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Category: Politics

  • ‘Middle Belt ‘ll not support power shift to North’

    ‘Middle Belt ‘ll not support power shift to North’

    Former Plateau State Military Governor Major-General Lawrence Onoja is the Chairman, Strategic Mobilisation Committee of the Arewa Consultative Forum(ACF) and chieftain the Congress for Equality and Change. He told reporters in Lagos that the Middle Belt will not support the agitation for power shift to the North in 2015. EMMANUEL OLADESU reports.

     

    What is your reaction to the crises rocking the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP)?

    I am one of the original founders of the PDP. I started with the activities in the G34. I was sympathetic to their cause that time, even when I was in uniform and later, it became the PDP. So, I can comfortably say I am an original member of the party. What is happening in the PDP today is not new. It has happened to many political parties. But I believe that the party has got very eminent personalities and respected Nigerians that are willing to ensure that the mechanism provided in the party is effective to settle all the crises in the party. I am particularly glad to hear that somebody like our former respected President Olusegun Obasanjo, who was my General Officer Commanding in 1969 in Port-Harcourt, when I was a Second Lieutenant, is now trying to reconcile the governors. That approach is what I have been waiting for, that such an eminent person would come into the PDP crisis for the benefit of ensuring that there is peace in Nigeria and also for the benefit of assisting the President to ensure that we get what we have always wanted, which is good governance in the country. So, the reconciliatory efforts by the former President are really appreciated by me. And I believe that is what other elders like Obasanjo should do. We all should ensure peace and tranquility. A situation where the President can function effectively and give us the required good governance that we deserve is what is important.

    Do you think the APC, ahead of 2015, can give PDP a run for its money?

    I think that a couple of Nigerians were happy that we are having what is looking like an opposition because, in democracy, you cannot enjoy it without a true opposition. There has to be an opposition for the game to be interesting. What the APC now represents in the eyes of many Nigerians is that, at least, an opposition that may likely be formidable is being formed in Nigeria to compete with the PDP. Whether it would match the might of the PDP as a viable political opposition, that is too early to predict. And I think it probably could in the future, if it does certain things right. The party should present itself as a viable opposition to Nigerians, by saying that it can do better in education, economy. That is what Nigerians want to hear. So, I believe what they should do is let Nigerians know their manifesto; what they would do in Nigeria, in terms of poverty alleviation, what they intend to do with the security situation. Do they intend to do better than what Mr. President has done, the amnesty program, the emergency rule declared to combat the menace of Boko Haram in some parts of the country? Do they have better suggestions? That is what Nigerians want to hear. Even if you are going to criticise the President, let it not be like a personal insult.

    One other issue in the PDP is power shift to the North. Don’t you think it is ripe time to return power to that zone?

    Every group has a right to ask for power, but I believe power is not given that way. You work for it. I want to let you know categorically here that it is not yet time for power to shift to the North. Mr. President has not done his second term. All the other Presidents were given opportunity to do their second term and Mr. President, by virtue of the fact that he is a minority like me, it would be unfair and injustice to stop him from doing his second term. If he finishes his second term in 2019, then, other areas or blocks can now begin to agitate for power shift. I think it is only fair to allow Mr. President do his second term.

    But we understand that the power shift is a Northern agenda and you are from the North

    There is a misconception. The North of the sixties when Sarduana was alive is no long the same North today. Let me correct that misconception. I am from the Middle Belt, which is a geographical reality today. I am an active member of the Congress for Equality and Change, which is a non-political association. I am also a member of the Middle Belt Forum. So, if you say I am from the North, and you are referring to the old North yes, I am from the North. But now, the Middle Belt is a geographical reality and I am a member of the Biddle Belt. I am not from the core North.

    When did the demarcation start?

    The demarcation has been there all along. It is just that the leaders that we had before, had the responsibility of making sure that we work together as the same North. But yesterday is not the same as today. People have been educated, exposed. So, if yesterday some group of persons were dictating to us, today, people will not accept the dictation of anybody again. We, in the Middle Belt are strong enough to go on our own in any situation.

    You said the President should be allowed to go for second term, but people will ask whether it is a question of second term or performance?

    I believe Mr. President is doing well. This is my own opinion. Anybody has right to express his or her own opinion. I believe Mr. President is doing well. Look at the situation, those who have been there before what is extra ordinary in their performance that Mr. President has not done. The President is rehabilitating the railway system which everybody is yearning for and they are very grateful. If he can complete it in a couple of months. The power situation has improved. Look at the steps he took to restore security in some parts of the North. Those steps are welcomed by me and they are very adequate now. While the military are doing what they are trained for, there is a committee on amnesty trying to appeal to those who are belligerent in the North. With time I am sure these things will yield peace and peace is already coming back to the North. We will still have pockets of these militants who will be resisting but after some time with the appeals being made by many Nigerians, and the amnesty committee working, day and night to ensure they attract them. The governor of Borno is already rehabilitating the children of the militants. The military there in Borno are even trying to embark on winning of hearts and minds of the people through pamphlets, through propaganda. So with time what Mr. President has put in place will yield results.

    The agitators for power shift to the North are insisting that there is an agreement that the President would do one term and that the President also confirmed it in Ethiopia.

    I am not privy to any agreement. I do not know, if any agreement was signed. And I don’t think Mr. President signed any agreement with anybody. This is politics. Why there is unpredictability in political events always is because you have the mind as an individual to change your mind, if you do anything depending on the situation. All I am saying is that he should be allowed to do his second term before any group can lay claims to power. I am not privy to any agreement he had with anybody.

    What are your thoughts on the five Northern governors who are not yielding to calls by the party to seek reconciliation using party mechanisms?

    It is unfortunate, if it is true that the five governors are insisting on having their way. I am not in the Governors Forum, but from what we read in the papers, the five northern governors went to Alhaji Bamanga Tukur’s house, which is a show of the fact that peace is returning, maybe because of the efforts being made by our leader, Gen. Olusegun Obasanjo, to bring peace among the governors. The visit they made to Rivers State is unfortunate. I would not endorse that kind of visit. We believe that, with time, the mechanisms provided by the PDP will solve these issues. Everybody is supporting Mr. President. So, he must be allowed to do his second term. Those governors with time will come back to the fold. It is like a few people who are getting lost in the bush. They will come back to the town.

    Still on the North, will there ever be one North again?

    You cannot precisely give an answer to a political situation. It is difficult to say there will be one North again because in the sixties, due to the leadership provided by Sarduana of Sokoto, from what I was told, because I was in primary school then, I woke up one day to see light and water in my home, Otukpo. Then, we had ministers from our place, but our people say these things were provided by Sarduana. And most of the people working around Sarduana, the Sunday Awoniyi’s and a number of people, were Christians. So, the picture I had as a young man then, was this man is a detribalised leader. This is the kind of leaders we are looking for. Then, the North had the concept of the North. But the times have changed and the, elders we have in the North today are not the same with Sarduana. So, I have my doubts, if the North will be one North again because of events that have occurred between 1960 and now.

    Are you saying that Prof. Ango Abdullahi and northern elders are not speaking for the generality of the people in that zone, in view of perceived anger against President Jonathan in the area?

    There could be anger in certain parts of the North. But there is no anger against Jonathan in my own Middle Belt part of the North. We support Jonathan for his second term. Every group has the fundamental right to agitate for power. The groups that are talking, the Northern Elders, Arewa, they are not political parties. They are socio-political cum cultural associations. So they probably cannot install a President. At best they are talking of supporting a candidate from the North. You don’t blame me for saying that my own people support Jonathan. This is because assuming the power comes to the North today would you tell them to concede power to the Idoma people where I come from because I am a minority in the North and Jonathan is a minority form South South. Why don’t you allow him finish his second term then after that any other group can now begin to agitate for power.

    The argument of some other groups in the North is that the North Central is not marginaliSed as alleged. They say Gowon ruled for nine years and Babangida ruled for eight years and they are from Middle Belt, whereas Yar’ Adua did two years and Shagari did four years plus three months. As such, they believe that the core North still has deficit in the power ratio.

    What about the people that were politically elected from the Northeast in the sixties?Add their own. You mentioned Gowon and Babangida, those were military Presidents. I am talking of democratically elected situation. That is what I am talking about. Gowon was there to serve the country, there was war. I fought the war as a young officer. The Idea was that we wanted the country to be united. So, if he stayed for nine years, it was because of the exigency of the situation that made him to stay there. And in Babangida’s case, it was a military time. I am talking about democratically elected President. Jonathan, having served four years, should be allowed to serve another four years. It is a very simple thing. In 2019, any group in the North can now try towards capturing power. Like you said, if it would come to the Middle Belt, by that time it would be decided by Nigerians and the political parties that are working for the good of this country. It cannot be decided by me and you. But everybody has a right to agitate, even the Northern elders, but we from the Middle Belt support Jonathan and we are saying he must do his second term. I am from the minority. With strict elections in this country, Hausa, Yoruba and Igbo, they keep winning because of numbers. God has brought us somebody from the minority who is now our President. After four years, you are asking him to go and that power should return to another place. I am saying I don’t support it as an individual. I support him doing a second term. And then, after that the power can now go to any where. Then, if we in the Middle Belt want power, we fight for it, campaign for it by telling Nigerians why power must come to us. And, if the core Northern elders want it, they have to convince Nigerians with all the available statistics as to why they want it.

