IS PDP now ready for opposition roles?

With the inauguration of the new National Working Committee (NWC) of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), there appears some bounce in the feet of the hitherto clay-footed opposition party. Is the party now ready to play its role as the main opposition party? Group Politics Editor, Taiwo Adisa attempts some answers.

In a democratic setting, the opposition party is the government in waiting. It is the direct alternative to the party in power and close marks all steps and inactions of the ruling party. Between 1999 and 2003, that role was largely shared between the All Peoples Party (APP) and the Alliance for Democracy (AD).  From 2003, the APP changed its identity to the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP) and then the AD lost its hold on the South/West. The ANPP was left to fill the space and played what was likened to an opposition role, even though it had the government of then President Olusegun Obasanjo breathing down its neck at all times. In 2006, then Governor Bola Tinubu of Lagos State, the only AD governor that survived the PDP-induced tsunami of 2003, formed the Action Congress (AC), thus signifying the removal of the AD from the government process.

From that point, the AC joined the ANPP to put the ruling PDP on its toes.  When the ANPP was lukewarm, the AC was constantly challenging the actions and inactions of the government through its weekly interrogations of government activities via press statements and interviews by its spokesman, Alhaji Lai Mohammed (now Minister of Information). That mentality was transferred to the All Progressives Congress (APC) when it emerged late in 2013 and all through the electioneering procedures of 2015. At a stage, some observers believed that the opposition APC was overreaching itself when it dabbled into issues of national security.

But the party soldiered on and eventually outmuscled the PDP in the 2015 election. With the baton changing hands in May 2015, the sing-song that dominated the polity was that the PDP was not prepared to play the opposition role against the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari.  The party, instead of poking at the activities of the ruling party descended on itself and eventually tore its own house apart. From one courthouse to the other, its members haggle and argued suits that rather depreciated its roles in the polity. Many pronounced the party dead and not a few of its stakeholders jetted out and teamed up with the APC.  Elections in Edo and Ondo, which were projected to go its way had been lost as many of its bewildered loyalists constantly looked towards the exit door. At a stage, the question on the lips was when will the exodus end? Most of the bigwigs in the South/East joined the defection train, the same for a number of senators and members of the House of Representatives.  An attempt to hold a national convention in 2016 further degenerated and it was further held down for a whole year by court cases. Senator Ali Modu Sheriff put himself up against the other party members as he unilaterally declared the planned Port Harcourt convention closed. Sheriff was believed to have secured the help of the ruling party to prolong the fight against the entire organs of the party as he set up a parallel executive to rival the interim national committee under the chairmanship of Senator Ahmed Makarfi.

When eventually the Supreme Court ruled on the authentic leadership of the party, much ground had been lost and the main opposition party appeared only to be tethering at the straws. With its convention fixed for December 9, hopes got renewed that the main opposition party would breathe again. And following the inauguration of the Uche Secondus-led National Working Committee (NWC), the PDP appeared to have found its voice once again. In the past, the PDP left so much space for the ruling APC to approbate and reprobate, such that the citizens were left in bewilderment as to whether an opposition party really exists in this democracy.

But the new PDP NWC appears to have shown traces of its determination to close mark the APC with its initial steps. Following the inauguration of the PDP executive, the National Publicity Secretary of the APC, Mallam Bolaji Abdullahi, issued a statement to highlight the flaws of the opposition party, deriding it as a party that was not ready for the change. It was the usual character of the APC, which had gone largely unchallenged in recent past.

On December 10, Abdullahi had observed that the irregularities noticeable in the December 9 convention of the PDP were clear signs the party was not ready to adopt a changed attitude from its inglorious past In a statement entitled: “Convention Irregularities: PDP Not Ready To Change,” Abdullahi said: “In reacting to revelations of how money-for-votes and systematic rigging was brazenly perpetrated during the National Convention of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), the All Progressives Congress (APC) is mindful of the popular axiom: ‘A leopard cannot change its spots.’

