The Federal Capital Territory (FCT) and its environs have been witnessing an influx of delegates, party members, aspirants, state governors and other dignitaries from all walks of life for the convention
The chairman of the National Convention Planning Committee, Governor Ifeanyi Okowa of Delta State, has however, advised party members and members of the public who have no business at the venue of the convention, Eagle Square, to state away as there would be restriction of movement around the venue based on a recent security alarm raised on Abuja and some states by the United States and the United Kingdom missions in Nigeria.
“We are working closely with all the security agencies in order to deliver a successful convention. We have secured the venue, the Eagle Square. There will be restriction of movement. The accreditation will be totally controlled.
“The convention will not witness the usual crowd because of security reasons. Access to the venue will be restricted and posters and banners of any aspirant will be allowed. We are putting all these measures in place so that we can be accountable for everyone at that venue,” Okowa said.
He disclosed that all the candidates for the office of the national chairman of the party had signed undertakings to accept whoever wins the seat among them, saying that the committee would provide a level playing ground for all of them.
Already, 87 aspirants are jostling for the 27 available positions for the running of the affairs of the party for the next four years.
The breakdown of the aspirants, positions and numbers is as follows: National Chairman (nine), Deputy National Chairman (North) (eight), Deputy National Chairman (South) (five), National Secretary (three), Deputy National Secretary (five), National Legal Adviser (one), National Organising Secretary (3), Deputy National Organising Secretary (one), National Woman Leader (three) and Deputy Woman Leader (six).
Others are National Publicity secretary (five), Deputy National Publicity Secretary (four), National Auditor (two), Deputy National Auditor (two), National Youth Leader (five), Deputy National Youth Leader (three), National Financial Secretary (one), National Treasurer (two), Deputy National Financial Secretary (three), Deputy National Treasurer (three) and National Ex-officio (10).
The Eagle Square, venue of the convention, is now wearing a new look with the place dotted with the poles bearing the flag of the party and the national flag.
Also, the pavilions of the various state chapters of the party have been tagged, while construction work was still in progress as of Friday.
Personnel from the various security agencies were also sighted conducting security checks inside and around the venue.
How the battle will be fought and won
In the build-up to the aborted June 2016 national convention of the party, the South-West was in contention for the national chairmanship position. No other zone was in the picture. Even the decision of the chairman of Daar Communications, Chief Raymond Dokpesi, to join the contest was seen as half-hearted and largely inconsequential.
The entire stakeholders of the PDP had given it to the South-West. The issue then was about the candidate. While the caucus of the Governors’ Forum had endorsed Jimi Agbaje, governorship candidate of the party in Lagos in the 2015 elections, some leaders of the party objected and pushed for Chief Olabode George, who was seen as a more experienced candidate.
But the situation with regard to build-up to today’s national convention in Abuja is a sharp contrast to the botched Port-Harcourt, Rivers State convention. The stage had been distorted as the South-West zone of the PDP, which believed the coast was clear for it to produce the next national chairman of the party, had been stunned by a challenge from the South-South.
In the beginning
The atmosphere ahead of today’s convention was a replica of the pre-Port Harcourt convention. Everything looked set for the South-West. Stakeholders initially insisted that the alliances reached in 2016 were still valid. The caucuses in the South had all agreed to allow the South West produce the next national chairman of the party but things changed suddenly. There emerged an opposition to the South West from the South South.
The Obasanjo, IBB, Oyinlola angle
Some power brokers had set out to lure back a former National Secretary the party, Prince Olagunsoye Oyinlola who had defected to the All Progressives Congress (APC) and make him the national chairman. The bid was said to have been coordinated at the highest level of power brokerage of the party.
“Ex-President Goodluck Jonathan spearheaded the move which was to ensure that the Ota, Minna and Otuoke ends of the PDP backroom power houses were tied together neatly. The deal, however, fell through as the targeted candidate rejected the offer,” a source who was privy to all the moves told Saturday Tribune.
