PDP chairmanship: The battle of Generals

With about a month to the epic battle of electing a substantive national chairman, forces in the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) are involved in an intricate politics of hide and seek against the zoning principle of the party, writes KUNLE ODEREMI.

ONGOING intrigues over the national chairmanship of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) appear unprecedented in the 17-year chequered history of the party. The battle has never been this keen, despite the fact that PDP has made zoning a convention rather than exception. Some retired military officers, in collaboration with a powerful section of the political class in the North are determined to influence the course of events, either directly or through proxies, Sunday Tribune has learnt.

Before now, the process of who became national chairman had been more of a selection than by an election. Dating back to the birth of the party in 1998, the emergence of its pioneering chairman, Chief Solomon Lar, was largely predicated on honour and appreciation of his leadership acumen at the formative years of the PDP. Subsequent successors of the Plateau State-born politician emerged by pseudo-due process as the seat of power brazenly manipulated the system to install their anointed candidates.

This time, the contest is laced with high-tech politics and intrigues with intra and inter-regional forces at their wits end to gain the upper. With the awesome influence of the Presidential Villa nonexistent, the various power centres are engaging in intense power tussle over which of the three zones in the Southern axis of the country, where the PDP had technically conceded the position produce the next substantive national chairman. At least, the camps of three prominent politicians of northern extraction eyeing the presidential ticket of the party are said to be working silently to outdo one another and determine who the crown fits among the political gladiators from the South involved in the scramble for the position. Two former Nigerian leaders are said have upped the ante by showing more than a passing interest in who gets to wear the cap among the plethora of contenders from the South-South and the South-West PDP. Ironically, all the two key power blocs appear focused on the South-South rather than the South-West PDP, which is desperate to have one its own as the chairman for the first time. Backed by one of the influential governors from the South-South, a former interim national chairman of the PDP, Chief Uche Secondus, is believed to be the focal point of the northern establishment, in what looked like a conspiratorial move against key contenders from the South-West for the post.

Secondus, once the Youth Leader of the defunct National Party of Nigeria (NPN) in the Second Republic; Publicity Secretary of the defunct National Republican Convention (NRC) in the state, had also served as state chairman of the PDP for two terms. He was also the South-South Coordinator for the PDP National Campaign Council in 2007; PDP national organising secretary. On September 1, 2013, he was elected the PDP deputy national chairman and later stepped in as acting national chairman of the party following exit of Alhaji Adamu Mua’zu in 2015. Though Chief Olabode George; Chief Gbenga Daniel; Professor Tunde Adeniran and others are regarded as front-line contenders, a coalition of forces comprising two former Nigerian leaders of northern extraction are said to favour the candidature of Secondus. Their support for him is reportedly because of the lack of consensus among contestants from the South-West for the position. They also believe the party needs a leader that is tough, courageous and fearless, who will be capable of matching the All Progressives Congress (APC) with a dose of propaganda at any auspicious time. It will be recalled that former President Goodluck Jonathan had said the next substantive PDP national chairman and national publicity secretary must be fearless and dogged fighters, who should be capable and ready to confront the APC ahead of the 2019 general election.

Further checks in the PDP indicated that the camp of a former governor of Kano State, Mallam Ibrahim Shekarau, who is reportedly jostling for the presidential ticket of the party also favours the South-South PDP producing the national chairman at the December 9 national convention of the party in Abuja. The camp is said to prefer Secondus to media guru, Dr Raymond Dokpesi, who has not only publicly proclaimed his aspiration but sustained his campaign with regular jingles on his television station at prime time, coupled with embarking on consultations with some ‘godfathers and kingmakers’ in the PDP over the years.

However, the most striking phase in the ongoing intrigues in the battle for the position are insinuations doing the rounds that the current body language of current national chairman of the National Caretaker Committee of the PDP, Senator Ahmed Makarfi, suggests that he prefers Secondus emerging as the substantive chairman. Nonetheless, he has been an advocate of a level-playing field that guarantees that the right candidate emerges. Some quarters in the political circle claimed that his current tilt towards the South-South has to do with his speculated interest in the presidential ticket of the PDP, which he has at one point or another said it was a mere speculation.

Perhaps, what is fast-becoming the albatross of the South-West PDP in its wish to produce chairman is what some core stakeholders from the North described as the continued solo run by the individual aspirants for the position. Sources said a former military leader of the country particularly told one of the contestants that his deepest worry was the failure of the South-West PDP elders and others to prevail on the contestants to reach a consensus on who to put forward for the position. He and another leader from the North were said to have warned that the PDP could not afford to have a weak individual as national chairman if it hoped to rediscover itself. Other major stakeholders contend that aside the huge logistics, the issue of the contestant’s base is paramount. According to them, a contestant must be able to boast of a solid base in his state, which he would have to galvanise behind his aspiration and thrust as part of his bargaining powers beyond his geopolitical zone. While there is equally the argument about the past of the individual contestants not just from the South-West, the issue is said to be generating serious interests from PDP elements from the North, who were already using it as a major factor to weigh the chances of northern leaders eyeing the PDP presidential ticket.

The dilemma of the South-West PDP is underscored by a discreet move by some young Turks to fly a kite on the vice presidential slot. While some perceive that the action was meant to slight the Ekiti State governor, Mr Ayodele Fayose, who has indicated his presidential ambition, others see it as a determine move to assert the electoral value of the South-West in any major electoral contest. The young Turks have been reportedly holding consultations that would culminate in a major political gathering in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital, soonest. The group is said to enjoy the support of an influential PDP elder from the zone with awesome resources.

Meanwhile, former PDP deputy national chairman and chairmanship contender, George, has cautioned that the party ensures that the forthcoming convention was well-managed to ensure that the most suitable candidate emerged. This, he said, was because the incoming national chairman “must be totally democratic, all-embracing and accommodating, as well as encourage plural contributions to the growth and the development of the party.”

As the battle for the top party seat gathers greater momentum with each new week, informed insiders in the party are of the belief that the battle for the chairmanship seat would be won by a coalition of forces across the geopolitical zones. While others have not ruled out the South-West, noting that a last minute understanding might see the region going in one direction, others are of the belief that the South-West might have been exposed in the ongoing political chess game in the erstwhile ruling party. What is of note, however, is the conviviality among the aspirants, suggesting that while the Generals and political warlords battle underneath to outdo one another in installing the next PDP chairman, the aspirants have continued to maintain that they remained brother. Speaking on the conviviality among the contestants, Dokpesi had recently said: “All of us are working together, we are brothers and we have been together for long time for something close to 30, 35 years. There is no enmity among us. This is to assure you that there is a new generation of politicians who believe on the unity and stability of this country and PDP. All we want to do is to serve the party and do our very best.” Daniel also hinted at the possibility of a consensus when he recently said that the issue of a consensus candidate for the PDP chairmanship was not discussed at a recent meeting of aspirants but that it could not completely be ruled out. “Nothing   is impossible especially when you have people of like minds,” he said.