BY ROTIMI DUROJAIYE
In the last few weeks, the main opposition party, the Peoples Democratic Party has been the major highlight of the news media for all the wrong reasons.
The PDP has been in a deep existential crisis that promises to sound its death knell if care is not taken.
Precisely seven months to the 2023 general elections, the centre seems not to be firm in the opposition PDP as moves to oust its national chairman, Iyorchia Ayu, have leaked out.
Although Ayu boasted that he remains the party’s national chairman, the intrigues surrounding the emergence of the party’s presidential and vice-presidential candidates and how the fallouts were managed have continued to put him in the eye of the storm.
Some members of the National Executive Committee of the party disclosed last week that the mood in the PDP called for a change of leadership, particularly, the office of the national chairman, to reposition it and strengthen the PDP ahead of the general elections.
Part of the sins of Ayu include alleged mismanagement of party affairs before and after the party’s presidential primary, most importantly, how he managed the emergence of Delta State governor, Ifeanyi Okowa, as running mate to Atiku Abubakar.
He had explained that Atiku asked the party leadership to recommend a suitable person as a running mate and he set up a committee, which submitted three names, but Atiku picked one.
Some party officials close to the NWC accused Ayu of managing the finances of the party like his own private company.
He was equally accused of mishandling or sabotaging the Ekiti governorship campaigns in such a manner that party stakeholders could not agree on a workable winning formula.
The delay by Ayu to honour the reported ‘gentleman’s agreement’ said to have been sealed between him and presidential aspirants to the effect that the national chairman would resign if the party’s presidential candidate emerged from the North, is a key factor in the crisis.
“While he appealed to all aspirants that contested the primary to close rank and work for the party’s success in 2023, he called on Atiku to engage in a meeting with Governor Wike with a view to resolving any problem that may have risen from the choice of his running mate”
And ahead of the expected removal or resignation of Ayu, key party leaders are said to have begun consultation on which zone should produce the next chairman.
Findings suggested that the South East geo-political zone is highly favoured to produce the next national chairman if Ayu resigns. This will offer the party a useful opportunity to balance and compensate the region, which had been aggrieved for not zoning the presidency to the South East.
Meanwhile, Ayu has insisted that he remained the national chairman of the party.
His media adviser, Simon Imobo-Tswam, in a statement, said “Ayu took a well-deserved two-week leave on June 21. He will be back next week to resume duties, specifically on July 6.
“As a stickler for due process, Ayu formally handed over to the Deputy National Chairman (North), Umar Damagun, who has held forth admirably since that day. It was in that acting capacity that he (Damagun) today (Wednesday), presided over the inauguration of the Osun State Gubernatorial Campaign Council, headed by the governor of Bayelsa State, Douye Diri.”
Unfortunately, 11 of the 12 governors appointed to lead the party’s campaign for the July 16 governorship election in Osun, were absent on Wednesday, at the inauguration held at the party’s national secretariat in Abuja.
Diri, who was supposed to be the chairman of the campaign council, was equally absent. The only governor in the council who attended was Darius Ishaku of Taraba State.
Also absent from the inauguration were governors Seyi Makinde (Oyo), Aminu Waziri Tambuwal (Sokoto), Okezie Ikpeazu (Abia), Emmanuel Udom (Akwa Ibom), Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi (Enugu), Samuel Ortom (Benue), Godwin Obaseki (Edo), Ahmadu Fintiri (Adamawa) and Bala Mohammed (Bauchi). No reason was given by the absentees.
Benue State governor, Samuel Ortom, while answering questions in a live television programme last week, said: “I was among the 17-member committee set up by Atiku and 14 of us in the committee said the person should be Wike.
“Unfortunately, Atiku picked Okowa in his wisdom. You cannot ignore the decision of a committee you set up yourself and expect people to be happy.”
When reminded that the camp of Atiku has been trying to reach out to Wike, but he has been ignoring their calls, Ortom said: “They should stop that. Atiku should go to him (Wike). Why won’t he ignore their calls? Is that not an insult? Wike is a pillar in the party.
“Currently, nobody in the party has contributed more for the party to move forward than Wike. If Atiku was not going to honour the decision of the committee, he should have called Wike earlier and informed him. He didn’t do that. You can’t do things anyhow and expect us to be happy,” he stressed.
Ortom further urged the PDP leadership to go to Wike and appeal to him, insisting that the PDP has treated Wike badly.
Ortom also claimed that it was Wike who brought him back to PDP in 2015 when he was treated unjustly. “Why do you just send calls to Wike, you should have to go to him,” Ortom said.
While the crisis is brewing, the former governor of Ekiti State, Ayodele Fayose, is also asserting that it was the turn of the South to produce the next president after the expiration of two terms of eight years of President Buhari in the spirit of equity, fairness and justice.
The former governor, who disclosed this in a statement via his verified Twitter handle Gov@Ayo Fayose, argued that section 3(c) of the PDP Constitution provides for a rotational presidency. This, definitely, goes against the interest of his party, PDP, which has settled for a Northerner, Atiku as a presidential candidate.
