The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has announced Tuesday, January 8, as the date for the emergence of a new chairman of its Board of Trustees. In this report, AUGUSTINE AVWODE and JEREMIAH OKE examine the challenges the next chairman would contend with and the leading aspirants for the post.
The rather frenetic dimension which the race for the chairmanship of the Board of Trustees (BoT) of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has assumed seems to have taken many by surprise. It underscores a party’s frantic search for its conscience. The Board, according to the PDP Constitution, is saddled with the task of serving as “the conscience” of the party.
Article 12.80(a) of the Constitution says, the Board of Trustees shall: “Ensure highest standards of morality in all the activities of the party by acting as the conscience of the party, with power to call to order any officer of the party whose conduct falls below the norms”.
Besides, in Section 12.80 (b-i) the Board is further charged to “ensure high morale of members of the party and that the party enjoys a good image before the Nigerian populace and is in good political health; harmonize, co-ordinate, review and advice on policies, programmes and activities of the party at the national level; coordinate the sourcing of party funds; be vested with the assets of the party and shall serve as custodians of such assets; mediate in disputes between the executive and legislative arms of government”, among others.
These may be the stated roles, but, as a result of the opersonalities of the former holders of the office, it has been more involved in the critical aspects of running the party which are ordinarily reserved for the National Executive Committee (NEC) and the National Working Committee. Both the chairman and the secretary are members of the NEC.
The Board, some members have pointed out, has miserably failed to live up to expectation since inception in 1999 till April this year when former President Olusegun Obasanjo suddenly resigned from its chairmanship.
The BoT was expected to wade into the crisis of confidence that rocked the party after the July 10, 2003abduction of a sitting governors elected on its platform in Anambra State. The inexplicable development was traced to a faction of the rulling party. Curiously, the Federal Government controlled by the party and other national organs of the party all watched helplessly. The BoT could not rally efforts to save the party from the fallout.
Literary icon, Professor Chinua Achebe was to cite that singular incidence as one of the reasons for rejecting a national honour Obasanjo was to confer on him, saying: “I have watched events in Nigeria with alarm and dismay. I have watched particularly the chaos in my own state of Anambra where a small clique of renegades, openly boasting its connections in high places, seems determined to turn my homeland into a bankrupt and lawless fiefdom. I am appalled by the brazenness of this clique and the silence, if not connivance, of the Presidency…”
It was just one of the many low sides of a party that has had the good fortune of ruling the country since the inception of the Fourth Republic, but has increasingly failed to demonstrate the capacity to grow the goodwill of Nigerians into a formidable asset through performance and increased popularity among the citizenry.
The party has lived with alleged impunity, abuse of procedure and imposition of candidates and outright disregard for internal democracy. When the Supreme Court ruled in 2007 that Senator Ifeanyi Araraume was the duly nominated gubernatorial candidate of the party in Imo State, the party found it convenient to circumvent that ruling by not filling any candidate. It was yet another blight on the conscience of the party.
The party was hit with a gale of high profile defections, especially as the 2007 elections approached. Besides, almost all state chapters were enmeshed in factional fighting. The party is yet to fully recover from these twin problems. And the 2011 election proved to be even more divisive for the party on account of its zoning policy. While a section of the party believes that the North should produce its presidential candidate, another section hold that it could not apply given the circumstances of the 2011 election. The animosity generated within the party is still haunting it today. Little wonder, national chairman Alhaji Bamanga Tukur made reconciliation a major point of his campaign and he has pursued it with much zest. This is the setting for the contest at hand.
Crowded field
Already, as many as 20 aspirants have been confirmed as having indicated interest in the job. Whoever emerges is expected to reposition the party and work with other organs to ensure that the party’s image in polished.
From 1999, the PDP has had three BoT chairmen. They are former vice president, Dr Alex Ifeanyichukwu Ekwueme who held the office from 1999 to 2003. He was succeeded by Chief Tony Anenih between 2003 and 2007 while a former president Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, became the chairman in 2007 after he completed his tenure as the president. He assumed office in controversial circumstances following the amendment of the Constitution to make provision for only former presidents produced by the party to be the BoT chairman. But perhaps because of the unpopular nature of that piece of provision, it has been amended to throw the position of the chairman open to all members of the Board.