     

  • PDP: Wobbling in crises

    PDP: Wobbling in crises

    Since 1999, the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has been grappling with crises under its successive national leadership, fuelled by the stiff competition for party power and government appointments, breach of party constitution and rule of law, politics of exclusion and ego war. However, in the last two years, it has got to a climax. Many state chapters are in chaos, owing to the absence of a strong crisis resolution mechanism. Can the acclaimed largest party put its house in order, ahead of the 2015 polls? EMMANUEL OLADESU, LEKE SALAUDEEN and AUGUSTINE AVWODE examine the fate of a big party facing a perilous future.

    In the last 14 years, chieftains of the acclaimed largest party in Africa, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), have often fuelled the tension in the polity through internal wrangling, which the party leadership has always failed to resolve, owing to the absence of a strategic crisis resolution mechanism and cumulative defective reconciliation.

    In the last one year, the crises in the ruling party have soared geometrically. The acrimony, intrigues, backstabbing and civil war are proportional to the size of the platform, which the opposition has perceived as a bully at the periodic elections. Although the party has been in power at the centre since the restoration of civil rule in 1999, the successive Presidents it has produced have never truly emerged as the symbols of party unity and cohesion. Not only has the party incurred the wrath of the electorate for poor performance, the Presidents, who double as the National Party Leader, has always been divisive and destabilising factor in the party.

    The PDP national leadership battles with protracted crises; the 36 state chapters are not insulated from the war of attrition. The troubled chapters are factionalised, with their caucuses working at cross purposes. As the PDP prepares for its special mini-convention this month, the atmosphere may again be charged. That the convention is holding underscores the deep-seated hostility, conflicts, personality clashes and ego war rocking the troubled family. The awful picture is the same across the six geo-political zones. Unless these multiple crises are resolved, observers contend that perilous times are around the corner for the party.

    The Southwest chapter is at a crossroads. The reconciliation embarked upon by the Caretaker Committee led by Chief Ishola Filani has not restored peace and trust. The presence of a caretaker committee, instead of a democratically elected zonal leadership, shows that the zonal chapter is in a crisis. In the Northeast, local crises in Adamawa, Borno, Taraba and Bauchi states, triggered by the competition for the control of the branches by the big chieftains, have led to confusion.

    Also, in the Northwest, there is a crisis between the zonal leaders and the national chairman, Alhaji Bamanga Tukur. The camps loyal to some PDP governors from the populous zone have literarily passed a vote of no confidence on the national secretariat. In the Northcentral, top party leaders have been visiting havoc on the platform through the pursuit of inordinate ambition, ahead of 2015. In some of the state chapters there, the party is divided along the governorship interests of chieftains.

    In Sokoto State, for example, Governor Aliyu Wamakko and his deputy, Muktar Shagari, are divided over the succession plan. Shagari stepped down for Wamakko in 2011. Since the governor is not supporting him for the slot in 2015, cracks have appeared on the wall.

    The bitter struggle for the control of the party organs is also fierce among the party chieftains in the Southsouth and the Southeast. In the Southsouth, the President’s second term ambition is polarising the fold, despite being from the area. Unresolved party matters, including the politics of exclusion, winners take all and emasculation of opponents in intra-party squabbles, have bothered the founding fathers in the zone. Many party elders blame the scenario on the weakness of the national party leadership and the inability of the President to restore order into a state of pandemonium.

    Lagos

    The foundation of the Lagos PDP was laid by notable progressives and influential Lagosians. But since the pioneer chairman, Asiwaju Olorunfunmi Basorun, was shoved aside, the hawks have hijacked the leadership. The chapter has recorded the highest turnover of chairmen-Basorun, Alhaji Muritala Asorobi, Ajiroba Alaba Williams, Bayo Adebayo, Hon. Setonji Koshoedo and Capt. Tunji Shelle. Amid the persistent crises, many founding members have defected to the ruling party in the state.

    Many party chieftains believe that, since Commodore Olabode George (rtd) became the arrowhead, peace has deserted the chapter. Today, key party leaders are up in arms against the Board of Trustees (BoT) member. Recently, a leading chieftain, Dr. Yomi Finnih, reflected on the crisis in the chapter. He complained that George has aborted the efforts to unite the polarised chapter by taking unilateral steps considered infuriating to other party leaders. Others have accused him of imposition of governorship candidate in the last election and preventing a proper congress from holding at the ward, local government and state levels. In fact, Finnih called for the dissolution of the State Executive Committee, saying that the congress that produced the state leaders was flawed. Also, while the zone has endorsed the candidature of Prof. Olu Oladipo for the position of the Acting National Secretary, members alleged that George decided to back Dr. Remi Ibitoye for the same position. Today, the relationship between George’s supporters and other caucuses led by Senator Adeseye Ogunlewe, Senator Musiliu Obanikoro and Chief Rafiu Jafojo is frosty.

    Ogun

    Ogun PDP is another house of war. The State Executive Committee led by Adebayo Dayo, an engineer, does not have the support of former President Olusegun Obasanjo and his supporters. The former President had supported Senator Dipo Odujirin for hte chairmenship. Indeed, Obasanjo’s group has repeatedly shunned the activities of the party, since the court pronounced Dayo as the authentic chairman. The peace initiative by the chairman has been rebuffed. Recently, the supporters of former Governor Gbenga Daniel defected from the party to Labour Party (LP), from where they have been firing salvo to their former party. Efforts to reconcile Obasanjo camp and the state leadership not have yielded any positive result, despite President Jonathan’s peace moves and BoT Chairman Chief Tony Anenih’s reconciliation visit to the former President’s residence at Abeokuta. Reflecting on the crisis in the chapter, Dayo said that certain party elders in the state have refused to embrace reality, wondering why they should constitute themselves into local warlords at a time they should be playing the role of father figures and conscience of the party.

     Osun

    Since the ouster of Gen. Olagunsoye Oyinlola as the National Secretary, he has been bitter. He believed that certain PDP stalwarts were behind his ordeal. The crippled relationship between him and Senator Iyiola Omisore is also obvious. In the view of the former governor, the decision to field Prof. Oladipo as the new secretary was made in bad faith at a time he is still in the court to reclaim the seat. Also, the preparation for the 2015 elections has created division in the party. Apart from Omisore, other governorship contenders include Senator Olasunkanmi Akinlabi, Hon. Wole Oke, Chief Fatai Akinbade and Niyi Owolade. Since the allegation that Omisore may be imposed on the party, based on the consensus option, is rife, peace has left the chapter. A party elder, Senator Olu Alabi however, said in Lagos during the zonal meeting that the chapter is peaceful.

    Ekiti

    There are four camps in the Ekiti PDP revolving around the Police Affairs Minister Navy Capt. Caleb Olubolade, former Governors Ayo Fayose and Segun Oni, and Maganjuola Ogundipe, who is the chairman. The crisis escalated last year during the preparation for congresses. Fayose succeeded in installing the majority of the state executive committee members. A parallel executive supported by the camps opposed to him challenged Ogundipe to a duel. But when he fully gained control, crisis broke out between Ogundipe and his benefactor, Fayose.

    Also, since he was shoved aside from the National Executive Committee as the National Vice Chairman and Southwest leader, Oni and his supporters have been bitter against some party leaders from the state, who raised eyebrow that the zonal congress that produced him as the national secretary in Osogbo, the Osun State capital, violated the laid down rules. However, the bone of contention in the Ekiti PDP now is the preparation for the next year governorship election. A section of the party has embraced the proposed consensus option, but other members have insisted on party primaries. The opposing groups have clashed at the party secretariat. Many sustained injuries. The matter has not been resolved.

    Ondo

    The Ondo State chapter is like a wounded lion. Since the chapter lost power to the LP, the chieftains claimed that they have been left in the cold. To survive, some PDP members have gravitated towards the LP governor. Thus, during the last governorship election, they worked against the candidate, Chief Olusola Oke. The decision to disown Oke, a former National Legal Adviser, led to the factionalisation of the party during the electioneering. The candidate complained to the national secretariat, but no concrete step was taken to whip the pro-LP supporters in the PDP to line. Defending their action, they claimed that they were plotting the return of the governor to the PDP.