The search then came down to two aspirants, Chief Olabode George and Professor Tunde Adeniran. George is a former Deputy National Chairman of the party and known for his resourcefulness. He is believed to have fallen out with former President Olusegun Obasanjo at a stage and eventually landed in the travails that saw him sent to prison, a sentence which the Supreme Court later quashed. Adeniran was a member of the Obasanjo think-tank while the latter was president. He is also regarded as an ally of former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar. He was nominated by the late President Umaru Yar’Adua as Ambassador to the United States, but ended up in Germany.
The deal was to forge ahead and make do with either of the duo. Other interests, however, weighed in. A former governor of Ogun State, Chief Gbenga Daniel, who earlier declared that the national chairmanship position would not be determined through an open contest in line with the character of the PDP, joined the race. Others who indicated interests included Professor Taoheed Adedoja, former Minister of Special Duties; former governor of Oyo state, Senator Rashidi Ladoja, Jimi Agbaje and Senator Bode Olajumoke.
Besides the unwieldy number of aspirants jostling for the top job in the South West, the fact that the party in the zone has failed to present a united leadership is also serving as a source of tension for stakeholders in the party. For instance, two groups of zonal executives are in court over who is the truly elected zonal chairman of the PDP in the zone.
South South united front
Following the free-for-all that was becoming the order of the day in the South West chapter of the party, stakeholders in the South South got together last week to present a common front. The argument is that the South South has become the power house of the PDP and should be allowed to maintain that focus by presenting a national chairmanship candidate. The zone opted for a former acting chairman of the party, Prince Uche Secondus.
Governors of the zone, who made the announcement at a meeting last week, said in Port Harcourt that Secondus would provide an experienced leadership that would hit the ground running.
A leader of the South South and former Foreign Affairs Minister, Chief Tom Ikimi, declared at the meeting that the PDP could not allow the South West produce the chairman of the party in view of the protracted crisis that has engulfed the zone. Senate Minority Leader, Senator Godswill Akpabio, also said that the South South should produce the next chairman for the stability of the party. “It is important we stabilise the PDP. That is why we need a chairman of PDP from the South South,” he said.
Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers State, who is regarded as the man behind the mask of Secondus, also declared that the South South had invested heavily in the PDP, adding that the party was still in existence because of the “investment and commitment” of the South South. He added: “If PDP leaders and members from the South South are not committed, there wouldn’t have been PDP today. It is important that PDP members from other zones of the country congratulate South South PDP members on their steadfastness at a time PDP was in crisis.”
Will consensus work in South West?
The absence of clear arrowheads in the South West appears to be robbing it of the much-needed unity of purpose as the leaders were left wondering what had befallen them even as the party’s top job seems to be slipping away. It was learnt that the opposition of Governor Ayo Fayose to the emergence of Professor Tunde Adeniran initially left the man without a base at home. It also left some of the power brokers from outside the zone bewildered.
It thus appeared that while Adeniran carried the Fayose baggage, Bode George was also carrying the Obasanjo baggage. It was believed that Fayose, who was hopeful of being named the running mate to a Northern presidential candidate of the PDP, would not brook the emergence of Adeniran, which could scuttle that ambition.
Days to today’s national convention, however, some rays of light appeared on the horizon for the South West as a chairmanship hopeful, a former governor of Oyo State, Senator Rashidi Ladoja, hinted after meeting with another aspirant, Chief Gbenga Daniel, that a consensus candidate might emerge.
Ladoja was quoted as saying in the media that: “It is part of my responsibility to consult with interested parties and I have been meeting with them. We had a meeting yesterday which we are going to continue today. By the grace of God, we shall produce one candidate before Saturday’s convention.
“I have been to all the aspirants and it’s going to be a collective decision among the entire Southwest aspirants, particularly as our Northern brothers and sisters said they prefer South West, we should help them. During my consultations with our Northern party men, they said ‘we prefer South West but give us a candidate.’”
