The Nation Newspaper

Tag: PDP

  • ‘PDP may not recover from crisis’

    ‘PDP may not recover from crisis’

    Human rights activist Comrade Phrank Shuaibu spoke with EMMANUEL OLADESU on the protracted Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) crises and implications for the party in 2015.

    What does the PDP crisisportend for the future of the party?

    The PDP crisis started from Rivers State. It is believed that President Goodluck Jonathan and Governor Rotimi Amaechi are at loggerheads. Now, the tension has engulfed the party and the nation. It started with the victimisation of party members. The undemocratic and despotic practices of the party leadership paved the way for the parallel leadership in the party. Tukur-led PDP had been one-sided on many issues affecting the unity of the PDP and the emergence of the Baraje-led PDP is simply a mere expression of members’ right to protest against injustice. An oppressive system builds internal conditions necessary for its implosion. The present leaders of the party under Tukur operated the kind of governance that is oppressive to the members, thereby neglecting the principles of democracy.

    Are you saying that Tukur’s leadership style triggered the explosion?

    The beguiling governor-friends of the President and other political appointees of the President are also behind the division in the PDP. What they sowed in Rivers is what they are reaping bountifully.

    Dr. Jonathan is the President. He has a responsibility not to be petty and to focus on the larger picture for all citizens. One of whom is Rotimi Amaechi. The governor is actually one of the bright spots in the darkness of the People’s Democratic Party and, instead of the Tukur-led leadership to treasure him, they kept on harassing him. Though they said that the President has no hand in the crisis, we see his hands in the utterances of the Minister of State for Education and the President’s wife.

    What is your advice to the President?

    I don’t sympathize with President Goodluck Jonathan in all of this. The Presidency, in a bid to subdue the NGF, embarked on a campaign of calumny against the Rivers State governor and chairman of the NGF over an unfounded speculation that he was eyeing the Vice Presidency. Nigerians know that the Presidency wrote and forced down the script of the present crisis on governors to divide the forum for its self-serving interests. The President showed he was an active participant in the NGF crises through his approval of the Jonah Jang’s faction of the Forum.

    The President owns the patent for the factionalisation and the support for illegality. He created a faction in the Nigeria Governors Forum and openly supported a man who scored 16 votes, instead of the winner, Amaechi. In the Rivers PDP, he created a faction through his Minister of State for Education, Nyesom Wike. It was so sweet when they introduced the faction in NGF against Amaechi. Governors Akpabio and Jonah Jang opened a parallel NGF Secretariat and Jonathan and Tukur applauded them.

    The moral lesson is that its easier to quarrel with your enemies and get away with it, but when you fight your close friend, he will destroy you because he knows all your secrets, strengths and weaknesses.

    My advise is that President Jonathan should look at the political mirror and see if there is any reflection of a President. The surest way to re-election is achievement and success. A successful one term tenure is better than 15 years on the seat without achievements.

    But the President has many PDP governors backing him…

    Are they behind him? I call them household enemies. Mr President should pray against household enemies. All the people singing his praises today are his real enemies. They are the ones deceiving him and giving him wrong perceptions. He should stop chasing shadows. Governor Rotimi Amaechi is not his problem. His problem are the appointees around him and some governors, who have been trading on fiction and lies to gain political advantage and to have the President’s ears. I doubt if those PDP governors are actually better than Amaechi and his six colleagues because, if Amaechi alone was the problem, no PDP governor would have voted for him in the NGF election after the party and the Presidency had anointed a different candidate. Although some of them are always being portrayed as loyalists, there is danger in relying on people who are quite proficient in adducing weak and feeble reasons for why the assignments failed. If we take the alleged mandate to unseat Amaechi as a working hypothesis, there are too many questions begging for answers. It is true that the party’s anointed candidate changed from time to time, making the party look confused. It is a fact also that, at a point, Governor Godswill Akpabio of Akwa Ibom State said that Governor Yuguda of Bauchi was picked to replace Governor Shema of Katsina as the President’s choice for the election against Amaechi. But that was not to be as they later changed it to Jonah Jang of Plateau. Isn’t that a poor job? And you think any serious leader should keep seeing such a handler and his team of jesters as his loyalists and trusted friends? If they were serious about the assignment to stop Amaechi, was that not the best reason they should have refused to vote? Instead, after voting, they said they didn’t vote and, when a video of the event surfaced, they said the filming was illegal.