    Adamawa

    The internal feud in the Adamawa State PDP has polarised the party into two factions. At a time, there were two state executives. The Umaru Kugama group is loyal to Governor Murtala Nyako. But Chief Joel Hammanjoda Madaki executive was put in place by Bamanga Tukur who hails from Adamawa State.

    The fight over the control of the party, according to analysts is largely due to 2015. Who succeeds Nyako as the governor? Tukur’s son, is believed to be preparing ground for his son who is eyeing the seat. Governor Nyako has his own preferred candidate.

    Kugama executive was sacked by the court on the ground that the executive committee was constituted in breach of the paty’s constitution. However, Nyako loyalists insist that Kugama was duly elected to serve for a period. Their argument was premised on the fact that Kugama should not suffer for a wrong he had no hands in.

    Kugama has described the internal wrangling within the party as a fight over political bounties. He said Governor Nyako was just grappling with an age-long tradition of sharing state resources among the upper echelon after the political victory. “What the governor met on ground was ‘come let us chop’ kind of situation, but he said no, it must not continue,” he said.

    Amid of the controversy, the Tukur-led National Working Committee (NWC) suspended Kugama and a caretaker chairman, Damagun, was appointed after a controversial state congress, was conducted, leaving out the Nyako-led PDP in the cold. It was that congress that produced Madaki. The Tukur-led PDP NWC recognises Madaki-led executive in Adamawa State.

    The relationship between the two factions has become so irreconcilable that those loyal to Governor Nyako are already seeking alternative plans to join a vibrant opposition party ahead of 2015.

    Kano

    The leadership crisis is rocking the Kano State chapter of the PDP with the emergence of two factions, each challenging the legitimacy of the other. One of the factions is headed by Alhaji Adamu Aliyu Sumaila . The second called Garkuwa group, headed by a former Senator, Alhaji Aminu Inuwa is claiming to be authentic.

    Sumaila, who prides himself as the legitimate chairman of the party and leader of Kwankwasiyya PDP, said the activities of those parading themselves as factional leaders of the party was illegal as he warned them to recant their position and toe the ;line of the legitimate leadership of the party under his stewardship. He insisted that his council was legitimate stating “that a congress was held which heralded our emergence as leaders of our great party in Kano State”.

    But the spokesman of Garkuwa group Alhaji Sule Chamber described the congress as a Kangaroo gathering, saying that his group is challenging the state leadership because it lacks legitimacy.

    Sumaila responded that “all the Gakuwa group are doing is peddling lies and creating confusion in the state. He said those insinuating that they are recognised leaders of PDP in Kano state were the people that connived with the opposition parties in 2011 to frustrate the PDP. They hoped to see PDP downfall but they were disgraced. We can no longer trust them because they are sabotaging our efforts.

    He added that now that they and their co-partners have lost in the last election, they are fabricating all sorts of lies with a view to diverting the attention of real PDP supporters in the state.

    However, it was learnt that the national secretariat of PDP recognises the Garkuwa group. All federal appointments meant for Kano state are routed through the group. The Kwankwasiyya group loyal to Governor Musa Kwankwaso too is also claiming supremacy saying: “We are the real leaders recognised by the national secretariat and we are in control of the party in the state.”

    A reconciliation committee set up by the national chairman, Alhaji Bamanga Tukur to investigate the root cause(s) of the crisis and unite the warring factions had submitted its report. The report is yet to be made public let alone being implemented.

     Sokoto

    There is cold war between Governor Aliyu Wamakko and his deputy, Moukhtar Shagari, over the 2015 election. Shagari wants to step in as governor, having served as Wammakko’s deputy for eight years. But Wammakko is shopping for a candidate of his own. The disagreement over who will be the party flag bearer has polarised the PDP in Sokoto State. The Wamakko/Shagari face-off has brought to the front burner why governors do not want their deputies to succeed them. Are the deputies incompetent to govern or are the governors afraid that their deputies will expose them of certain ‘deals’ which the deputies were not part of? Unless this issue is resolved amicably before 2015, the crisis in the Sokoto PDP may likely affect the party and its electoral fortune in the state.

    Benue

    All is not well with the Benue chapter of the PDP. In Benue State, Governor Gabriel Suswan and Senator Bernabas Gamade are at war over their senatorial ambitions. The party has broken into factions at the local government level, ahead of 2015. The local governments congresses held recently were marred with violence instigated by different political groups within the party. For instance two persons were killed while the residence of the Chairman, Gwer local government was razed in a crisis that engulfed Aliade following a clash of rival political thugs at the PDP local government congress held in the area.

    The crisis broke out in the political volatile town when the result of the local government ward congress indicated that the camp of a serving commissioner in the state had taken the lead. The outcome of the process was however rejected by another faction led led by a federal legislator who alleged that the local government council chairman skewed the process to favour his political godfather.

    The PDP is not at peace with some of its governors in the north. At the centre of the crisis is the alleged desire of President Goodluck Jonathan to seek a second term on the one hand and the attempts by some people within the party to ensure that the presidency goes to other parts of the country in 2015.

    It is an open secret that the relationship between Jonathan and the five governors have been anything but cordial, especially since last May after the Nigerian Governors’ Forum election where the five governors allegedly backed the chairman of the NGF, Governor Rotimi Amaechi of Rivers State. The northern governors confronting the president are Muazu Babangida Aliyu (Niger), Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso (Kano), Aliyu Wamakko (Sokoto), Murtala Nyako (Adamawa) and Sule Lamido (Jigawa).

    Governor Aliyu had earlier disclosed that President Jonathan signed an agreement with the PDP northern governors that he would spend one term as a condition for endorsing him as party candidate in 2011. Jonathan denied signing such agreement. But Aliyu promised to make the agreement public at the appropriate time.

    Perhaps what really compounded the crisis was Jonathan’s continued recognition of David Jang as the NGF’s chairman thus rubbishing the claims by his aides that President had no hand in the NGF crisis.

    The aggrieved governors had held meetings with past military and civilian presidents asking them to intervene and prevail on Jonathan not to avoid taking stance that could truncate the nation’s democracy.

    At the meeting held with President Jonathan recently the five governors listed out three conditions for peace to reign in the country and within the PDP. They are asking the President to: Withdraw support to Governor Jonah Jang as the chairman of the NGF and confer recognition on the elected chairman and Rivers State Governor, Rotimi Amaechi; Sack the National Chairman of the PDP, Alhaji Bamanga Tukur, through the instrumentality of the coming special convention of the party and intervene in the crises in the Rivers’ chapter of the PDPand the House of Assembly, for a return of peace to the state.

    Weeks after the governors bared their minds at a secret meeting with the President in Aso Rock Villa, the President is yet to respond to the three demands put before him by the northern governors.

    Analysts told our correspondent that President would not address those issues because doing so would amount to victory for the five governors and the interest they represent.

    An indication that President Jonathan would not budge came when his Senior Special Assistant on Public Affairs, Dr Doyin Okupe, lashed out at the five governors for visiting Generals Babangida and Abubakar in Minna, accusing them of crying wolf and raising false alarm, where none existed.

    Making reference to the crisis in Rivers State, Okupe described it as a “local affair”, which does not have any repercussions on the nation’s polity as being feared by most watchers of the polity. He said: “These political moves, which are clearly intended to create fear, despair and apprehension among Nigerians are grossly unfounded, misplaced and a deliberate over sensationalisation of the situation.

    Rivers State

    In Rivers State, struggle for the soul of the party is between Gov- ernor Rotimi Amaechi and the Minister of State for Education, Chief Nyesom Wike.

    On April 15, an Abuja High Court presided over by Justice Ishaq Bello sacked the pro- Governor Amaechi state executive of the party led by Chief Godspower Ake. Justice Bello, in his ruling, approved the election of the pro- Wike faction led by Felix Obuah. In reaching the decision, the court, after assuming jurisdiction to entertain the suit, upheld the deposition of the chairman of Edo State PDP, Mr. Dan Orbih, who had averred that the result, which Chief Akeh was parading, never came from the Congress, which he conducted in Rivers State.

    The congress, which was conducted in February 2011, was disputed by Obuah, who claimed that he was the validly elected chairman and not Ake.

    In a swift move to put a nail on the coffin of the ousted Ake executive, the national leadership of the PDP responded to a court verdict, sacking the state executive committee and speedily inaugurating the new executive committee. The National Legal Adviser, Victor Kwom, who conducted the swearing-in ceremony in Abuja, said the PDP leadership decided to constitute the new state executive, having been served with a court order to that effect.

    It was learnt that the urgency in constituting the new executive was apparently to whittle down the influence of Governor Amaechi over the party structure in the state.

