection of self-centeredness.
In a chat with The Point, after taking a critical look at the party and others, Ariyo said, “Political parties in Nigeria will continue to get enmeshed in crises simply because the actors are dealers who want to always impose their wills on the party and control. They don’t believe in due process, they don’t believe in rule of law. They believe in rule of men and rule of few and rule of those who have the resources. And that is why the PDP and other political parties are having battle for control, battle for supremacy and all of that.”
He also noted that the crises in the party and others were not as a result of lack of constitution, saying, “All these parties, including PDP, have very good constitutions that ordinarily should be followed to the latter but they don’t want to follow laid down constitution, laid down rules then they get enmeshed in crises. Until PDP learns to respect its own constitution; it will continue to get embroiled in crisis of confidence. A party that ordinarily should have been harvesting the goodwill of Nigerians is today battling to resolve internal matters.”
Ariyo while identifying the root cause of the internal squabbles in the party noted further that the PDP had an internal mechanism to solve its numerous crises.
He added, “I am happy they have started the e-registration of members which is the basic foundation for any political party to grow. If it wants to be a leading political party, it must put its house together, it must restructure. PDP apparently must lead in the restructuring we are talking about by restructuring internally abiding by its rules and regulations and party dictates.”
From 1998, when it was formed till date, the PDP has had 14 chairmen out of whom only one, Barnabas Gemade, served out his two-year statutory tenure, but was stopped from seeking reelection.
Others were either removed or forced to resign, some in most humiliating manners.
The problems of the PDP chairmen have largely been linked to the battle for absolute control of the party by the governors. Another vital point is either the ability or inability of the chairmen to manage crises arising from the states preparatory to governorship election particularly, Anambra State.
“Could it be a coincidence that each time Anambra State governorship election is around the corner, successive PDP national chairmen always battle to keep their seats?
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Could it be a coincidence that each time Anambra State governorship election is around the corner, successive PDP national chairmen always battle to keep their seats?
In 1999, the emergence of Chinwoke Mbadinuju as the governor was to say the least, unacceptable to the party loyalists who at that time accused the national headquarters of manipulations, claiming that ABC Nwosu won the primaries. The Chris Ubah/Chris Ngige saga cannot be easily forgotten.
It is yet another Anambra State governorship election year; the party is at it again.
Though the PDP has resolved the crisis through what commentators and observers termed “soft landing” for the chairman, Secondus, some Nigerians who have lost hope in the present administration want the party’s assurance that it can win the 2023 general elections.
