National convention: PDP leaders battle over deputy national chairmanship

LEON USIGBE and KUNLE ODEREMI examine the possible booby traps at this weekend’s national convention of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

There are obvious signs of a keen contest as Nigerians await with bated breath, the national convention of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) coming up between today and tomorrow at the federal capital, Abuja. The pre-convention tough battle for the post of deputy national chairman (South) zoned to the South-West has already prepared ground for the keenness. With the two main power blocs and other tendencies in the party from the zone set to test their supremacy and will, the power brokers in the other five geopolitical zones are expected to break the seeming logjam in the balance of power and force.

The last 72 hours have seen claims and counter-claims over endorsement of the contenders: Ambassador Taofeek Arapaja and Prince Olagunsoye Oyinlola for the position, a situation that has almost switched the klieg light from the highest office of national chairman of the main opposition party. Where the pendulum swings at the convention would have far-reaching implications for the PDP as it, again, attempts to come back from the ditch.

The emergence of Professor Iyorchia Ayu as the consensus choice of the north for the office of the national chair of the PDP was a sort of anti-climax, given the tension that preceded the zoning of the post to the region. Despite the insistence of Senator Suleiman Nazif, the incumbent Deputy National Chairman (North), to vie for the position, his voice has become a mere whimper in the din of northern PDP stakeholders to have the former Senate President as the new party helmsman.

But before the incoming party chairman’s situation was determined, political watchers were keen to see how the former ruling party would deal with the long running leadership crisis emanating from the ouster of Prince Uche Secondus through the courts by those who wished he would not have a second term as the party boss, which he was eyeing. Predictions, were therefore, rife that going into the national convention, the party might be about to bury itself.

Even though Ayu’s choice seemed to have eliminated the immediate threat to its survival, the PDP is still faced with palpable dangers. The main opposition party goes into the exercise gripped by anxiety over some other key positions where consensus has eluded it notwithstanding the prevailing calm over the top post.

The selection of the national chairman had previously posed a major headache for the PDP as it was in the 2017 national convention where leading candidates including Professor Tunde Adeniran and Chief Raymond Dokpesi rejected the emergence of Prince Secondus and the emergent “unity list.” The PDP is now hoping to avoid that scenario in the October 30-31 national convention especially with the apparent acceptance of Ayu by the north.

However, other booby traps line its track to a successful convention particularly from the lack of agreement over some critical positions including the Deputy National Chairman (north and south); the national secretary, the woman leader and the national publicity secretary, among others. Out of the 33 persons gunning for top positions in the National Working Committee (NWC), two top party members including Ambassador Umar Ilya Damagum (Yobe) and Hajiya Inna Ciroma (Borno) have presented themselves for the post of the deputy national chairman (north); Prince Olagunsoye Oyinlola (Osun) and Ambassador Taofeek Arapaja (Oyo) for the office of the deputy national chairman (south) in the new NWC.

The choice of who becomes the Deputy National Chairman (South) between Oyinlola and Arapaja is rocking the party. Incidentally, Arapaja’s main backer, Governor Seyi Makinde was the initial force that drafted Oyinlola into the race.

Although some reports said PDP governors were all backing Arapaja, some sources said this may not be correct as there is no consensus among the governors on this post.

While Makinde and some governors back Arapaja, the party’s founding fathers, some serving governors and former governors are said to be backing Oyinlola.

This situation makes the contest for this post the potential major focus of the convention.

PDP’s DNC (South): Bumpy ride to consensus

A source close to Oyinlola said that the former governor had no problem with PDP governors who he said were the ones who prevailed on him ab initio to contest for the position of the Deputy National Chairman.

“The southern governors were the ones who asked him to contest for the post. Some of them reached out to him directly on this issue. It was because of him that the position was zoned to the South West. And when that zoning was done, the South West caucus of the party met at the Oyo State Lodge in Abuja where Governor Seyi Makinde, who presided, moved that the position be micro-zoned to Osun State and that Oyinlola should be the candidate. All the leaders at the meeting agreed with the suggestions, the motion was seconded and ratified. After the adoption, Oyinlola got up and thanked everyone for the huge confidence reposed in him. He promised not to disappoint the party and the people. It was a long meeting that ended around 3am that day. So, far, he still enjoys the support of the governors. It is their project. Nothing has changed,” the source said.

The source added that “it would be ridiculous if anyone would want an Osun member of the party to step down from contesting a post zoned to his state so that a candidate from another state, where the post had not been zoned to,  could get the position. Besides, the South  West meeting that endorsed Oyinlola as the consensus candidate has not changed its position.”

He appealed for calm stressing that the PDP is a family and that all the issues surrounding the convention would be amicably resolved.

The national secretary post that is zoned to the southeast has three party members doing battle including the current director general of the   PDP Governors Forum, Hon. Cyril Maduabum (Anambra); Senator Samuel Anyanwu (Imo), and until a few days ago, Chief Okey Muo-Aroh (Anambra) was also disqualified for dragging the party to court and trying to stop the national convention.