    Since then, the crisis in the state chapter has snowballed into a national issue, with five governors of the party from the North insisting that it has the potential of derailing the present democracy. Besides, loyalists in both camps have queued behind their warring ‘leaders’ in a no retreat, no surrender stance.

    Abia State

    In Abia State, the party is sitting on a keg of gun power. As it is now, discontent in the chapter is obvious. Going by the development in the party a volcano may erupt anytime.

    The return of the former Governor Chief Orji Uzor Kalu, to the party he left to form the Progressive Peoples Alliance (PPA) in 2007 caused an uproar in the state. Governor Theodore Orji led the three senators and House of Representatives members from the state to kick against Kalu’s return.

    The governor, the federal lawmakers and other party stakeholders warned the PDP leadership against the consequences of readmitting Kalu into the party. A protest letter by the group, under the banner of Abia PDP Stakeholders, was submitted to the PDP National Chairman, Alhaji Bamanga Tukur. The group explained that readmitting Kalu into the PDP would return the party to the battlefield.

    The group further warned that “if Chief Kalu is allowed to return, he would do so with his loyalists in the Progressive Peoples Alliance (PPA). Where and how will they be accommodated? If they attempt to dislodge the existing structures, which are a product of a harmonised agreement among major interest groups and prominent individuals in the state, a violent struggle for power will ensue.It was a similar struggle which caused the rift in Enugu State and eventually set the stage for the un-ceremonial exit of Dr. Okwesilieze Nwodo as national chairman.”

    The situation on ground now is that Kalu is claiming to be a PDP member while the governor is disputing that claim. But while it may be correct to say that the party is not factionalised in the state for now, the question of Kalu’s status in the party has all the capacity to provoke an internal crisis in the state.

    Anambra State

    In Anambra State, the crisis rock ing the party may eventually consume it in the November 16 governorship election, except, the party bows to the decision of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC). Both INEC and the PDP are in disagreement over who is the authentic chairman of the party in the state. While the commission has insisted that it will only work with Ejike Ogbubego and his committee, the party on the other hand, recognises Ken Emeakayi.

    The electoral umpire has no intention of bending backwards to accepting the wish of the party that it should recognise Emeakayi. In a letter dated August 11 and signed by U. F. Usman on behalf of its Secretary, INEC said it did not monitor the congress that threw up Emeakayi as the Chairman of PDP in the state; neither was it aware of any court judgment, which replaced Mr Ogbuebego with Emeakayi as being claimed, particularly, when the commission was not a party in the case.

    The letter was addressed to the Acting National Chairman of the PDP, Chibudom Nwuche because the National Chairman, Bamanga Tukur was said to be away in Saudi Arabia performing the lesser hajj.

    The party, perhaps to be sure of its status, had written a letter to the commission on July 31, asking it to relate with Mr Emeakayi as the chairman.

    The commission explained that it monitored the state congress of the PDP in Anambra State in 2010, which produced Emma Nweze as the chairman. INEC said that he later resigned the position, adding that it did not have any record of Mr Emeakayi’s emergence chairman. The commission also said that in March 2012, the PDP conducted another congress in Anambra. Ogbuebego was elected the chairman.

    The umpire said: “Both PDP and the Commission continued to accord recognition to Ejike Ogbuebego as the chairman of the party in Anambra State, until the Commission received the letter of the National Chairman on 31st July, 2013. The Commission notes with abhorrence, the deliberate concealment of the judgment of the Federal Capital Territory High Court delivered on 5th of July, 2012 in the suit between Emma Mbamalu and the Peoples Democratic Party by which the court declared the Ward, Local Government and State Congress held in March 2012 in Anambra State at which Ejike Ogbuebego emerged as State Chairman of PDP, Anambra State as null and void and ordered the PDP to conduct another congresses in Anambra State, though the Commission was not a party in the suit. “The revelation of the existence of the judgment by the PDP on July 31, 2013 has imposed serious constraints on both the commission and the party.

    This has pushed the PDP in the state back to the brink. It is left for it to find a way round this problem.

    Enugu

    The source of tension here is which zone should produce the next occupant of the Lion Building, as the Government House, Enugu is called, in 2015. Governor Sullivan Chime is insisting that, for equity and fairness, his successor should come from the Nsukka zone.

    Enugu North Senatorial district, dominated by the people of Nsukka Cultural zone, produced the first civilian governor Nwodo, in 1992. He did not however, serve out his four-year term as a result of the return of the military in 1993. Enugu-East zone, dominated by Nkanu people, produced the second elected governor in 1999, in the person of Dr Chimaroke Nnamani, when the country returned to the civil rule. In 2007, the position moved to Enugu-West zone, with Chime emerging as the governor in what appeared like a rotational arrangement.

    Apart from the fact that Enugu North is the only zone that is yet to hold the governorship position for at least four years, the zone also possess over 40 per cent of the voting population, according to the last national census figures. Nsukka zone is the only area among the three zones that has remained intact since the old Anambra State. The other two, which used to accommodate parts of Ebonyi State, have been split into four zones, with two of the zones located in the Enugu and Ebonyi states.

    At a town hall meeting in May, Governor Chime declared that PDP has already zoned the governorship to Enugu North. He advised politicians with governorship ambition from other zones to bury their aspirations.

    But soon after the campaign posters of Deputy Senate President Ike Ekweremadu appeared in Enugu, the state capital, and parts of the Nsukka zone. The sight of the posters raised concern among the people. The posters have since raised tension in the in political circles in the state. The tension is not because Ekweremadu is not qualified to contest the governorship position, it is because having him in the race could, in view of his elevated position, alter what is emerging as the zoning arrangement. Ekweremadu hails from Enugu West, the same zone with Chime. But his area, Aninri local government, has also complained that they are marginalised in the scheme of things in the state. How this will be resolved, especially as 2015 draws dangerously near, is left to be seen.

  • Endless crises, futile reconciliation

    Endless crises, futile reconciliation

    Reconciliation has never worked in the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). Following reconciliation, the party lords often sheathe their swords temporarily only to return to the battle field later with more aggression.

    ADP elder, Alhaji Lawal Kaita, said that reconciliation in the party has not achieved positive results because of hypocritical commitment. He acknowledged that the crisis in the party are self-inflicted.

    The All Progressives Congress (APC) chieftain, Prince Tony Momoh, said that peace has always eluded the party because of the inordinate ambition of leading members, who have turned the party into a personal property after edging out its founding fathers.

    He said: “The Peoples Democratic Party has many well meaning, mature, committed politicians that came together to form the party. I mean the likes of Chief Alex Ekweme, Solomon Lar, the late Abubakar Rimi and they meant well for Nigeria. They wanted to grow Nigeria; they had a programme of achieving this. The group that I am talking about included Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, but unfortunately, after 2003, those who inherited the structure distanced themselves from the programme.”

    He said they also invaded the electoral body, compromised the integrity of the courts and exercised unearned powers.

    Momoh added:“The previous arrangement or previous path of the People Democratic Movement (PDM) which was Yar’Adua’s party that Atiku inherited, was changed when Obasanjo had it deregistered. The PDM was the most organised group within the PDP. After Obasanjo return in 2003 when he had to kneel down to beg Atiku in the course of seeking re-election and how he later wage a war of attrition against Atiku and his loyalists. You can now see that between 1999 when we went back to civil rule, that journey was truncated through greed and corruption. PDP which has been the umbrella of such evil has been caught by the law of diminishing return. It is facing the problem which it cannot recover from”

    A political analyst, Mallam Moyo Jaji, corroborated the position of Momoh, he said: “The problem with the PDP has to do with the fact that it derailed from the objectives of the founding fathers of the party. Moreover, most of those who formed the party in one way or the other have been sent out of the party. There has not been internal democracy in the party. A good example is the Southwest, where Olusegun Obasanjo made the party his personal property and imposed people on the party.

    “The bad experience was not limited to the Southwest alone, it was replicated in the Southeast. We could see what happened to Chris Nigige in the hands of the Uba brothers, where he was kidnapped by the Deputy Inspector General of Police. There must be respect for equity, fairness and fair play for peace to reign this is now uncommon in the PDP”.

    Former National Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG) Secretary-General, Chief Frank Kokori said the PDP chieftains were scrambling for the national cake.

    “What is happening today is having a honey pot. When there is honey pot there is this crazy to grab and consume it. The PDP for now is very attractive and lucrative; it is the biggest business in the country now. It is the party everybody wants to be and because it is the ruling party, it is like a big business for those who want to get from the honey pot.

    “The 2015 is equally connected to the unfortunate development in the country. People want to grab power at all cost. So, 2015 is the main thing that has caused the country so much trouble and pain. That is why they are all struggling to reposition themselves. The whole country is looking toward PDP who are not thinking of the people themselves. The party is facing people largely because it is power drunk without thinking of the people who they should serve. They are not bothered with happenings in the country rather it is the amount of wealth they can accumulate to themselves is what that really matters”.