In a telephone interview, the National Publicity Secretary of the party Chief Olisa Metuh said the party’s constitution had been amended to accommodate other members of the Board to take part in the election of its Chairman.
Metuh explained that the development is to make room for participation by people who could take the party to the next level.
Another member of the party who spoke with our correspondent on phone is the Director of the Organization of the party in Ogun State, Segun Sowunmi, who said the constitution was amended to accommodate others because the number of those who are the past presidents is very few and the party does not want the few people to be rotating the office between themselves.
His words:, “the PDP constitution has been amended. It gives room to other members to contest because people who are former presidents are very few and we don’t want few people to occupy the office for so long. We need to throw it open so that credible and dignifying people will also emerge as the BoT chairman”.
Sowunmi said : “The position of BoT is a very high and sensitive one in our party, no one can say the number of the people vying for the position for now, but I know the leaders of the party will choose a candidate who has the credentials, comportment, integrity, and quality to act in capacity of the BoT chairman. It is someone who has the experience and the exposure who can act effectively in the office. We are living that for our leaders to handle because the former president Obasanjo, National chairman of the party Bamanga Tukur, President Goodluck Jonathan and other leaders across the country in the party are well experienced to determine that.”
The board is designed to reflect all the segments of the Nigerian community at the highest echelon of the party, and is made up of all past and serving Presidents and Vice Presidents who held or hold the respective posts as members of the party and who are still members of the party.
Also, serving national chairmen, deputy national chairmen and national secretaries who are still members of the party are qualified to be members.
All past and serving Presidents of the Senate and Speakers of the House of Representatives who are still members of the party; two women selected from each of the six geo-political zones; three members, at least one of whom shall be a woman from each of the six geo-political zones; and person(s) not exceeding six, who have contributed immensely to the growth of the party and found suitable by the Board. Importantly, the membership of the Board must reflect the federal character of Nigeria. It is out of these high calibre people, who must not be less than 50 years of age, that one of them would be crowned on January 8.
As at the time of writing this report, the front runners for the race were former Senate President Ken Nnamani; former Minister of Works, Chief Anthony Anenih, who is making a come back bid; former PDP National Chairman Dr. Ahmadu Ali; former chairman of the All Nigeria People’s Party (ANPP) Board of Trustees (BoT) Chief Harry Akande; former PDP Deputy National Chairman, Alhaji Shuaib Oyedokun, and PDP chieftain, Chief Emmanuel Iwanyanwu.
The aspirants, it was learnt, have begun to intensify efforts at various levels to seek the support of the party’s gladiators. Some of them have crisscrossed the entire 36 states, taking their campaigns to the 120 members of the Board ahead of the January 8, contest.
Expectations
Whoever emerges as the chairman is expected to play a crucial role in stabilising the party in one form or another, especially as the politics of 2015 general election is increasingly coming into focus.
Resolving the contentious zoning formula in a manner that it will not generate the type of bad blood as it did in the last general election will most likely be one area where the Board will be needed most. Besides, bringing a kind of lasting settlement to many state chapters that are plagued currently by factional crisis is another. Ensuring that the party obeys its rules and discard the infamous culture of imposition of candidate, a move that is sure to endear the party to its faithful is also imperative.
Speaking to The Nation on Thursday, a chieftain of the party who craved anonymity, said there is a lot of challenges which the incoming Chairman of the BoT must rise up to. The party man who also doubles as an arrow head of Anioma Agenda, a group committed to the realisation of a governor of Anioma extraction in Delta State come 2015, listed ensuring ‘equity and fairness’ through the sustenance of the zoning policy as number one.
“I tell you, my brother, the incoming chairman of the BoT has a big challenge. He must completely support the national executive committee to ensure that the party continues to uphold the policy of zoning. As far as we in Anioma are concerned, nothing is more important that ensuring equity, fairness and justice. The state belongs to all of us, and we must be made to feel a sense of belonging by producing the governor for the first time in 2015. PDP is the ruling party in Delta State.
“There are other states, too, where PDP is the ruling party like Benue, Kogi, Cross River and others where some people are agonizing over the inability of their kinsmen to aspire to the number one seat in the state. It is not fair, it is not just. The cases in Kogi, Benue and Delta are particularly serious.”
He added that the next challenge would be how to ensure that the image of the party is polished in the mind of Nigerians. He conceded that while many people are willing to identify with the party, the perception that most of the states controlled by the party are not performing optimally and often associated with mind boggling cases of corruption has mad it impossible for people to talk good of the party.