    But there is the sentiment that Amaechi should not have aspired for the Vice Presidency when the Southsouth has the chance of retaining the Presidency…

    When former Governor Tinubu opposed certain undemocratic and anti-people policies of the former President Obasanjo, some gullible Nigerians said he was fighting the President because he wanted to be Vice President to Atiku. They called him traitor in the Southwest. Today, who is more relevant in the polity between Tinubu and Obasanjo? They are only giving a dog a bad name to hang it. Besides, what is wrong if the young man aspires to a higher office?

    But now that PDP is in crisis at the national level, is there any respite in Rivers?

    President Goodluck Jonathan has not stopped to witch-hunt the governor. After the abysmal failure of the plan to impeach the governor, with the help of only five lawmakers, they had a new agenda. There is grand design to use the judiciary to remove Governor Amaechi from office in the month of November.

  • PDP’s macabre dance

    It was predicted long ago that the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) will implode because of the way it was being run. Expectedly, PDP dismissed such talks as balderdash, saying as the ‘’largest party in Africa’’ people were jealous of it. In describing itself like that, PDP was referring to its size. Indeed, it is not only large in size, but also monstrous in shortchanging others, rigging and everything that is bad in politics.

    Since 1999, PDP and its members have consistently shown that they can go to any length in order to get to power. The route to power does not matter to them; what matters is that they should acquire power either by hook or by crook. So, the use of foul means is not strange to them. They are at home rigging and snatching ballot boxes during elections. There is nothing they cannot do to win an election, even killing is part of the game.

    Is that how to be Africa’s largest party? Shouldn’t a party which prides itself as such set good examples? PDP is not bothered by morality. To the party, the end justifies the means. This is why it has been coming to power since 1999 through crude and cruel means. As a party interested in power for power sake, PDP has no scruples whatsoever. It uses and dumps its members at will once they outlive their usefulness.

    Its national leaders are not spared this treatment. Many of them were discarded like mere tissues after being used by those they helped into power. Ask Chief Solomon Lar; ask Chief Barnabas Gemade; ask Chief Audu Ogbe; ask Dr Okwesilieze Nwodo; ask Chief Vincent Ogbulafor. These were leaders of the party at one time or the other who were booted out for not doing the bidding of the then president. The party confers a lot of power on its elected members in government, especially the president and governors.

    Any serving president elected on its platform is its national leader and the governors its leaders in their states. So, under such arrangement, its national chairman who does not see eye to eye with the president is an endangered specie. Such a chairman is removed from his post with ignominy. Former President Olusegun Obasanjo, who was brought into the party by those who thought they could manipulate him, were disappointed as he turned out to be their nemesis.

    Obasanjo removed or was instrumental to the removal of some chairmen like Lar, Gemade and Ogbeh. Only Ahmadu Ali, who is a former soldier like him, survived his high-handedness. Nwodo and Ogbulafor, who served under a different president, also got the Obasanjo treatment. Ogbulafor, who boasted that PDP will be in power for 60 years, did not stay long to realise his goal! So far, the party has been in power for 15 yeasrs, counting from 1999. Will it still be in power in the next 45 years?

    I doubt it because it is not likely that PDP will return to power in 2015 if the newly registered All Progressive Congress (APC) and the other opposition parties can capitalise on the PDP crisis to push out the party from power in the next elections. It won’t be easy but it can be done. With nine national chairmen in 15 years, PDP has shown that it is not a party to be taken serious. Only Alhaji Haliru Mohammed and Alhaji Kawu Baraje, who served in acting capacity, enjoyed a peaceful tenure. Others fought tooth and nail for their survival just as Alhaji Bamanga Tukur is doing right now.

    No matter how hard Tukur fights, his days in office are numbered. For now, it may seem as if President Goodluck Jonathan is backing him, but mark my word, the president will soon ditch him in order to realise his aim of seeking reelection in 2015. Tukur is still holding on to power because of Jonathan’s support and he knows that. Since he knows where his bread is buttered he will do everything to remain in the president’s good books, including disowning his people from the North, who are opposed to Jonathan’s return in 2015.