  • Tragedy of an octopus

    Tragedy of an octopus

    Matters are now complicated in the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) as its vast members unleash anger at its various levels of leadership. The crises tearing apart the warring chieftains are multi-dimensional. But, they have nothing to do with ideological revival because the party lack an ideological orientation. There is no evidence to prove that the various forces struggling for the soul of the party are not influenced by any commitment to the national interest. The goal, analysts argue, is personal survival.

    It is a tragedy that the supposedly successful party has failed to manage its controversial electoral achievements in five of the six geo-political zones. There is no place for gerontocratic monitoring. The founding fathers now take the back seat as the successors that they had installed through undemocratic method have shoved them aside from the sphere of influence.

    In the PDP, the doctrine of party supremacy is projected and party discipline is demanded by a party leadership that has failed to inspire trust and confidence among the members. Now, the motivation is 2015, or the second term ambition of the President. Governance, or the implementation of the transformation agenda, is secondary. Sometimes, the President is somehow above the party. It is because the platform has always paled into the personal property of the national leader, who shares the positions to loyalists in the fiefdom.

    The incessant national leadership crises, the breach of party rules and deviation from the vision of its founding fathers are at the root of the PDP’s slide. It is thus a big, yet unhealthy party, sustained, as the opposition has alleged, by monumental malpractices by its clever leaders who can fix victory at gunpoint.

    The foundation of any organisation is important. It may determine its future existence and survival. PDP may have derailed the day it gave a waiver to an outsider, who never won his ward and local government, as demanded by its rules, to become its presidential flag bearer. Henceforth, the activities of President continue to shape the trend of events in the party. At that point too, the journey to this difficult time begun.

  • Will Obasanjo give up on PDP?

    Will Obasanjo give up on PDP?

    Former President Olusegun Obasanjo recorded abysmal failure in his latest efforts at resolving the many troubles of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). In this piece, Associate Editor, Sam Egburonu, x-rays the former president’s attempts at saving the party, leading to speculations over his personal agenda, and wonders if the retired General would soon give up the fight?

    Former President, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, stepped out from the meeting in very low spirits. An Aso Rock staff, who caught a glimpse of the retired army general at the end of the stalemated meeting, said he has never seen him in recent time “so demoralised, so exasperated.”

    “Even his strong, unemotional face could not fully hide his anger or disappointment,” the staff added.

    That was on Tuesday night, August 13, 2013, after Obasanjo’s meeting failed to reconcile the governors of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), who have been divided over the leadership of Nigeria Governors Forum and other crucial issues within the party, ahead of 2015.

    Before the crucial Tuesday meeting, which held in Aso Rock, the seat of the federal government, the former president had, according to inside sources, taken it for granted he had finally resolved the crisis threatening the party.

    He based his assumption on some promises he allegedly got from the warring governors in some of the earlier meetings he held with them and some other stakeholders.

    “For example, after the meeting he held with the 23 PDP governors on Monday, Obasanjo was in high spirits. On Tuesday morning, he cited the openness of the governors at the meeting as a proof that the matter would be resolved that day.”

    So, the sharp disagreement on Tuesday night, was to Obasanjo, to the other leaders of PDP and to the presidency, most disturbing.

    The Nation learnt that the Presidency had reckoned on using the parley to ease out Rivers State’s Governor Rotimi Amaechi as the chairman of NGF. This project was considered a necessary prelude to the grand scheme of recapturing the party’s straying soul. So, the presidency was said to be elated by Obasanjo’s consensus candidate dummy, which, they said would require resignation of the contending parties to the chairmanship of NGF, Amaechi and Governor Jonah Jang of Plateau State, and then the installation of a neutral leader.

    But unimpressed by the argument of installing a consensus candidate “in the interest of peace and reconciliation,” Amaechi, who won the NGF election with 19 votes against Jang’s 16, refused to resign his position.

    For Obasanjo, who The Nation gathered may have a personal agenda of using the reconciliation process to regain control of the party ahead of 2015, it was a hard set back. A PDP national official in Abuja confirmed in confidence that the former president was not just involved in this project because of President Jonathan but also because of his special interest in the leadership and control of the party. “He and some of his associates are worried that PDP may be finally destroyed if they fail to resolve the current face-off between governors and Mr President. So, he considered this project as a personal task not just an assignment to help Mr. President,” the source said.

    Why Obasanjo?

    It would be recalled that this last effort was the second time the former Chairman of PDP Board of Trustees would undertake a failed bid to reconcile the governors with President Goodluck Jonathan.

    Also, since the founding fathers of PDP, like former vice- presidents, Dr. Alex Ekwueme and Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, lost control of the party to the then incumbent president, Olusegun Obasanjo, he (Obasanjo) and many of his followers and some elders of the party have continued to view him as the supreme leader. So, whenever there is a crisis, both at the national and state levels, he is usually invited by his followers to intervene.

    For example, five months ago, when the  crisis in the South-West chapter of the party was at its peak, Obasanjo had to hold a closed door reconciliation meeting with some leaders of the party in the zone at his Hilltop residence in Abeokuta.

    Although the reconciliation move was rather stillborn because of the curious absence of some key members who had the support of the party’s national secretariat, some observers insist it helped to moderate the crisis. Those in attendance at the four-hour meeting included Segun Oni, a former PDP National Vice-Chairman, South-West; Jubril Martins Kuye, a former Minister of State for Finance; and Sarafa Ishola, a former Minister for Mines and Steel Development and some others.

    Kuye had explained after the meeting that the development was part of the moves to reposition the party ahead of the 2015 General Elections. He said intra-party crises had caused a lot of setbacks to the party in the state, adding that it was necessary for elders of the party to come together and “mend broken fences,” to move the party forward.

    He added that “the former president is an embodiment of peace and a rallying point of the party both in the South-West and at the national level.”

    It was this point of view that has primarily facilitated the choice of Obasanjo. But critics of the former president said his involvement in the peace project is part of the major problems of the party.

    “This great party lost bearing the day Obasanjo, with the aide of associates like Chief Tony Anenih, pushed out the founding leaders in order to instal himself our monarch. That is the root cause of the PDP crisis. So, how can you expect success when you ask such a man to preside over reconciliation meetings? It won’t work because the man has his personal agenda,” said a PDP chieftain who begged not to be named.

    His personal agenda

    Although close associates of Obasanjo and some aides of the five northern governors, who first took the matter to Obasanjo, denied that the former president has any personal agenda in the current reconciliation moves, our investigation shows that Obasanjo, who has since begun preparations to protect his political interests during the 2015 elections, is desperate to take back the control of the party.

    When the late President Umar Yar’Adua and Dr. Goodluck Jonathan were to be voted into power, Obasanjo was in firm control of PDP. But he lost out completely after the emergence of Jonathan as President.

    The first official public confirmation of this fact was during the well publicised laying of the foundation stone of a mosque at the multi- million naira Olusegun Obasanjo Presidential Library (OOPL) complex. Although members of the National Assembly and top PDP chieftains attended the event, Jonathan shunned it and could not send a representative.

    The matter got worse when it was alleged that Jonathan had stopped picking Obasanjo’s calls and dipped further when Obasanjo himself became a major critic of Jonathan’s government.

    For example, both at local and international fora, he reportedly took a swipe at the Jonathan administration for wasting the country’s foreign reserve, put at about $35 billion in 2007. Obasanjo had been quoted a saying, “We left what we call excess crude, let’s build it for rainy day, up to $35 billion; within three years, the $35 billion disappeared. Whether the money disappeared or, like the governor said, it was shared, the fact remains that $35 billion disappeared from the foreign reserve I left behind in office. When we left that money, we thought we were leaving it for the rainy day… But my brother said the rain is not falling now. But the fact is that when the rain is falling, we will have nothing to cover our heads with because we have blown it off. The Chinese do not think that way.”

    As the relationship deteriorated to that level, Jonathan, who is a political godson of Obasanjo, also demonstrateda resolve to be his own lord. But because PDP’s very survival is now seriously threatened, the presidency has allegedly reconciled with Obasanjo and actually depended on him to help save the party. Insiders, however, said Obasanjo, who still feels rubbished, is bent on showing his political might in 2015.

    Another personal agenda Obasanjo may be pursuing, which has allegedly led to the failure of the peace moves, is the project of saving the National Chairman, Alhaji Bamanga Tukur. Ironically, while the opposing PDP governors see Tukur as the major problem of the reconciliation moves and are bent on his removal, Obasanjo’s loyalists see Tukur’s survival as non- negotiable.

    Can Obasanjo give up?

