The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) is in the dire strait, again. The party that once claimed to be the biggest party in Africa, ostensibly because of the huge population of Nigeria, is caught between the devil and the deep blue sea. The two major tendencies in the main opposition party have gone back to the trenches over the soul of the PDP less than two years after a fratricidal war that demonised its winning streak that guaranteed its reign in power for 16 years.
Just a month ago, the PDP set up a 25-man National Reconciliation Committee, with a former national secretary and ex-governor of Osun State, Prince Olagunsoye Oyinlola, as chairman. An ex-governor of Gombe State, Senator Ibrahim Dankwambo, is the secretary of the committee. The terms of reference of the committee include resolving all outstanding issues and recommending the way forward for a party that once boasted of remaining in power for 60 years.
It should be noted that the statement announcing the committee, and signed by the national publicity secretary, Debo Ologunagba, stated that the setting up of the committee by the National Working Committee (NWC) was sequel to the nod from the National Executive Committee. Chief Anicho Okoro was named as the secretary of the committee which also consisted of Chibudom Nwuche, Alhaji Bello Tafidan Gusau, Senator Ben Ndi Obi, Senator Tunde Ogbeha, Senator Shuaibu Isa Lau, Dr. Esther Uduehi, Senator Zainab Kure, Kabiru Tanimu Turaki, Alhaja Mutia Olayinka Ladoja, Dr. Abimbola Ogunkelu, and Ude Oko-Chukwu. The rest are: Dr Boyelayefa Debekem, Chief Emmanuel Ogidi, Dr Eddy Olafeso, Chief Dan Ulasi, Abdulsamad Dasuki, Segun Showunmi, Amina B.B. Faruk, Alhaji Hamza Akuyan Koshe, Mike Ikoku, Oloye Jumoke Akinjide, and Bisi Fakayode.
Therefore, the NWC called on “all leaders, critical stakeholders, and teeming members of the PDP to remain focused and committed to the vision, principles, and aspirations of our great party in the overall interest of the growth, development, and stability of the PDP and the nation.”
The committee rounded off its three days of sitting in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital to hear out aggrieved members in the six states in the South-West last Thursday where the leader of the team declared that personal interest was responsible for the deep-seated anger in the party in the zone.
Sadly, as the Oyinlola was stepping out of the South West, the belligerent forces in the national leadership reinvigorated their battle of superiority.
The battle which was at the sublime at the initial stage became aggravated as some elements maintained their claim of right to fill the position occupied by Ambassador Iliya Damangun as acting national chairman following the controversial exit of Senator Iyorchia Ayu as the substantive chairman.
His exit came after the PDP was humbled at the 2023 presidential election due to the bitterness and uncompromising posture of the distinct power blocs on zoning and power rotation. The camp loyal to former vice president Atiku Abubakar had insisted on the North fielding a candidate from the North for the presidential election whereas the other tendency comprising five governors elected on the PDP called G-5 vehemently opposed the move based on what they consider as the power rotation between the North and the South.
The shadowboxing that dovetailed into the generation has only subsisted with different shades of political issues and developments acting as catalysts for the raging war of attrition within the PDP. For instance, the political debacle in Rivers State between Governor Siminalayi Fubara and his predecessor, Nyesom Wike has been catalytic to the supremacy contest at Wadata House Abuja. It has torn the national organs of the party down the line such that the hitherto cold war has assumed an open battle of wits and altercations.
While the acting national chairman and the national secretary, Anyanwu lead one section, the national publicity secretary and the treasurer are believed to acting the script of a rival camp in the NWC of the PDP.
It should be recalled that the mutual suspicion and distrust trailed the decision by the national secretary to contest the governorship election. His moves to return to his position after his unsuccessful bid for the governorship seat became another ground for hide and seek such that it resulted in a barrage of litigation.
The latest onslaught by the two divided in PDP at the centre is coming after the party unveiled the timetable for zonal congresses to be held next year to elect party executives ahead of the 2027 general election in the country. The NWC approved the timetable during its 592nd meeting, ahead of the expiration of the current Zonal Executives’ tenures in the South-South, South-East, South-West, North-Central, and North-East zones.
It is instructive that the PDP conducted state congresses in some states lately while caretaker committees are still in place in a few others pending the election of substantive state executives.
While the party appears in a quagmire over the fact that the loyalists of Governor Fubara had to use the platform of the APP, instead of PDP, to contest the recent local government election in his state, the implosion over the seat of national chairman poses another major issue for the party. It went into the Rivers poll as a divided house with the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, (Wike) as the agent provocateur in a state many regards as where the PDP has a very stronghold. The assumption in the PDP political circle is that those loyalists of the governor could return to the PDP when the current whiff of hurricane in Rivers subsides. But how soon that would take place is in the belly of time, though it’s becoming a tradition rather than being an exception in the politics of the country, where party discipline seems to have taken a flight.
However, more amazing in the twist of the PDP national leadership crisis is that it is coming after the governorship election held on September 21 in Edo State. Cacophonies within its rank and file deprived the party of presenting a united and common front. Its fate now lies at the altar of the election petition tribunal. Yet, the PDP is faced with another stark reality in terms of a similar election coming up in less than five weeks in Ondo State. Campaign for the election has, to say the least, become less intense and penetrating such that the electorate can vouch for a new dawn at the threshold.
In the opinion of some observers, those individuals currently enmeshed in the dogfight over the structures of the party could further weaken PDP structures at the detriment of the place of opposition to serve as a check and balance in the weird and convoluted federalism currently under practice in the country. With the power brokers, through their stooges and minors, accelerating full blast on their individual ego trips, the party faithful are in askance on the way forward for the hitherto bohemian political structure called the PDP.
Not with the circus show of suspension and counter-suspension by the warring camps. The suspension saga has split the NWC, with Damagum, backed by the national secretary, Senator Samuel Anyanwu, and the other section consisting of the national publicity secretary, Ologungaba and the national legal adviser, Kamaldeen Adeyemi Ajibade (SAN).
According to reports, the Damagum leadership directed Ologunagba and Ajibade, SAN, to step aside from office, saying it has constituted a committee to investigate what it described as “issues raised against the officers in compliance with the provisions of the Constitution of the party.” The other camp almost in spontaneity, the national publicity secretary of PDP, Ologunagba, countered the action, and announced the suspension of Damagum and the party’s national secretary, Anyanwu, over alleged anti-party activities.
Ologunagba, in the statement, hinged the suspension on the decision of the party’s NWC. Part of the statement read: “The National Working Committee (NWC) of the PDP has extensively considered the series of complaints raised against the Acting National Chairman, Ambassador Illiya Damagum and National Secretary, Sen. Samuel Anyanwu particularly with regard to the letter addressed by them to the Court of Appeal in Appeal No:CA/PH/307/2024 against the party’s position in the case involving the 27 former members of the Rivers State House of Assembly who vacated their seats upon decamping from the PDP to the All Progressives Congress (APC). Judging from the pier’s play in the PDP over the years, especially after it lost power at the centre, the latest twist in the internal imbroglio may have just entered a new phase. But who will save the party from the path of self-destruct?
READ ALSO: Fuel hike: Tinubu’s govt insensitive to Nigerians’ plight — Obi
and then