    As long as Tukur remains on Jonathan’s side, the seven PDP governors and former Vice President Atiku Abubakar can only bark and not bite him. In fact, if you ask me, I will say Tukur is not PDP’s problem. The party’s problem right now is the president, who because of his ambition has put Tukur in a tight corner. Tukur is afraid of confronting the president because he does not want to lose his job. To him, the president is a bigger evil, while those opposed to Jonathan’s planned return in 2015 are the lesser evil, which he is sure he can take on.

    His confidence stems from the assurance of presidential support when the chips are down. Tukur is a man buffeted on all fronts. In his home state of Adamawa, in his Northeast zone and at the national level, he is all alone. This political infighting has exposed the underbelly of the PDP. The Abubakar Kawu Baraje – led new PDP has shown that the Tukur – led PDP is a big for nothing balloon, which needs only a prick of the pin to burst.

    The PDP umbrella is leaking

    because of the tiny holes

    punched in it by the Baraje faction. It is only a matter of time before those holes become bigger and the umbrella is torn to shreds. With the new PDP attacking it from one side and the APC and the others from the other side, the PDP is as good as gone. But the opposition must stand firm so as to realise its dream of sending the PDP packing in 2015. The opposition can bury the PDP alive, for after all, the party has dug its own grave. It will be a long and bitter battle, but the opposition and the PDP faction can pull it through if they get their act right.

    Troubled by his conscience

     Offa in Kwara State is a politically enlightened town.

    Its people know what they want and they usually go all out for it. When it comes to politics, they have always aligned with the progressives. One of its prominent sons, the late Chief J.S. Olawoyin, for years led the town on the progressive side of politics. A die – hard Awoist, J.S, as he was popularly known, played a major role in the political emancipation of his people. It is these politically aware people that some vote robbers want to cheat in the last August 31 Offa Local Government Area rerun. In the last 10 years, Kwara has been a PDP state, but it was not always so. It became a PDP state following the rift between the late Governor Mohammed Lawal and the late Kwara strongman, Dr Olusola Saraki. The late Saraki made the late Lawal governor on the platform of the defunct All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP). The late Saraki left ANPP for the late Lawal and joined PDP for the sake of his son, Senator Bukola, who wanted to contest for governor then. The late Lawal lost in the power game.

    The Offa rerun was a supremacy battle of sorts between PDP and APC because it was the first election the mega party formed from the merger of Action Congress of Nigeria, Congress of Progressive Change and ANPP will contest against PDP. So, the parties threw all they had into the election. Everything went smoothly until the electoral agency began to footdrag over the declaration of result. That was the first sign of trouble. When the result eventually came, it was announced on Kwara Radio! Why would the electoral umpire declare result at a radio station and not its office if it has nothing to hide? Since the announcement, Offa has been boiling. Hardly a day passes without a protest in the town. There was a twist in the tale when one of the so – called winners, Afolabi Jimoh, confessed that he did not win the election. The ‘councillor – elect’ for Shawo Southwest said the APC candidate won. In other climes, that is enough to void his election and declare his opponent the winner. One week after Jimoh’s confession, it is mum from the electoral umpire.

    Will the matter end like this? Will Jimoh stand by his confession if the matter gets to the tribunal? Is this an indication of what will happen in 2015? What are the police doing about this case, especially Jimoh’s confession? Have they started investigating his claim? Jimoh confessed because he has a conscience, but his confession will amount to nothing if the stolen mandate is not recovered from him.

  • Jonathan has right to contest 2015 polls, says Abia PDP boss

    Jonathan has right to contest 2015 polls, says Abia PDP boss

    The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Chairman in Abia state, Chief Emma Nwaka, has said that President Goodluck Jonathan reserved the right to contest the 2015 presidential election as a sitting president.

    Nwaka made this known when he spoke with newsmen on the crisis rocking the party and sundry issues in Umuahia on Wednesday.

    According to him, all over the world, the practice is that sitting presidents reserve the right to contest election for a second tenure, “so Jonathan has the right to seek re-election in 2015.”