    Although Obasanjo told the governors at the end of Tuesday meeting that

    “the door is neither closed nor opened,” a top PDP source said on Friday that the former president is getting tired of the hard posture of all the stakeholders in the PDP crisis. “Unless the principal actors in the current face- off change tactics and agree to the spirit of give and take, I do not see Chief Obasanjo accepting to chair another peace meetings that everybody knows will crumble again. The way Baba spoke after the last moves indicate he my be getting pissed off with the whole intrigues. We should not be surprised if he chose to give up on the reconciliation path. As a general, he may, from now, prefer adoption of military tactics and that may mean anything for the party and the polity,” the official said.

    As the key actors of the PDP crisis return from the Abuja’s latest peace effort, observers are wondering what Obasanjo’s next step would be. Will he give up on PDP? The drama’s final curtain is yet to be drawn.

  • Delta 2015: Monye’s entry changes equation

    Delta 2015: Monye’s entry changes equation

    The uncertainty that has characterised the race for the Delta State government house in 2015 seems far from being over with the speculated interest of presidential aide, Professor Sylvester Monye, reports Remi Adelowo

    Delta State Governor, Dr. Emmanuel Uduaghan, seems to be in a fix of sorts.

    The dilemma of the medical doctor-turned-politician may not be unconnected to the schemings among leading political stakeholders and powerful interests within and outside the state to determine who succeeds him in 2015.

    In the last six months when political discussions in the state have centred on Uduaghan’s likely successor, the governor on his part has remained coy on the subject.

    Sources disclosed that so tactful has the governor been in discussing the issue that in both private and public functions, he has kept insisting that only God and the people of Delta State will determine his successor in 2015.

    With the vociferous agitation by Delta North senatorial zone (Anioma) that it is its turn to produce the next governor of the state, coupled with the increasing number of governorship aspirants from the other two senatorial zones, observers fear that the contest for the exalted position, particularly in the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) may turn out more acrimonious than imagined.

    At the last count, over 15 aspirants from across the three senatorial zones in the state have reportedly signified their interest to contest for the 2015 PDP governorship ticket.

    They include the Speaker of the state House of Assembly, Victor Ochei; Senator representing Delta North, Ifeanyi Okowa; former acting governor of the state, Sam Obi; Chief of Staff to Governor Uduaghan, member of the House of Representatives, Ndidi Elumelu and Festus Okunbor (Delta North).

    Making the list from Delta South where the incumbent governor hails from are the Minister for Niger Delta Affairs, Godsday Orubebe and former minister and businessman, Kenneth Gbagi.

    The new mega party, the All Progressives Congress (APC) is also not short of governorship hopefuls. Vice Chairman, Standard Alliance Group, O’tega Emerhor took not a few people by surprise when he announced his ambition via newspaper advertorials to rejoice over the emergence of APC. He hails from Delta Central.

    In the north senatorial zone, a retired Airforce sports and physical education instructor, Ben Williams, has also signalled his desire to vie for the APC ticket.

    And back to the intrigues in the PDP for the governorship ticket. A few weeks ago, news filtered out that the Special Adviser on Performance Monitoring and Evaluation to President Goodluck Jonathan, Professor Sylvester Monye, may have also thrown his hat into the ring.

    That his entry created quite some buzz within the Delta State political terrain was understandable.

    The heavyweights behind Monye

    The Nation reliably gathered that some prominent indigenes of Delta State of Anioma extraction are reportedly backing the governorship ambition of Monye.

    The Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, who hails from Ogwachi Uwku like Monye and former CEO, United Bank for Africa and now helmsman of Heirs Holdings, Tony Elumelu, have been mentioned as some of the powerful individuals rooting for the presidential aide.

    In the calculation of Monye’s backers, selling his candidacy to the president will not be too much of a problem, it was further learnt.

    This group, according to insiders, believes that the next governor Delta State needs is a proven technocrat who is not tied to the apron strings of the old order. Monye, it was argued, perfectly fits the bill.

    If the president succumbs to the pressure to back Monye’s aspiration, it is believed that the task of installing him as the next governor of the South South state is halfway accomplished.

    Can Delta North reach a consensus?

    Like in most states in the country where the issue of zoning of the governorship seat has taken the front burner, Delta State is not an exception.

    The unwritten zoning policy which favours the North senatorial district to produce Uduaghan’s successor may have informed the high number of aspirants from the zone, a development observers fear, may prove the achilles heels of the area to actualise this objective.

    Before Monye’s governorship ambition became public knowledge, the Delta North boasts of aspirants with the clout and resources to run a good race.

    Leading the pack was the youthful Speaker of the House of Assembly, Victor Ochei, an engineer; Okowa, who before his election as a senator was a former commissioner and Secretary to the State Government; Okunbor, a former Commissioner for Information during the administration of ex-Governor James Ibori and the current Chief of Staff.

    Before his current appointment, Okunbor served as the Deputy Director-General of the the governor’s campaign organisation, a position that reportedly brought about his close relationship with the governor.

    For Okowa, his supporters claim that he deserves to be chosen as the consensus governorship candidate of PDP from Delta North based on his political antecedents as a former local government chairman, commissioner, SSG and now senator. They are also quick to refer to his loyalty to the party, having stepped down for the current governor in 2007 despite reportedly winning the PDP governorship primaries.

    Ochei’s camp is also optimistic of his chances. A Fellow of the Nigeria Society of Engineers (NSE), the speaker who also boasts an MBA from the University of Benin, a degree in law from the University of Nigeria, Nsukka and certificates in leadership and goverance from Oxford and Havard Universities in the United Kingdom and United States respectively, has been busy holding consultations across the state on his speculated ambition.

    Within the governor’s camp, there are unconfirmed reports that he is favourably disposed to Okunbor’s aspiration. However, this notion was quickly dimissed by other sources who insist that the governor will throw his weight behing whoever emerges the candidate of the party.

    With the calibre of the aspirants from Delta North, observers say the earlier the zone sorts out the issue of the consensus candidate, the better for the zone, as aspirants from Delta Central and Delta South are waiting to catch in on the perceived disunity among the aspirants in the Delta North once the battle for the governorship race gets under way.

    Does Monye fit the bill?

    A greenhorn in politics, Monye is, however, a technocrat of high standing.

    Said to have attained his professorship in his late 30’s, the presidential adviser was a former Director of Marketing at the Nigeria Development Tourism Corporation (NDTC) during the tenure of Mrs. Omotayo Omotosho as the Director-General.

    He is also a former Permanent Secretary of the National Planning Commssion (NPC) and also currently serves as the Chairman of the Presidential Committee on Port Reforms.

    With the speculation that Monye may allegedly be imposed as the PDP 2015 governorship candidate gathering momentum, it remains to be seen how the party will navigate through the attendant crisis that will likely trail this decision.

  • Ekiti PDP: In search of elusive peace

    Ekiti PDP: In search of elusive peace

    The genesis:

    To keen observers, the crisis bedevilling the PDP in Ekiti State started when it lost the governorship seat to the Action Congress of Nigeria. From then on, the party lacked a clear leader.

    The composition of the executive

    This was the situation when the election into the state executive council was to take place. The jostling tendencies within the party saw this as an opportunity to affirm their supremacy. At this time, the major tendencies were those of former governor Segun Oni and those of former Governor Ayodele Fayose. During the election into the exco, a lot of intrigues played out. At the end of the day though, the Fayose group had the upper hand. Chief Makanjuola Ogundipe emerged the Chairman while Dr. Tope Aluko emerged the Secretary. Oni and his supporters lost out and had since then been asking that the executive council should be harmonised.

    The situation since then had been just manageable. The exco was doing its best to contain the various groups and to keep a united front. It was while this was going on that the race for 2014 entered a higher gear. Aspirants threw their hats in the ring immediately. As at the last count, there were at least 25 of such aspirants.

    As things were calming down and it seemed that there was going to be a competitive primary, tension was on the rise again as Engr. Segun Oni’s case at the Supreme Court was ripe for judgement. As May 31, 2013 beckoned, Engr. Oni’s supporters in the state had started a quiet celebration in anticipation of his ‘soon-to-be-declared victory’ by the Supreme Court.

    It would be recalled that the Court of Appeal sitting in Ilorin Kwara State had on October 15 2010 ruled that Kayode Fayemi was the legitimate winner of the 2007 election and the re-run election held in the state in 2009. The Court further directed that Fayemi be sworn in immediately.

    But dissatisfied with his removal and alleging that there was inappropriate communication between the President of the Court of Appeal and ACN chieftains, Oni had filed an appeal at the Supreme Court, alleging bias against the Appeal Court Justices that delivered the ruling.