The horse-trading had continued and the leaders were expected to come up with an acceptable candidate before voting starts at the convention today.
North backs South West
Leaders and opinion moulders in the PDP across the Northern states chapters did not leave anyone in doubt as regards their preference for a chairman emerging from the South West geopolitical zone.
A communique at the end of a meeting of the Elders Forum in Abuja indicated that the elders were in support of the South West producing the next national chairman of the party. The communique, signed by a former governor of Kano State, Mallam Ibrahim Shekarau, indicated that the North was backing the South West in the spirit of fairness and equity.
The communique stated that the North also supported the South West to produce the chairman in view of the need to carry every part of the country along. Giving every geo-political zone a sense of participation and inclusion in the affairs of the PDP, we strongly support the quest of the South West geo-political zone to produce the next national chairman of the party,” it said.
The meeting was attended by PDP heavyweights, including former Senate President, David Mark, as well as elders like former National Chairman, Dr Ahmadu Ali, Senator Ibrahim Mantu, Ambassador Aminu Wali, Professor Jerry Gana, Mallam Ibrahim Shekarau, Senator Jonah Jang, Dr Muazu Babangida Aliyu, Mallam Adamu Maina Waziri, Hon. Gabriel Suswam, Alhaji Ahmadu Fintiri, PDP zonal chairmen and state chairmen from the North, Comrade Abba Moro, Barr. Kabiru Turaki, Sen. Nenadi Usman, Sen. Solomon Ewuga, Hon. Margaret Icheen, Col. Bala Mande (rtd), Sen. Tunde Ogbeha, Hajiya Inna Ciroma, Mukhtar Shagari, Hajiya Zainab Maina, Alhaji Shehu Musa Gabam, Professor Abubakar Suleiman, Hon. Laurencia L. Mallam, Hon. Bello Mutawalle, Dr Emmanuel Agbo, Princess Rabi Ibrahim, Dr Baraka Umar and Hon. Mahmud Abdulmalik.
Fintiri and the doublespeak from North
Alhaji Ahmadu Fintiri, who was part of the elders meeting in Abuja, was to call a press briefing hours after the release of the above communique and declared that there was no consensus on the issues raised at the meeting. A group of Northern states chairmen of the party also issued a statement to deny the consensus.
State chairmen wade in
The party appeared to be heading for another main crisis as the group of state chairmen of the PDP raised another hell ahead of the convention. The chairmen, who are members of the National Executive Committee (NEC), were said to have sent words to the National Secretariat declaring that they lacked confidence in all the chairmanship aspirants on parade.
The chairmen, at a meeting in Valencia Hotel, Abuja, were said to have resolved to field a different candidate following their loss of interest in the emerging aspirants. The secret meeting was said to have been presided over by the chairman of Akwa-Ibom State chapter of the party, Paul Ekpo.
The meeting, it was gathered, mandated the secretary of the caucus and chairman of the Nasarawa State chapter of the party, Francis Orugu, to intimate the party secretariat of a decision to reject the existing contestants and declare that the group might field a separate chairmanship candidate.
One of the chairmen, who spoke anonymously, was quoted as saying that the chairmen lacked confidence in those currently campaigning to lead the party as they (the chairmen) believed that none of them (the contestants) could take the party to the Promised Land.
Will the PDP spirit prevail this time?
Notwithstanding the contending interests, many still believe that the PDP would come out of the convention stronger. But the interests appear widespread this time. There are external forces who would prefer either a parallel convention or one that would produce a candidate they can “do business with.” An alternative to that is to unleash the forces of government on whoever emerges if he has an existing case with the anti-graft agencies.
It is expected that at the end of today’s convention, the forces at the background, especially the Minna, Otuoke and the other silent but active forces would pave the way for a PDP that can stand the test of time.
and then