    He debunked the claims that there was no internal democracy in the party, explaining that the party’s flag bearers at every political contest emerged through democratic process.

    Nwaka said that unlike the procedure in opposition parties, PDP always threw the process of electing its representatives open to members during elections.

    He cited the recent PDP ward congresses in Anambra, where delegates for the party’s mini-convention in Abuja, were elected rather than hand-picked, to buttress his argument.

    He said he led 97 party members from Abia to supervise the exercise, arguing that such process did not obtain in other parties.

    Apeaking to NAN, the chairman gave the assurance that whoever would succeed Gov. Theodore Orji, in 2015 must emerge through a transparent electoral process, devoid of manipulation.

    He said that there was no division in Abia PDP, pointing out that the state was loyal to the Alhaji Bamanga Tukur-led PDP.

  • ASUU: PDP youths to protest against Fed Govt

    ASUU: PDP youths to protest against Fed Govt

    The battle against the Federal Government’s refusal to meet the demands of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) got a major support yesterday as the National Youth Leader of the new Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Comrade Timi Frank, vowed to mobilise students for a protest against the government.

    According to the leader who spoke in Abuja, the new PDP would ensure that the striking lecturers call off the strike.

    Although he described the proposed protest as a peaceful one, he noted that meetings have been ongoing to ensure that students return to schools.

    Frank said: “And it is my position today that we should stand to protect every youth that belongs to PDP in this country. I will defend their rights at all levels. No matter the intimidation, no matter the harassment, we will do everything we can to make sure that Nigerian youths will go back to school.”

    On the protest, he said : “I have been holding meetings with various student groups to address them and tell them our plans about what we want to do. So, it is something that we are going to come out emmasse in a peaceful manner to make sure that the Nigerian youths must go back to school.”

    Commenting on the 2015 general elections, the youth leader noted that the new PDP would not entrust powers into the hands of politicians who place youth education as the least priority.

    He said: “Yes! It is something I have kicked against even before today. Everybody knows. I have said it . But this is the issue that the new PDP will address and I am going to take this campaign; as a member of the new PDP, I am going to lead a protest campaign against the current government of today because the government of today has not convinced me that they have plans or that they have future to rescue Nigerian children.

    “Nigerian children are at home and nobody is talking about it. What they are talking of is 2015. We will not give them 2015 . PDP will not not give 2015 to any leader that will not stand by the youths of this country; that will not resolve the ASUU crisis.

    “Anybody that wants to stand under the PDP will tell us how he is going to take care of the welfare and the well-being and the unemployment of the Nigerian youths. Until that is being done, we will not relent even as members of PDP. So I urge all Nigerians to have confidence in the new PDP youth group under Baraje.

    “We are going to fight to make sure that youths go back to school. We will not keep quiet because this is PDP government. We will not keep quiet because the ASUU strike does not affect the PDP. Majority of the young students today are members of PDP therefore we will do everything we can to make sure that Nigerian youths go back to schools.”

     

  • Kogi may open ‘new PDP’ office soon

    Kogi may open ‘new PDP’ office soon

    • We are not in crises – Wada

    As the crises rocking the ruling People’s Democratic Party (PDP) thicken, there are strong moves by some aggrieved members of the party in the state to join the G7 PDP state and open a new office in Lokoja, the Kogi State capital.

    The ruling party was plunged into crises shortly after the special convention held in Abuja.

    Our correspondent’s attempt to put a call through to the state Chairman of the PDP, Alhaji Hassan Salau was futile. The Kogi PDP Chair, however, replied a text message with: “I am not aware”.

    Also the special adviser to the state governor on media and strategy, Jacob Edi, said the party in the state had never been in any crises.

    He said the administration of Captain Idris Wada has ensured that members of the party have carried along.

    “This administration is focused and would never be distracted in it transformation programme for the people of the state”, said Edi.

    Some of the aggrieved members, it was learnt, were strong supporters of former governorship aspirant of the PDP in the state, Alhaji Jibrin Isah Echocho, who  are majorly from the eastern flank of the state.