    But Fayemi argued that the apex court had no jurisdiction to hear the case because it was a governorship election matter which litigation must end at the Appeal Court as the rule then was. The governor also stated that the allegation of bias against the justices was investigated by the National Judicial Council, which found them not guilty. The case, having dragged on for some time now, was finally ready for judgement with Friday, May 31, 2013 as the judgement day. The whole state waited with bated breath. Would Oni come back? Would he not? It was Oni’s last game.

    Then came the consensus arrangement and argument. The President, Dr. Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, who is the national leader of the PDP had suggested that because of the various bad blood that always flow after major election primaries, the party should adopt the consensus approach in picking its candidates in major elections.

    Only one or two aspirants, particularly Fayose were opposed to this presidential directive.

    The Ogundipe executive, working based on the support of the majority, was set to do the right thing. However, a visit to the secretariat of the PDP in Ikere Road by a serving minister in the state would change everything. After the visit, Ogundipe released a list of the consensus committee members.

    The list was perceived by some as containing mostly the names of supporters of the minister. Supporters of a former governor and anti-consensus aspirant were alleged to have overrun the secretariat while the chairman ran for cover.

    A faction of the exco led by Tope Aluko would later announce the suspension of Ogundipe. Ogundipe, on the other hand, would come back from Abuja where he temporarily sought refuge to also announce the suspension of Tope Aluko, Fayose and others.

    The national chairman of the PDP, Alh Bamanga Tukur, declared Fayose’s suspension null and void. The Southwest zone of the party held the same position. But rising from a hurriedly – called meeting same week, a group of 16 aspirants led by Caleb Olubolade declared support for the suspension of Fayose. They also supported the consensus arrangement.

    Some in the Group of 16 aspirants are privately regretting their action. They confided in their aides that they felt they have been used. According to them, the better thing to have done would have been to stand independently and take a stand like Sen. Gbenga Aluko and Hon. Bisi Omoyeni. Aluko was quoted recently by The Guardian of August 4, 2013, as stating that the consensus arrangement remains the better option for picking the candidate.

    He also urged the party leadership as represented by Ogundipe to wield the big stick against any aspirant whose activities undermine the authority of the President.

    The Way Forward

    Although the Seriake Dickson committee was said to have sent some people to Ado Ekiti to observe the sitting of the Executive Council in Ado, many PDP stakeholders in Ekiti believe peace is still a long way off for the Party. According to them, the serving minister is using his office to cause disharmony in the system. Although he wanted to be governor, he has refused to relinquish his seat at the FEC to give another Ekiti son or daughter the opportunity to serve. Yet he has not used his office to benefit Ekiti State in any way.

    •Atere writes from Ado Ekiti

  • 2015: The new calculations, permutations

    In another one year, perhaps, a fuller picture of what to expect at the polls in 2015 would emerge. At the moment, the jostling has started. First, it was the emergence of irreconcilable differences among the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) chieftains. Since the party was founded in 1999 and helped to power by the ruling military faction of the power elite, it has known no peace. The contraption had threatened to unscramble at every opportunity. As an agglomeration of fragments, the specks are beginning to fly about again.

    But, this is not about the PDP and its shenanigans. It is about the Nigerian political landscape. The All Progressives Congress (APC) is now registered. And, with that, the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP) and Congress for Progressive Change (CPC), have ceased to exist as political entities. This is a major development that could become a game-changer.

    Then, just before going to press, there was the news that the old Yar’Adua political machine had started gathering and could soon seek registration. Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has confirmed this and hinted that those who put it together were indeed his political associates. Could that be a hint of the direction Atiku may be moving in the months ahead? It is an indication that the political system in 2015 could be characterized by two or three parties.

    The on-going court battle on the limits of the power of the electoral commission in relation to registration or deregistration of political parties and another possible contest of the commission’s power to regulate the political parties, candidates and parties may further determine how well the elections are conducted and the influence of political players on the system.

    Tepid meetings are already being held towards determining who holds what post and what platforms are available for hire or genuine prosecution of ambitions. Have Nigerian opposition leaders learnt enough lessons after 14 years of the Fourth Republic ? Have they realised that there is wisdom in the saying that there is strength in unity?

    A study of the political scene across Africa shows that opposition parties have only succeeded in making strong impacts in states where the race has been narrowed to two political parties or alliances. In 2007, when the All Peoples Congress (APC) sought to dethrone the ruling Sierra-Leone Peoples Party (SLPP), it had to position itself as a credible alternative. Four years earlier, when the APC’s Bai Koroma tested his strength against the incumbent President Tejan-Kabbah, he fell flat. In 2007, APC had perfected its act. Vice President Solomon Berewa moved up the ladder as the ruling party’s official candidate. No winner emerged on the first ballot, but, in the run-off, Koroma won with 55 per cent of the votes to SLPP’s 45. A third party, the Peoples Movement for Democratic Change mopped up 14 per cent of the votes. None of the others could muster two per cent. The political scene was thus redesigned. Four years later, the APC had consolidated its hold on power, but the SLPP retained its relevance. While the APC won at the first ballot with almost 59 per cent of the votes, the SLPP retained the confidence of 37 per cent. The PMDC was the clear loser as people were not willing to sit on the fence. Many of those who had support it in 2007 crossed over to APC’s side with PMDC managing to hold on to only one per cent of the electorate.

    The Kenyan example is not much different. A fractured opposition lost to a rampaging ruling party when multi-party democracy was introduced for the first time in 1992. However, ten years later, the opposition had learnt its lesson, with Mwai Kibaki presented as flag bearer in the 2002 presidential election, the candidate of the ruling Kenyan African National Union (KANU), Uhuru Kenyatta, was narrowly defeated. Kibaki had 50.51 of the votes to Kenyatta’s 43.70 per cent. A distant third candidate, Musala Mudavadi managed to scoop only about four per cent of the votes. Kibaki realized that the country was sharply divided and responded to the situation by forming a Government of National Unity. The experience in B enin Republic and Congo Democratic Republic is not much different.

    It is too early now to say how things would turn out in 2015. Would it be a two-cornered or three-cornered fight? Can the allies hold on to the very end? Would the ruling party finally implode before the next general elections? How bitter is the North and what is it up to this time? Who would make the critical concession in the bid to wrest power from the ruling PDP?

    Honestly, for now, without the support of an octopus or a crystal ball, I cannot manage to answer any of the questions, let alone all. I remain a keen watcher of developments on the scene.

  • Anambra 2013: Is Ubah Obi’s nightmare?

    Anambra 2013: Is Ubah Obi’s nightmare?

    There is no doubt that it would be a Herculean task wrestling the Ananbra State governorship seat from whomsoever Mr. Peter Obi decides to support in the November 2013 governorship election in the state. This has to do with the awesome “power of incumbency” at the disposal of Obi as the sitting governor of Anambra State. In Nigeria, “power of incumbency” has, unfortunately, come to mean the ability of a sitting president or governor to manipulate state institutions (electoral and security) to rig elections.

    The story is there in the streets that the powers-that-be in Anambra State may deploy the state resources at their disposal to influence electoral and security institutions to do their bidding in the November 2013 governorship election.

    It is equally believed, rightly or wrongly, that Obi, as an ardent supporter of Mr. President in the Southeast geo-political zone, may manipulate the services of the police, which in normal times behave as if the loyalty of their men is to a sitting president rather than the nation, to achieve his intended goal of anointing his successor to the seat of Government House Awka. Of course, whether these political god-fathers will succeed in their alleged grand design for the November 2013 governorship election will depend on whether the people will allow them manipulate the state institutions and resources to determine the outcome of the forthcoming electoral contest.

    However, it seems the main obstacle to the realisation of the gubernatorial ambition of whomsoever becomes the anointed candidate of Mr. Peter Obi in the 2013 gubernatorial election in Anambra State is the publicly declared interest of Mr. Ifeanyi Ubah, the Chairman of  Capital Oil & Gas Industries Ltd, in the race. This is because most people resident in Anambra State believe that  Ubah is the candidate to beat in the electoral contest. They hinge their position on a recent development where almost all the members of the Anambra State House of Assembly, most traditional rulers, presidents- general of town unions, including the main influential stakeholders in the affairs of Anambra State that cut across political persuasions, abandoned a state-sponsored tree-planting exercise by Obi to attend the wedding ceremony of Ubah’s younger sister in far away Lagos. Other reasons why the most important stakeholders in the politics of Anambra State snubbed  Obi, a sitting governor, are not far-fetched.

    Most women in Anambra State who are likely to vote in the election are said to be rooting for Ubah because his Kero-Direct Scheme ensures they buy kerosene at the subsidised price of N50 per litre. Majority of Okada and Keke NAPEP transporters are said to be behind Ubah because he has been supplying them free fuel for their business concerns every Monday of the week for the last five years. In fact, traders, who arguably constitute the largest segment of the voting population in Anambra State, see Ubah as their unassailable choice for the tenancy of the Government House, Awka, in 2014, because of the many life-saving assistance and philanthropic gestures he has extended to them over the years.