“The abnormalities that trailed the PDP National Convention have further exposed the PDP as a party not ready and willing to change. Indeed, the PDP has once again displayed itself to the generality of Nigerians that it is a party with corruption deeply rooted in its DNA.  Again, it is tragic that the PDP which used to pride itself as “the biggest political party in Africa” has now been reduced to a regional party. By frustrating South/West chairmanship candidates, it is unfortunate that the PDP has decided to punish the South -West for not voting for the party in 2015.

“We urge members of the PDP that can pass the integrity test to join the APC so that we can together bring about the much-needed change the country deserves.”

The reaction of the PDP, this time was quick and poignant. Unlike in the past when reporters would work the phones tirelessly seeking responses from its spokesmen, the National Publicity Secretary, Kola Ologbondiyan, immediately issued a counter-statement, telling the APC to look into the mirror as regards the conduct of national convention before commenting on PDP’s convention.

Ologbodiyan, in his statement entitled: “PDP Convention: APC Jittery, Clutching On Straws,” said that criticisms of the PDP convention by the APC were laughable since the ruling party is not known to have conducted any such convention in recent years, contrary to the party’s constitution.

He said: “Our attention has been drawn to a statement credited to the spokesman of the All Progressive Congress (APC) Mallam Bolaji Abdulahi, wherein he criticized the conduct of the elective national convention of our great party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

“It is indeed laughable that the APC which has roundly failed in not only managing the affairs of the country but also its own internal issues would recourse to panic mode just because the PDP has succeeded in uniting its fronts by conducting a very credible elective National Convention.

“We were very much aware of the plots by the APC to scuttle the convention and failing it has resorted to a failed attempt to discredit an elective convention that has been adjudged as credible, novel and laudable by political stakeholders and lovers of democracy across the nation.

“This unwarranted attack is only symptomatic of a party that has lost control and only clutching at straws for survival having been rejected by Nigerians. Is it not disgusting, reprehensible and embarrassing that the APC that has repeatedly failed to hold meetings, congresses and convention in the last three years and has flagrantly continued to violate its own constitution is questioning our party’s rights to perform her legitimate and constitutional obligation?

“Perhaps APC leaders have never read Article 25 (A)(i) of their party’s constitution which stipulates that “the national convention of the party (APC) shall be held once in two years at a date, venue and time to be recommended by the National Working Committee (NWC) and approved by the National Executive Committee (NEC) subject to the giving of the statutory notices to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and at least 14 days’ notice given to members eligible to attend.”

“Which impunity could be higher than APC violating its constitution? It is strange that APC could be moralizing on the principles of social justice whereas its actions against Nigerians are a complete departure from the norms.

“It is important for this spokesman of a failed party and his pack of incompetent members to reminisce on the needless pains and suffering they have inflicted on Nigerians rather than being jittery over the successful outcome of the PDP’s elective national convention.

“Nigerians have come to discover that APC is a fraud, an organisation of deceitful characters who have failed to keep a single of its countless promises made to the citizens. It is no longer news that the nation is drifting under APC and the PDP has come to the rescue. We must, therefore, remind the APC that the era of deceit, trickery and scaremongering, which has been the hallmarks of their government, is gone and Nigerians are just waiting to kick them outcome 2019.”

Again, when the news broke that the National Economic Council (NEC) presided over by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo and peopled by the 36 state governors had approved the withdrawal of $1billion from the Excess Crude Account (ECA) to fight Boko Haram insurgents, newsmen did not have to wait till eternity before they got the response from the PDP.

Ologbondiyan, in a statement criticising the planned withdrawal, said that the ruling party should apologise to Nigerians for earlier claiming that the insurgents have been defeated and that their organisation had been degraded. He described the quest to withdraw the funds as curious.

The PDP said that it was determined to ensure that the APC does not continue to play on the intelligence of Nigerians, whom it said, are now only waiting for 2019 to consign the APC to the dustbin of history.

According to Ologbondiyan, the decision by the governors to withdraw $1 billion from ECA was curious and alarming, adding that the approval for the release of the fund to the APC-led Federal Government under the guise of fighting insurgency in the North/East was strange since the same government had announced that the terrorists have already been defeated.