The office of the national woman leader also has two aspirants including Prof. Stella Effa-Attoe (Cross River) and Hon. Divine Amina Arong (Cross River); the office of the national youth leader similarly has two aspirants – Muhammed Kadade Suleiman (Kaduna) and Usman Elkudan (Kaduna); Hon. Debo Ologunnagba (Lagos) though has found himself alone in the race for the national publicity secretary following the disqualification of Dr. Olafeso Eddy Eniola (Ondo) for the same reasons as Oladipo and Muo-Aroh. And for the national auditor post, three persons, all from Anambra state, are also in the race including Obiechina Okechukwu Daniel, Ikechukwu Samben Nwosu and Mrs. Chibuogwu Benson-Oraelosi. Former Anambra state governor, Peter Obi and former national spokesperson of the PDP, Chief Olisa Metuh are at loggerheads over this post as each wants his preferred candidate to pick the spot. While Obi is backing Okechukwu, Metuh is rooting for Samben, causing public spat between both party leaders.

The journey to today

In the past five years, the party has gone through a much more turbulent time than under any phase of its 22 years existence. Except when it found itself in cul de sac in the bid to resolve the succession challenges posed by the death of former President Umaru Yar’Adua, the party has weathered the storm with a relative equanimity. Its defeat in the 2019 general election threw spanner into the works, with its standard-bearer in the presidential election, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar temporarily going abroad to cool off while a few other party leaders chose to sulk at home. But undaunted, the party leadership, in collaboration with committed party faithful across the country, picked up the gauntlet towards salvaging PDP. Thus, the PDP set up the committee with Governor Bala Mohammed of Bauchi State as chairman, to find out the immediate and remote causes of the humbling of PDP in the last general election and chart the way forward. But the report of the committee created a storm in PDP’s tea cup, as it contained curious recommendations that undermined the expedient valve of power equation called zoning principle. Therefore, the committee ended up compounded the already bad situation within the party. It is recalled that the party set up a similar committee after it lost the 2015 elections, with Senator Ike Ekweremadu as chairman, which observed that the jettisoning of zoning principle caused PDP the election.

By November 2020, the PDP moved briskly to heal the wounds afflicted by the 2019 defeat at the election and the Bala-led committee. A former president of the Senate, Dr Bukola Saraki was chosen to lead a six-man committee on national reconciliation. The team of the National Reconciliation and Strategy Committee (NRSC) set up by the NWC comprised a former Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Senator Anyim Pius Anyim; ex-Governors Liyel Imoke (Cross River), Ibrahim Dankwambo (Gombe) and Ibrahim Shema (Katsina), as well as a former House of Representatives’ Majority Leader, Mulikat Akande. The outcome of the troubleshooting mission of the committee paved the way for the elective convention designed to constitute a new National Executive Committee (NEC) of PDP.

The stage was set for the elective convention after the party elected officials in 35 states, except in the Lagos State chapter where the state congress was disrupted and therefore postponed. The case in Oyo State is about parallel congress organized by some aggrieved leaders of the party in the state.  The reconciliation committee is believed to have been able to resolve or at least mitigate crisis in many of the state chapters, with the expected convention as an indication that PDP has overcome some of its core problems. The body was set up at a time PDP was seriously hemorrhaging, many faithful defecting to other parties. The first task was to reassure party members that the way out was not by abandoning the ship under a whirlwind. So, the team met with many stakeholders across the various states to resolve differences, disputes and calm fray frayed nerves, as well as suggested practical solutions and recommendations to the NWC from time to time.

According to party sources, the committee has successfully resolved the crisis in Ogun State up to the point that the agreement it drafted which the hitherto disagreeing groups signed has been pronounced as consent judgement by a Court. They also resolved the 14-year-old crisis in the Borno State chapter and all the members have signed an agreement. The committee has resolved the crisis in Lagos, though the disruption in the congress indicated a relapse. The committee also recorded a breakthrough in the Niger State crisis, as the state has a functional state executive and with the feuding parties on the same page. It intervened in Cross River State following information that the state governor, Ben Ayade was discussing with the All Progressives congress (APC), but the efforts only slowed the pace of his movement.. However, the committee achieved by rallying leaders and members together in the state under the PDP umbrella to ensure the exit of the governor will not affect our fortune in the state. This new unity in Cross Rivers inspired the return of the former Governor of the state, Mr Donald Duke back into the fold. We have also recorded success in bringing together the feuding groups in Nasarawa, Ekiti and Plateau States.

The convention is also coming against the backdrop of the committee’s intervention in the disagreement among some of stakeholders in Oyo State and the state governor, just as it met with the PDP youth leaders, resulting in its recommendations to the NWC that PDP Constitution be amended that only persons between 18 and 35 years can be elected as youth leaders and that persons this age bracket nursing ambition for public office be excluded from paying the Expression of Interest fee, a privilege currently enjoyed by women.

But the question many are asking is: why is the PDP still witnessing defection of key members? A member of the committee provided a likely answer. According to him, like in any human organisation, one cannot accurately predict how human beings will handle a particular situation. The committee at least held discussions with Cross River and Zamfara state governors who are key members that have defected. The source said people have different interests, motivations and inspirations. According to him, what this committee has achieved in giving confidence to the teeming members of our party that the PDP is still the best bet for the country cannot be defined by the exit of just two or three members, even if they are senators or governors. The committee has stopped what should have been a mass exit. He said the committee also worked to bring in new members, including former Governor Segun Mimiko who has returned to the PDP, adding that the assignment is still work in progress.  The chairman of the committee, Dr Saraki was quoted as saying: “I think we have done well in stopping the onslaught that is planned against our party. We are getting the party ready to return to power and solve all the problems confronting the country.” And the convention provides a veritable platform for PDP to advertise and demonstrate its new found unity and energy as 2023 elections beckon. .It has the option of settling for consolidation of gains or turning a blind eye to stark realities on issues concerning the future of PDP.

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