    Now, if these traders, women, students, artisans, farmers, transporters, etc, chose to defy Obi during the governorship election, could they be a grimmer nightmare?

    As a matter of fact, most people (teachers, professionals, workers, etc) are said to see Ubah as the only man with the demonstrated capacity to embark on the industrialisation of Anambra State, as well as developing its crude oil resources for the employment and empowerment of the teeming idle hands in the state’s labour market.

    Interestingly, the living representative of the late Eze Gburugburu of Ndi-Igbo, Emeka Ojukwu Jnr, has this to say about Ifeanyi Ubah : “I see in Ifeanyi Ubah, hope for Anambra State. To have an idea of what a man is capable of doing, one has to look at his antecedents. This is a man who, by any measure, has been immensely successful in business, a man who is a philanthropist and a man, who has dedicated himself to addressing the needs of the downtrodden.

    With living testimonies on how sitting governors rig elections for their anointed candidates at the disposal of the teeming masses of Anambra State, it may well-nigh be difficult for Obi to stream-roll his preferred candidate in the election into Government House, Awka.

    In fact, with the determination of many civil society organisations to discreetly monitor the activities of INEC, the police, SSS, Peter Obi’s government functionaries, including the judiciary, to ensure that no rigging takes place during the November 2013 governorship election in Anambra State, it is clear to all and sundry that any annointee of Governor Obi will depend only on the people’s votes to win or loose. This being the case, such an aspirant will only be a non starter in the presence of grassroots philanthropist like Ubah.

    – Mr. Nkemjika is a research writer and media consultant.

  • Reconciliation possible in Governors Forum – Orji

    Reconciliation possible in Governors Forum – Orji

    Governor Theodore Orji of Abia State was one of the governors embroiled in the recent crisis that has torn the Governors Forum apart. Taiwo Ogundipe, Associate Editor and Okwy Iroegbu, Assistant Editor, took him up on this and other issues.

    The recent Governors Forum’s election seems to have polarised the nation’s body polity. Some believe it portends danger for the general elections in 2015. Some observers are saying that people like you who had been pushing the idea of consensus selection should not have taken part in the election that eventually led to the dispute. What does this portend for 2015?

    The point about the issue of the Governors Forum is that we’ve always had consensus candidates. Can you mention to me since the inception of the Governors Forum any one chairman that had emerged by election? It has been concession all along and that is the tradition we wanted to maintain rather than people just emerging from nowhere to spoil the tradition. If it has been concession all along and the Governors Forum has been doing well, why should some people insist there should be election?

    But your faction should have opted out if you strongly believed that?

    We didn’t vote. Go and look into the process of voting they’ve been touting. It’s been concession all along. Anything outside concession is not acceptable to us.

    Is there a possibility of reconciliation?

    Of course, this is politics. Anything is possible. We can work at reconciliation.

    Some observers are of the opinion that the emergence of the APC is a threat to your party, the PDP?

    No, they cannot be a threat to PDP. It’s even the PDP that is a threat to them. APC is coming together as a conglomeration of parties to tackle the PDP because they are afraid of us.

    Are you aware that their coming together makes them bigger?

    Why are they coming together when the constitution allows for many parties? PDP is stronger and will always defeat them in elections. No matter how many of them come together, they will be no match to the PDP.

    Your predecessor in office, Orji Uzor Kalu, has persistently berated your government, what is your response to all of that?

    I’m not interested in what he has been saying or what he would say. I mind my business. He can be saying anything to you people and you believe him. I cannot be interested in what he says. My business is to govern Abia very well and that is what I’m doing.

    Now that you are talking about business, some of your critics believe it is a failure on the part of your government to have allowed a number of the major industries in the state, especially Golden Guinea Breweries and Modern Ceramics to remain moribund till date? What is your reaction to this?

    Modern Ceramics Industry was ceded to the Catholic Church through their business arm known as UCL Resources and Investments Ltd. The state government went into partnership with them to revive the ailing industry. They, at a point, started production but I think they are experiencing some hitches now. Regarding the Golden Guinea Breweries, we are making progress. We have an investor now. What delayed him before now was lack of funds but thankfully he has gotten money and he is Germany bound to get new machines as the machines there are out of use. He wants to replace all the machines. Before 2015, the brewery, one of the legacies left behind by Michael Okpara as the pride of Umuahia in particular and Eastern Nigeria in general, will come back to life. They used to have some popular brands such as Bergerdoff and Eagle Stout. The investor will invest his money and also recoup it in his time.

    Some are of the opinion that you have not paid due attention to the business-minded people of Aba. What is your government doing to encourage the SMEs in Aba?

    Aba is very important to us. It’s only in that town that you will not find somebody who is not unemployed. Every person in the city is in employment. It’s either you are an artisan, trader or you are learning a trade, even the civil servant finds time to try his hand in one business or the other. We are getting more markets for them. For instance, a company known as ABIC is building more markets for them just behind Osisioma Motor Park. There is another market springing up in Ukwa West very close to Aba for wholesale goods, for packaging and exporting. We are also organising them into small cooperatives to enable them access money to help themselves. From time to time, experts are brought in to brush them up on their technique in manufacturing. They are doing very well. What we are concerned with is the brands. We want to ensure that what is made here is as good as in any other place. We are sensitising people to know that what comes from Aba is as good as what comes from Germany and Hong Kong. Our strategy or goal is to proudly say that this product is made in Aba. In Aba, you find experts in wears, leather shoes and bags. We want to expand the town and make the groups of business people into clusters to move the state forward industrially. It’s just like what we have done in the state capital, Umuahia. Our aim is to build industrial towns.

    In spite of these claims, some people still seem to be sceptical of your intentions. How do you want to get them to believe that you mean well for them?

    We are building new markets outside Aba. And by so doing, we are expanding their operational bases. If the one in Osisioma takes off, a lot of people will move from Ariara to that place. And they will form a cluster and build houses around the area. And that is the same thing we are doing in Ukwa and Umuahia to expand the markets . In Umuahia we have built industrial market away from the city. And the place is experiencing real development. We are about relocating the market at the centre of the town on the way to Isuikwuato. And the idea is to drive real development which we are already achieving.

    In Nigeria, people believe a government is performing when they see roads and bridges being constructed. A number of people are agitating that there are no roads being constructed in the state generally. What is your reaction to this?

    It is a fallacy for some people to say that we have not constructed roads in the state. We have done roads in all the senatorial zones; we took it as a policy that every local government must feel our touch. For instance, in Isuikwuato Local Government, we are doing over five major roads. We are doing the Acha Road from Isuikwuato to Afikpo with about three bridges. We took up the contract with the Nigerian Army but we are funding it. We did the Nunya Road. NDDC though is also doing some roads. In Aba, we are doing almost all the roads. In December last year, l gave out contracts for 18 roads to be done, by February, we realised 10 of them. Currently, we have realised all of them. We also did a new road leading into Geometrics where you have the power plant. For us, road construction in Abia is normal and we don’t celebrate it. In any case, building roads is not a legacy project. When I’m talking of legacy projects, I don’t bring in road construction because it is given. We believe in constructing roads where it never existed before. In Umuahia Local Government, for instance, there is a place we call Amaege. The people had never seen a caterpillar before. People used to leave their cars at a distance to walk to the place and its environs. We have built a road for them. We build roads that are essential but neglected.

    How far have you gone with your much-publicised legacy projects? Are you experiencing challenges or success?

    We are doing well with the legacy projects. I’m sure you know why we name them legacy projects? They are projects that will stand the test of time, such as the Secretariat. The first phase is almost completed. The High Court complex is almost ready. We commissioned the Ministry of Justice building a few weeks. The Government House is progressing very well. The International Conference Centre is 80 per cent completed. Our e-Library has reached advanced stage. We are also doing a secretariat for the Ministry of Local Government and Chieftancy Affairs where the traditional chiefs will be accommodated. The governor’s residence has reached an advanced stage.

    What efforts are you making to increase the IGR of the State?

    We are doing very well in terms of our IGR. Our IGR started from N250 million and now it has gone up and we are still working on a further increase.

    Have you not thought of raising bonds like some other state governments are doing?

    I don’t believe in leaving a burden for the person coming after me.

    The issue of ‘baby factories’ is bringing the state into the news in recent times. What steps have you taken to arrest the ugly trend?

    We have taken serious steps to contain the situation. The truth is that where these ‘baby factories’ are germinating now are those cosmopolitan areas like Aba and the environs. When kidnapping started, it was around that area also. The same thing that is also happening now is one of the challenges of urbanisation. Our strategy is to ensure that it is stopped because it is not good for our image.