The statement indicated that the APC-led administration was guilty of a manipulative plot by the APC administration to secure approvals without recourse to due process, and for purposes of fighting the same insurgents it claimed had been defeated.

The party questioned why the Federal Government is trying to do a roundabout on the funds’ withdrawal by going through the National Economic Council rather than the “direct constitutional appropriation channel of the National Assembly for funding of items already provided for in the federal budget if it actually has nothing to hide.”

The statement further read: “The PDP supports the fight against the insurgency. We hold our officers and men confronting the terrorists and securing our territorial integrity in high esteem, but we are concerned about the manipulative tendencies connected with the approvals as well as the veracity of claimed purpose of the fund.

“Nigerians would recall that the APC-led Federal Government had claimed that it has since defeated the insurgents.

“If it would take a billion dollar from a nation’s savings to kill what they long claimed dead, then we challenge APC government come clean and tell Nigerians the whole truth.

“The era of lies and propaganda is long gone and Nigerians now know the truth. The Federal Government must be held accountable and stopped from any move to fritter away our national savings.

“We, therefore, call on the National Assembly to interrogate this proposed disbursement and subject it to a thorough but rapid interrogation.

“By accepting the $1bn for the fighting insurgency, the APC-led Federal Government has admitted that it lied when it announced that it has defeated the insurgents. They should, therefore, apologize to Nigerians for giving them a false sense of security, resulting in their vulnerability to attacks by terrorists.

“On the economy, they have taken us into recession; on security, Boko Haram is still ravaging our people; on the corruption, the APC Government has only embarked on a witch hunt of the opposition while enmeshed in monumental corruption thriving unabated right inside the engine of its administration. “

Besides the statements from the National Publicity Secretary of the PDP also appeared to have set up pillars of opposition against the APC.

Former President Goodluck Jonathan is fast emerging as one of such pillars as the continuous reference to his government has often drawn him out to criticise the administration. Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, who only returned to the PDP barely a week to the December 9 national convention, is also one of such pillars, with repeated jibes at his former party.  The PDP also has the self-acclaimed opposition leader, the governor of Ekiti State, Ayo Fayose, who has been a constant thorn on the heels of the ruling party in the last two years.

Last week, he described the quest for $1 billion from ECA as a ploy by the APC to raise funds for 2019 elections.

Fayose, in a statement on Friday, said that the planned withdrawal of $1bn from Excess Crude Account was not meant to fight Boko Haram insurgency in the North-East region.

Though the decision was taken by his governor colleagues, he dissociated himself from the decision, insisting that the APC was planning to use the money to “fund President Muhammadu Buhari’s re-election in 2019.”

He said: “For posterity sake, I wish to place it on record that I was not among the governors who approved the withdrawal of almost half of our savings in the Excess Crude Account, which belongs to the three tiers of government to fight an already defeated insurgency.”

The statement signed on his behalf his Special Assistant on Public Communications and New Media, Lere Olayinka, indicated that “Since they (the Federal Government)  said they had defeated Boko Haram, what else do they need a whopping sum of $1 billion (over N360 billion) for; if not to fund the 2019 elections???

The statement further read: “The APC promised to wipe out Boko Haram within six months, now it is 31 months and what the APC government is wiping out is the economy of Nigeria and the means of livelihood of the people.”

The statement added that the said amount, which is equivalent of N360 billion, was the same amount shared by the Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC) to the three tiers of government in the months past.

“Nigerians deserve proper explanations from the federal government on the rationale behind spending such huge sum of money to fight an already defeated Boko Haram,” he said.

He asked the administration to provide details of how funds released to the Federal Government by donor agencies for the fight against Boko Haram was spent, adding that the Transparency International (TI) had once stated in a report that “some top military officials in the country were feeding fat from the war against Boko Haram by creating fake contracts and laundering the proceeds in the United States, United Kingdom and elsewhere.”

With the PDP turning the heat on the APC, the ruling party had uncharacteristically kept mute. It is certain that the party is calibrating its arsenal as it has shown in recent years it has never slacked in any occasion of war of words.