The People’s Democratic Party (PDP), like its main rival, All Progressives Congress (APC), is battling internal dissension. Taiwo Amodu examines how far the Senator Bukola Saraki committee set up to reconcile aggrieved members can go in its assignment.
The People’s Democratic Party, (PDP) like its main rival, the ruling All Progressives Congress, (APC) is threatened by internal dissension.
The national working committee of the main opposition party is battling with a crisis of confidence while various states chapters are facing similar challenge: from Ekiti, Lagos, Ogun, Osun to Adamawa states, the red flag of internal explosion is alarming.
In the last two weeks, a serving governor in South-East state of Ebonyi , David Umahi had dumped the PDP while a senator representing Adamawa North, Elisha Abbo, also abandoned the platform for the ruling APC.
Prior to the defection of the duo, former Speaker of the House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara and a former national chairman of the party, Senator Barnabas Gemade had defected to the APC.
Remarks by chieftains of APC have been quite revealing. Relishing the new entrants to its fold, they have since alerted the PDP that they were determined to poach its chieftains and ultimately, deplete its number.
President of the Senate, Ahmad Lawan, while announcing the defection of Senator Abbo on the floor of the Red Chamber penultimate week commended him for dumping the PDP, describing his action as patriotic.
“It is a show of patriotism, of unity and development of our country. “We are inviting the remaining distinguished colleagues to join hands with APC to build Nigeria of our dream. “
Yobe state governor and Chairman All Progressives Congress Caretaker/Extraordinary Convention Planning Committee, Mallam Mai Mala Buni, at a meeting with APC Senate Caucus penultimate week on the eve of Senator Abbo’s defection, hinted Nigerians of an impending gale of defections that would shock the nation.
He said: “Our recent big catch of a very no less personality than the Executive Governor of Ebonyi state, His Excellency Mr Dave Umahi and several legislators of the state assembly are indeed great milestones in our restoration process.
“Many others have indicated interests to either return or join the party. In fact, I want to assure you all that APC will soon shock Nigeria’s political space with massive and unprecedented defections ever witnessed in the political history of our great country, and by the grace of God, APC will undoubtedly remain Nigeria’s leading political party.”
In its own proactive measure to placate aggrieved chieftains and ensure that the party work together as a united political family ahead 2023 general election, the PDP National Working Committee announced the inauguration of a six-man National Reconciliation and Strategic Committee with the immediate past Senate President, BukolaSaraki, as chairman.
Other members of the committee are former President of the Senate and Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Senator Pius Ayim; former Governors Liyel Imoke (Cross River), Ibrahim Dankwambo (Gombe), and Ibrahim Shema (Katsina); as well as former House Minority Leader, Mulikat Akande.
The team is saddled with the onerous responsibility of initiating peace moves among warring factions in the party, especially in the states.
Checks revealed that before the Senator Saraki committee, former Bayelsa State governor, Seriake Dickson, was saddled with a similar assignment in the past. Aside the new trouble shooting team, there had been reconciliation teams for Plateau State chapter and the South-West zone of the opposition party.
What is Saraki bringing on board?
Senator Saraki was a two-term governor of Kwara State in the North-Central and the immediate past Senate President. As a serving governor, the politician who had transversed the main opposition party and ruling party was chairman of the forum of 36 states governors in the country, the Nigeria Governor’s Forum.
On his return to the main opposition party, the former presidential aspirant was the Director-General of the PDP Presidential Campaign Committee in the last general election in which his party fielded former Vice-President AtikuAbubakar as its presidential candidate.
Speaking shortly after the inauguration of his committee on Wednesday, SenatorSaraki promised to reach out to all aggrieved individuals for genuine reconciliation. He described the initiative by the Prince UcheSecondus-led national working committee to set up the reconciliation team as timely.
He said: “We will go all out to reach our members who have one grievance or the other and seek to reconcile all of us. We will reach out to numerous key politicians who have left our fold and have indicated interest in returning to the PDP.