“The leadership of our great party must know that people like this party but the image in their mind is no longer what it used to be. Why? Only few of the states controlled by the party are performing in terms of the provision of the dividends of democracy. And you also hear of big amounts involved in cases of corruption, fraud and economic crime against the people. These are some of the things the chairman that would be elected must help the national chairman to achieve.
“I also hope that he would help the party to realise the reconciliation that has begun in the party. You recently heard that some people are against the return of some people in their state and all that, well, these were the things that happened and characterised the party before now. Things must change. The party must not fail Nigerians because if we fail generations unborn will not forgive us”, he said.
The aspirants
Chief Tony Anenih
He had held the post before. A former minister for works, he is an experienced politician who is often credited with being able to do the seeming impossible. It is for this acclaimed ability to always deliver that he is called Mr Fix It. Anenih has held many high profile political appointments and has remained relevant in the corridors of power since the days of the late maximum dictator, General Sani Abacha. He joined People’s Democratic Party (PDP) in 1999 and was among the Presidential Policy Advisory Committee, 1999.
Ahmadu Adah Ali
Since 1999, he has been a member of the party. He served as a special assistant on South- South cooperation, (G77) and was appointed to head the University of Nigeria Teaching Hospital Board. In 2002, he was a campaign coordinator, North Central for the Obasanjo/Atiku re-election campaign. He was elected chairman of the party in 2005 as a replacement for Chief Audu Ogbeh. Though, Ali himself contested the chairmanship in 1999, but was beaten by Barnabas Gemade.
Bode Olajumoke
He is a chieftain and a member of the Board of Trustees. Running as a People’s Democratic Party (PDP) candidate, Bode Olajumoke was elected as senator in the 5th (2003-2007) National Assembly representing Ondo North Senatorial District, and was re-elected in 2007 for a further four-year term. He served as a member of senate committees on Navy, National Planning, Foreign Affairs, Employment, Labour & Productivity, Downstream Petroleum and Defence & Army. He was nominated by his political party UNCP to be Presidential Candidate for the elections held in 1999 in Nigeria. Presently, he is a member of the Board of Trustees of PDP and vying for the post of its chairmanship.
Senator Ken Nnamani
Ken Nnamani succeeded Adolphus Wabara as Senate President after Wabara was accused of corruption. Nnamani’s appointment came as a surprise as he was relatively new to the Senate and not well known in political circles.
Nnamani has a difficult relationship with Olusegun Obasanjo. In 2006, he announced the Senate’s decision to throw out an amendment to Nigeria’s constitution that would have allowed Obasanjo to run for a third term.
Chief Harry Akande
Akande contested in the presidential primaries of ANPP in 2007 against Buhari. He left the ailing ANPP for the PDP before the 2011 general elections and was part of the campaign trail of President Jonathan. He is a chieftain of the People Democratic Party in the southwest before the 2011 general elections. Akande was reported to have spent a huge sum of money for the party in the last election. Considered to be straightforward, compassionate and intelligent, the choice of Akande by the leaders of the party in the Southwest was as a result of his contributions to the party. Now he is also interested in the race.
Alhaji Shuaib Oyedokun
He is a former Deputy National Chairman (South) of the PDP, Chief Shuaib Oyedokun, has never hidden the fact that he is an ally of the former vice-president Atiku Abubakar even when he held sway in the PDP. It was for his brazen support for Atiku that he was removed from office but he has been unrepentant in his support for the vice president. He is the real face of Atiku in the new faction. It was he who spoke with journalists over the emergence of the new faction. A major drawback for him in the new battle may be coming from the home front, shortly after he announced the formation of the new faction, the PDP in his home state dissociated itself from his action saying he was on his own.
Shuaib Oyedokun is a member, board of trustees of the People’s Democratic Party, PDP, is the arrowhead in the campaign for the postponement of the 2011 general elections and the handover date. His position was anchored on the need to give President Jonathan, political players, political parties and the new INEC leadership enough time to prepare and ensure the conduct of credible, free and fair elections in the country.
The race for the BoT chairman is open to the entire contestant depending on the way each of them could convince the leaders of the party before the fixed date. But the chances of each of them also depend on the experience, interest of the leaders, charisma, and ability to convince the leaders before the deal day.