Fayose, who didn’t mention the party and candidate he would be supporting next year among the array of presidential candidates from the South, urged Nigerians to await his decision soonest.
As a result of the crisis confronting the NWC of the party, key stakeholders shared divergent views on the matter.
While some argued that Ayu has no moral justification to stay for a minute as the national chairman because the party’s constitution states that a region cannot produce the president and national chairman at the same time, others said the timing, for now, does not justify that he (Ayu) should resign.
They said that the incumbent chairman can as well wait till after the election in February next year and if Atiku wins, he (Ayu) can then resign.
A former Deputy National Chairman of the party, Olabode George, said it was better for Ayu to honour his words and save the party from the unnecessary crisis.
He said what is at hand requires that the leadership do everything possible and expedient to ensure that Nigerians see the party as a united front that represents the interests of all the six geo-political zones.
George, who said he would like to refrain from making strong comments at present on the issue pending when the incumbent national chairman will do the needful, said: “My concern is that necessary things must be done to ensure that PDP wins next year’s presidential election, including if Ayu must have to resign now and bring in a Southerner.”
However, a one-time member of the PDP Board of Trustees, Ebenezer Babatope, said he would reserve his comments and keep a tab on development in the party.
Also calling on Ayu to resign immediately, former chairman of Ogun PDP, Adebayo Dayo, said it was inconsistent on the part of the national chairman to claim he would resign after Atiku might have won the presidency next year.
But taking a contrary position, former National Vice Chairman, South West Zone, Eddy Olafeso, said calling on Ayu to resign now is wrong timing.
Also speaking in line with Olafeso, another chieftain of the party in Lagos, Olatokunbo Pearse, said he wished President Muhammadu Buhari “had not put Nigeria into such an ethnic box we now found ourselves in. I don’t see any big deal in allowing Ayu to stay till the end of the election next year.
“But it is no longer the PDP matter now, we have people who would love to vote for us but trust the opposition APC will use that to campaign seriously against us in the South.”
However, Atiku has assured that actions were ongoing to address issues bothering members of the party ahead of the 2023 general elections.
Writing on his verified handle on Thursday, the former vice president said he was not taking any member of the party for granted, as the unity of the party remains his priority.
“The People’s Democratic Party will remain united. Focus on our actions. We are taking action to address the feelings of all party members. The unity in our community is my priority. Our resolve to unify Nigeria starts in our party and moves to the community, then on to society.
“Every Governor, Legislator, and other elected officials produced by our party, and party members and loyalists, are much loved and respected by me. When they speak, I listen. I do not only listen. Appropriate actions have been taken, are being taken, and will continue to be advanced. -AA.”
On his part, a former governor of Kaduna State, Senator Mohammed Ahmed Makarfi, has said it was too late for PDP members to desert Atiku, adding that what is required was to support the presidential candidate to emerge victorious in 2023.
He also criticised recent comments of former president, Olusegun Obasanjo, that he made ‘genuine mistake’ to have picked Atiku as his running mate in 1999.
Makarfi expressed optimism that the party would win the 2023 general elections and urged leaders and other stakeholders to close ranks and resolve all political problems.
Makarfi who spoke with journalists in Kaduna debunked rumours that he had defected to the APC, saying only retirement from politics would make him leave the PDP.
He said all hands should be on deck to resolve all misunderstandings associated with the outcome of the presidential primary and the choice of Governor Okowa as running.
While he appealed to all aspirants that contested the primary to close rank and work for the party’s success in 2023, he called on Atiku to engage in a meeting with Governor Wike with a view to resolving any problem that may have risen from the choice of his running mate.
“I won’t blame Wike for feeling bad because he has been one of the pillars of the party. Let the presidential candidate sit down with him to discuss issues because he is the only one that knows why he picked his running mate. The matter is resolvable.”
Makarfi said PDP would bring back true democracy to Nigeria in 2023.
“We have learnt our lessons and we will do more than we did when we were in power. As long elections will be held, PDP will win, but we need to work hard,” he said.
PDP’s legacy of crises since 1999
Close watchers of the PDP would have noticed that storm is the middle name of the party.
Since its inception in 1998, no national chairman has served out his term.
The founding chairman, Solomon Lar, who led it to win its first general election in 1999, was immediately eased out shortly after the polls won by President Olusegun Obasanjo.
Although the PDP constitution provides for a four-year tenure, which means Obasanjo would have had at most two chairmen during his eight years at helms of affairs, the party had four: Lar, Barnabas Gemade, Audu Ogbe and Col. Ahmadu Ali (rtd).
Emerging from a long period of military rule, with an ex-general and an ex-customs top brass as the drivers of the incipient democratic order, it was obvious that anyone who had an independent mind and wanted to assert the authority of the party over the politicians in power and government was not bound to last.
And so, the likes of Gemade and Ogbe, who attempted to assert the authority of the party over Obasanjo’s brazen quest to dominate the party’s structure, were bound to be shown the door. The door was indeed opened for them to check out.
The trend continued post-Obasanjo but with a new variant of the power struggle.