“We will reach out to all the youths looking for a party on whose platform they can contribute to the development of our country. We will reach out to those who create jobs in our country and want to support a party with clear and realistic economic policies. We will hold discussions with many other political leaders in other parties who have expressed the desire to join PDP but have held back until we put our house in order.
“Since political parties are vehicles for mobilizing the citizenry around national goals, objectives and ideas, it is important for the passengers in the vehicle to be in harmony, stay together in peace and be focused on their destination and the best possible route to get there.
“This initiative by our great party to embark on genuine reconciliation, strengthening of our structures, addressing the grievances of our members, re-inventing the all-inclusive, broad-based foundation of our party which has been the goal of our founding fathers is, to quote Victor Hugo, “an idea whose time has come”, he said.
Sunday Tribune investigation revealed that most of the crises rocking the state chapters were as a result of serving governors hijacking the party’s secretariat in their respective states. In the states where PDP have serving governors, they attempt to run the party’s secretariat as an appendage of the Government House.
The governors want to plant their stooges at the ward, local and state chapters of the party in a bid to take control of the party’s structures ahead of primaries for general election. Victims of the resultant impunity with threatened aspirations often walk away from the party to seek their ambition elsewhere. Senator Abbo while speaking with newsmen premised his defection on what he called the overbearing control of the PDP state chapter by the incumbent Adamawa state governor, Ahmadu Fintiri, leading to the polarisation of the party.
“There is a crisis in the PDP in my state. That is the truth. I believe internal democracy in the party has suffered in the last one year when the governor assumed office.
“As you all know, it is only in Adamawa State that we have reformed PDP. There is a crisis in the party in Adamawa State and the governor is the cause of the crisis.”
Umahi: the zoning conundrum:
The committee may also have to look into the issue of zoning arrangement in the PDP. Sunday Tribune investigation revealed that Prince Uche Secondus as acting national chairman of the party inaugurated a committee in 2015 after the general election of same year to examine why the party lost the election in which the APC candidate, Muhammadu Buhari ousted an incumbent president, Dr Goodluck Jonathan, after PDP 16 years grip on the Presidency.
Tagged the PDP Post- Election Review Committee and led by former Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu, the committee recommended that in accordance with the popular views expressed in the submissions to the committee, the presidency should be zoned to the North as it would also assuage any ill-feelings over any perceived breach of the party’s zoning principle.
Receiving the committee’s report submitted in October 2015, Prince Secondus assured that it would be adopted by all statutory organs of the erstwhile ruling party.
He said: “The National Working Committee, NWC, has agreed to move this party forward. We will obey the principle of zoning and have agreed that in 2019, PDP presidential candidate will come from the north.
“NWC has agreed that we will never repeat the mistake of the past; we will follow the submissions made by this committee.”
That pledge to keep the Presidency in the North has not been jettisoned. Ebonyi State governor, who recently defected to the APC, made an allusion to it as he said the South-East zone which has remained faithful to the opposition party since its inception in 1999 has not been allowed to pick its presidential ticket.
“I have to lead the protest against the marginalisation of the Igbos by the PDP and I don’t have to consult anybody to lead such a protest.
“I don’t want the PDP to collapse in the South-East but it can collapse itself in the zone if it does not heed the people’s advice to entrench justice, fairness, and equity.
“The PDP should be bold to declare its stand on zoning of the presidency to the South-East and if it cannot, should tell us why we are not capable of holding such a position but will come for our votes during elections,” he said.
Before the outburst by Umahi, some leaders of the party from the South-West have been agitating for review of the zoning of the party’s position in the NWC. The zone feels stranded that it holds no strategic position in the PDP.
Saraki has pledged that his committee would be on the same page with all statutory organs of the PDP, at all times to deliver on its mandate: the NWC, Board of Trustees and National Executive Committee. But will his team demand for the review of the Senator Ekweremadu Committee recommendation on zoning of Presidency to the North? The answer lies in the belly of time.
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