    Even though the state governor, Captain Idris Wada is not member of the G7 states, the aggrieved members are said to be holding an exclusive meeting in an undisclosed venue to join the newly formed PDP in the state.

    One of the member of the parallel PDP, who craved anonymity, told The Nation that their reason for joining the new party was not only because of the impasse at the national level, but also because of developmental backwardness in the state, led by the Idris Wada PDP administration.

    According to the source, the administration in the state is almost clocking two years but yet not significant to show for it.

    “In as much as we appreciate the fact that the governor will have to learn the rope in the administration of the state, one year should have been enough for the learning process,” said the source.

    Also joining the new PDP in the state,  were some PDP members who were said to have fallen out with the current administration in the state. Their main reason was because they felt jilted by the Wada government, whom according to them risk their time, energy, life and money to entrench the party amidst strong opposition.

    A one time member of the state PDP, who also pleaded anonymity, said: “We made this government what it is today, but instead of we benefiting from the fruit of our labor, this administration prefers bringing those who have never cast vote in the state before and made them one thing or the other in the state.

    “He asked us to go and lick our wounds because his administration can only work with technocrats and professors. Tell me, with all the professors and the so-called technocrats, Kogi State is least develop state in the country. Mind you, instead of licking our wound, we have to join new PDP, so we can find our bearing,” the source added.

    On the other hand, Edi argued further that to link the temporal crises at the party national level, with the development and achievement of governor Wada, is a real display of illiteracy and imagination of political jobbers in the state.

    “We at the government level wish them well in their decision and let them continue to wallop in beeline ignorance,” he added.

    All attempt to speak with Alhaji Jibrin Isah Echocho failed, as his cell phone was not reachable. However his spokesman, Phrank Shaibu declined comment despite much persuasion.

  • PDP’s frantic search for peace

    PDP’s frantic search for peace

    The crisis-ridden Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) is thirsty for unity. But the reconciliatory moves by the party elders have not restored harmony. Assistant Editor AUGUSTINE AVWODE reports.

    For the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), this is a trying period. Unity and peace have been elusive. Since the dramatic split of the party in Abuja, efforts to ‘heal’ the wound have not succeeded. The wound continues to fester. Will the party pull through or will it go under? Either way, the situation in the PDP is terrifying. The elders of the party have been busy in their efforts to find a way out of the self-inflicted crises. At the risk of seeing the party they had toiled so hard to build crashing into smithereens, some of the influential party leaders intervened in the hope of reversing its predictable march to the precipice.

    Peace moves

    PDP, which has been battling with discontent and sundry grievances within its ranks, set up a 30-man National Reconciliation Committee in July. Headed by Bayelsa State Governor Seriake Dickson, it was saddled with the onerous task of “harmonising all interests and to achieve genuine reconciliation across board”. Setting up of the committee was the most unambiguous admission that the party was in dire need of unity and peace. The National Chairman, Alhaji Bamabaga Tukur, rode into the office with a promise to reconcile all the warring factions and reposition the party for the challenges of the 2015 general elections.

    But his reconciliation efforts failed to yield the desired result. The Chairman of the Board of Trustees, Chief Tony Anenih, later took it upon himself to try his luck at reconciling the various opposing interest groups. Although he got some applause, it was obviously not far reaching. Hence, the need for the Governor Dickson Committee. After the initial opposition by a section of the party, the committee was accepted

    But, in a twist of irony, the committee was yet to finish its job, when a revolt occurred at the party’s Special Convention in Abuja last month. Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar led seven governors of the party, chieftains and other stakeholders to form a faction.

    The magnitude and complexity of the problem facing the party forced former President Olusegun Obasanjo to lead other top leaders of the party, which include former Head of State General Ibrahim Babangida, Anenih, former chairmen Col. Ahmadu Ali and Chief Barnabas Gemade, to embark on a peacemaking venture.

    Conspiracy theory

    The leaders’ spirited efforts to bring reconciliation may fail. This is because of a conspiracy theory being spawned by a section of the party. Those behind it believe that the crisis was carefully scripted and handed over to the dissenting G5 governors to execute. A chieftain of the party from the Southsouth told The Nation on condition of anonymity, that the 2015 presidential ticket is the major cause of the crisis. He doubted if Obasanjo and his group would be able to record any breakthrough now that it has been understood by the main party that the factional PDP wantedTukur out to get the ticket for the North.