The coming of President Umaru Yar’Adua, a former governor, who succeeded Obasanjo in 2007, saw the rise in the power of governors as a major power bloc in the party.
With Yar’Adua ceding political management to his deputy, Goodluck Jonathan, the states’ chief executives under the leadership of ambitious and deft politician like Bukola Saraki of Kwara State, found their groove that was completely subdued under Obasanjo and began to call the shots.
If Jonathan was too weak as a vice president to curb them, he would soon find his rhythm the moment he became president.
Too politically aloof and later bugged down by health issues, Yar’Adua virtually left the governors to determine the party’s structure with Vincent Ogbulafor emerging as the first post-Obasanjo chairman.
He was soon to run into problems.
In the power struggle that attended the ailment of Yar’Adua, positions were taken between the tendency that preserved presidential power on behalf of the president and those who wanted the reins of office vested in Jonathan as the vice president.
As the civil society groups agitated for power to be handed over to Jonathan, the PDP governors led by Saraki held power and the party.
They had the support of Ogbulafor. Everything went their way until Yar’Adua died and Jonathan became president.
With the swing in the balance of power, Ogbulafor’s position became untenable as Jonathan would not risk leaving the awesome party machinery in the hands of his political foes who had tried to prevent him from mounting the saddle.
Jonathan forced Ogbulafor out and engaged Okwesilieze Nwodo, a former national secretary, as chairman.
But Nwodo could not complete the term of Ogbulafor.
His original sin was his attempt to assert the independence of the party by seeking its financial freedom.
In obedience to the party’s constitution, Nwodo moved to digitalise membership registration, asking all members and intending members to go online to register for a fee.
That move was to fetch the PDP N10 billion annually. With this war chest he would be able to assert the authority of the party since it would be financially strong enough to fund its activities. The governors did not like this and they moved against it.
Meanwhile, Nwodo got entangled in the local politics of his state and despite presidential intervention asking him to leave the state for his governor, Sullivan Chime, he persisted.
A couple of court cases sprang up in Enugu. One of them threatened Jonathan’s nomination for the presidential ticket of the party for the 2011 general election.
It was at the presidential nomination convention ground in Abuja in September 2010 that Nwodo was shown the door and was replaced by his deputy, Mohammad Bello.
After earning a fresh term in 2011, Jonathan fought a hard battle with the party’s governors to install his own chairman.
At the 2011 National Convention, Bamanga Tukur, a Jonathan ally and former governor of the old Gongola State, emerged the chairman, the only nominee of the president in the NWC of over 10 members. The governors muzzled their way to pick up the rest. With that balance of power within the party hierarchy it was obvious that it was a matter of time before the chairman would be shoved aside. That did not take long in coming. In less than a year and a half, Tukur began to have problems with his colleagues on the national working committee.
Accused of high-handedness and overreaching himself, all his colleagues signed a vote of no confidence in him.
Jonathan might have tried to help him but faced by ceaseless pressure from the governors, the president buckled and consented to the chairman’s removal.
Adamu Muazu, a former governor of Bauchi State, was brought in to complete Bamanga’s tenure.
Muazu’s immediate challenge was how to manage the increasing dominance of the governors over party hierarchy, particularly the rising revolt of some governors of the North who were opposed to the second term ambition of Jonathan. Eventually five of them left, leaving the party weak and porous.
“In all of these turbulent years, one party member that saw it all was Uche Secondus. A former state chairman, national organising secretary and deputy national chairman, it was without doubt that when Wike sponsored him as national chairman in 2017 against the run of play, he was bidding for a job in a terrain that he was familiar with”
The outcome was its defeat at the presidential election in 2015 by the APC that fielded a fourth time contestant, Muhammadu Buhari.
With the party’s defeat in the presidential election and without a president in office, the reins of party leadership fell on the governors, who did not waste time to force Muazu out of office ahead of his term.
In all of these turbulent years, one party member that saw it all was Uche Secondus. A former state chairman, national organising secretary and deputy national chairman, it was without doubt that when Wike sponsored him as national chairman in 2017 against the run of play, he was bidding for a job in a terrain that he was familiar with.
But a presidential election, and three years after, his godfather rose up in arms, mobilising his fellow governors against him.
Wike argued that Secondus had run the PDP aground and needed to be changed to save the party.
His evidence was the exodus of some governors and key party members to the ruling APC. Not a few analysts of the party’s usually complex internal politics think that this accusation flies in the face of Secondus’ records.
Emerging chairman after two years of rancour, Secondus led the PDP to the 2019 presidential election.
First to his credit was the presidential primaries in Port Harcourt that were adjudged transparent. Then he managed a post-primaries fallout that saw all the aspirants rallying behind the party’s candidate, Atiku Abubakar.
Many PDP stalwarts believe till date that the party actually won that election but was rigged out. If that claim is disputable, a clear fact is that the party increased its haul of governors from 13 to 17 under his watch.
And he was able to keep the party together all these years until his godfather’s revolt began against him.
The PDP’s constitutional hierarchy must assert itself against internal pressure groups that constantly generate tension in the party if it does not want to approach the 2023 general polls as a divided house.
