UNTIL it suffered a huge loss in the last general elections, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) prided itself as the biggest party in Africa. It may be so, but its size was and is still not a measure of its popularity. It is only big in name and not in ideology. PDP is a party of anything goes, with members more interested in themselves than in the country. The problem of PDP is leadership, which it brought upon itself. The party was founded by some great minds, even though they did not share the same ideology.
The circumstances of the time brought these political tacticians together long before 1998 when former Head of State Gen Abdulsalami Abubakar threw the political space open. Years before Abdulsalami came to power, the late Gen Sani Abacha, who he succeeded, had held the country in a vice-grip. The late Abacha was a mean dictator, who did everything to make life miserable for Nigerians. Rather than challenge him, many of our politicians went to bed with him.
Those who challenged him were few and far between. They were the lone voices in the wilderness. It was a costly venture challenging the late Abacha; so it was better, those lily-livered politicians thought to dine with him with a long spoon. So, when the late Abacha lifted the ban on politics after crudely shoving the late Chief M.K.O Abiola into jail, our politicians began to dance tango instead of coming out boldly to participate in the process.
Except for one or two politicians – the late M.D.Yusufu and Lawan Gambo – no other came out to challenge the late Abacha, who was rumoured to be harbouring plans of transmuting to civilian president. The action of the then parties lent credence to this claim. They all adopted the late Abacha as their presidential candidate. He would have emerged unopposed for the exalted post if he had not died suddenly. The late Abacha and those politicians would have had their way if not for divine intervention. They had everything going for them until the unexpected happened and their plan fell flat on its face.
Abacha’s death on June 7, 1998 loosened the mouths of those politicians, who never saw anything bad in him when he was alive. We know those politicians and their roles then. They are still playing this role of going with any government in power no matter how bad that government may be. But the politicians with the love of their country at heart, who took on the late Abacha and envisaged a better future for Nigeria beyond him, never for once allowed him to rest. The late Abacha too gave it back to these politicians, but they were undeterred.
These politicians were the brains behind today’s PDP; they went through hell in the hands of the late Abacha and his security goons for daring to stand up to the dictator and provide an alternative voice for the people. As far back as 1997, these politicians had seen that the ship of state was tottering and so came together to salvage it. It all began with the All Politicians’ Summit convened in 1997 by former Vice President Alex Ekwueme. The summit was disrupted by security men.
Ekwueme and his associates were not deterred; they saw that as a temporary setback. In no time, the group of 18 (G18) emerged, with Ekwueme as its leader. Members of the group did not share political ideologies. Some were progressives and some were conservatives, but they had a common cause – to form a party that will meet the yearnings of the people. Following further consultations, the group increased to 34 (G34). On August 13, 1998, it formed the Peoples Democratic Party. With the exception of the late Solomon Lar, Chief Audu Ogbeh and Senator Barnabas Gemade, who were PDP chairman at one time or the other, no other member of the original G34 ever held that position in the party.
The founding fathers of the party have since been sidelined, leaving it in the hands of those, who know next to nothing about its ideals. The party’s loss in the last elections exposed so many things about PDP, which incidentally was founded by great minds. The PDP has only been PDP in the past 16 years because it is in power. It is not being run as a party, which should evolve policies, plans and programmes for the government. The party’s founders never expected that things would turn out this way. Their plan was to make the party the envy of others in the country and on the continent.
Those that hijacked the party from them do not seem to share this ideal. This is why PDP is where it is today. With its loss has come the blame game. The party is blaming the Presidential Campaign Council (PCC) of causing President Goodluck Jonathan’s defeat in the election because of the hate campaign spearheaded by his wife Dame Patience, the rabble rousing Femi Fani-Kayode, the garrulous Ayo Fayose and the loud mouthed Doyin Okupe, among others. Where was the party when they were doing this? What did it do to stop them? If it had won the elections, would it be whining like this? What all this shows that PDP is not organised. If it is, the PCC would not have seized the presidential campaign from the party.
The PCC should have taken directives from the party and not the other way round. If the party left the initiative to PCC for fear of offending the president, that is its cup of tea. It should bury its head in shame for not living up to being a party in the true sense of the word. A party which dances to the tune of any of its organs is not a party and that is not the kind of party that should lead our country. What the PDP should do now is to return to the drawing table and see how it can revive the dream of its founding fathers because therein lies the way to its being that great party, which those running it now so much wish it would become.
But with the squabbling in the party over its loss in the last elections, can PDP bounce back and redeem itself? Time will tell.