    “The understanding, from this side, is that they are only particular about the 2015 ticket. And we also think that they have already convinced the man who is leading the reconciliation team. To us, they are simply working from the answer to the question. I can tell you categorigally that if the President says today that the will not run in 2015, whether Tukur leaves or not, there will be peace and not just peace in the party, the insurgency in some parts of the North will also abate;” he said.

    Reminded that the crisis rocking the party is multifarious, the source maintained that they all have the same goal and objective, which is that power must return to the North.

    “It doesn’t matter, all the problems you are talking about have the same objective – return power to the North. And this is the reason why I think Obasanjo will be the last person to be able to bring peace and true reconciliation to the party.

    “Look at who is who in the team. only Anenih could be said to be on this side, but even then, you heard his comments. He was obviously overwhelmed in the discussion that he could come out to admit that there was some truth in the agitation by the revolting governors.

    “Did they not boast before that ‘they will help to kill the PDP and bury it?’ So, these things that are playing out today had been well scripted out. Imagine the President calling a meeting of the party’s stakeholders with the intention of presenting a mid-term report. The same Obasanjo shunned it and went to Jigawa to sing the praises of the governor to high heavens.”

    Political scientist and Executive Secretary of “Never Again,” Mallam Moyo Jaji, described Obasanjo’s efforts as mere “grandstanding”. He argued that the former president is an interested party. “I think what former President Obasanjo is doing is mere grandstanding. He was one of those the governors visited when they were touring the country, probably telling them their plans. So, I can say he is privy to all these developments in the party. He cannot be an arbiter in a matter in which he is an interested party.

    “He is known to be the promoter of the Lamido/Amaechi ticket. Look at the conditions given to President Jonathan. they are unacceptable. As for me, I cannot accept them and I can say nobody will accept them.

    “The problems that the party is facing are fundamental. They are not the type of things you just paper over. It won’t work. Take the issue of the gentleman’s agreement, that Jonathan entered into with some leaders of the party and reportedly announced it overseas when he travelled that he would do only one term. But then, we also know that he has been cleared already by the court and the Constitution also permits him. So, they are fundamental issues. To me, I can tell you that PDP is dead. We are seeing the end of the party. As they say, the party is as dead as dodo,” he said.

    Obasanjo’s first meeting with the warring factions, it would be recalled, was put off ostensibly because of the perception that he is part of the problem.

    No retreat, no surrender

    Notwithstanding the efforts being made by elders of the party, the two groups; the main PDP and the factional PDP, are consolidating their positions. Three cases have been instituted in various courts across the country in respect of the matter. While the main stream PDP is frantically trying to whip the Alhaji Kawu Baraje’s faction into line, the ‘New’ PDP, is doing everything possible to legalise its status, including asking the court to remove Tukur.

    As a show of its determination, the group went ahead to hire a building in Abuja as its headquarters. But in a counter move, the place was sealed up on Saturday by security forces.

    The conditions given by the Baraje-led faction include Tukur’s resignation as chairman of the party, the need for Jonathan to forget seeking re-election in 2015, the resolution of the crisis plaguing the Nigeria Governors (NGF) and an end to the harassment of governors by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).

    On the other hand, the Tukur group implored the elders to stop the Baraje faction and the rest to desist from parading themselves as a parallel PDP National Working Committee; subject themselves to the constitution of PDP; and allow the party leadership to resolve all issues raised by the governors.

    With the sealing off of the office of the Baraje group, it has further put a dent on the peace moves by the elders of the party.

    Refelecting on the crisis buffeting PDP, Chairman of the Inter-Party Advisory Council (IPAC), Dr Tanko Yinusa told The Nation that crises in all parties in the country would be greatly reduced if the parties adhere strictly to their internal rules and regulations.

    “As a body that is responsible to all political parties in the country, I can only advised us to adhere to our internal rules and regulation and help in minimising conflicts of this nature”, he said.

    As for the PDP, it is a make or mar momenent. If the on-going peace initiative fails, the PDP may be stoking the fire that could consume it.

  • Before the PDP self-destruct

    Before the PDP self-destruct

    As Nigeria’s politics continue to take shape ahead of the 2015 elections, the leadership deficit of the PDP came to the fore once again with a festering crisis tearing the party apart.

    Spirited attempts by former heads of state, and the incumbent President to reconcile the warring factions have so far fallen on deaf ears. The ruling party is like a time bomb, doomed for implosion! The sad reality of plunging the nation into avoidable political crisis stare us in the face as the party’s predilection to press the self-destruct button is rather habitual.

    The party exhibited its favourite pastime — dancing naked in public — this time at the Eagles Square, venue of the Mini Convention, where aggrieved members of the PDP stormed out to form a parallel faction now known as the ‘new PDP’.

    Members of the faction including notable governors from the north, joined by their counterparts from Rivers and Kwara states, led by former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar, with Abubakar Baraje as Chairman. There was another drama as aggrieved members of factions in Anambra state PDP resorted to fisticuffs to press home their grievances.

    Such disregard for decency and decorum has become the hallmark of the party. The continuous existence of the party might be a mirage when viewed against the backdrop of its inability to justify its existence for 14 harrowing years other than plundering the nation’s resources. It is derisory that the party still thinks it can railroad voters in 2015 into its conquistadorial mission.

    The subversion of democratic principles to the whims and caprices of the party’s hierarchy is fast becoming the norm in the PDP. The job of taking Nigeria out of the abyss unto the path of prosperity, it does seem, we cannot continue to entrust into the hands of such mendacious, unrepentant and rapacious rascals, donning the garb of democrats.

    2015 will come upon us like a thief in the night, we must begin to be wary of self-seeking power grapping politicians who have failed the acid test of demonstrable leadership capacity. Their ability to make rational decisions is in doubt much as the lip service they pay to the vaunted transformation agenda of the present administration is evident in the dwindling fortunes of all sectors of the Nigerian economy.

    The recent squabble came as good news to many Nigerians who see the PDP as a monster that has colluded with the ruling elite for over a decade to loot the treasury, institutionalise corruption and ensure that Nigerians remain in perpetual captivity. That the party has survived series of crisis not occasioned by mass defection is largely due to the lack of a formidable opposition. As the APC, Atiku’s PDM, VOP – rumoured to be backed by the aggrieved governors in the ‘new PDP’ – are fast changing the political landscape, sooner rather than later, we shall witness a mass exodus of dissenting PDP members.

    Bamanga Tukur’s tenure as the PDP chairman has been nothing short of calamity on the party that pontificates as the largest party in Africa, as if political parties are defined and identified by size alone. At a time when the political minefield is being reshaped with APC and others, it is expected that Tukur would not push his game too far as the party continue to totter precariously on the brink of disaster. So far, he has failed to show tact, diplomacy and political savvy in dealing with the challenges that a party of strange bedfellows like the PDP pose.

    The ruling party, as always, downplays crisis rocking the party as one that should be expected in any large family. Some like Nysome Wike, go to such nit-witted extent to show their political naivety by saying political crisis “beautify democracy”.

    Sadly, the perpetual wrangling in the ruling party has nothing to do with Nigerians; it is not about policies, or issues that border on how to move the state forward, or how to build institutions, create jobs and develop infrastructure to improve the lives of the populace but instead it is how to massage their already over bloated egos and further their selfish ambition.

    More worrisome is the deployment of state resources and apparatus to fight perceived enemies. The current in-fighting and political skimming the PDP is enmeshed is nothing but jostling for 2015 elections. A truly democratic party will not estrange members for aspiring to any political office. Such actions are not only antithetical to every known democratic tenet but tyrannical.

    The split must have come as cheery news for the main opposition party, APC. How prepared they are to cash in on the PDP break-up and woo the aggrieved gladiators to their camp remains to be seen. It is not a co-incidence that since the APC was formed the party at the centre has never known peace. Now, the ruling party seems to be on the path to perdition.

    There’s no gainsaying the fact that the PDP has been sitting on a keg of gun powder for much of the time. The leadership of the party has completely ignored calls over the years to deepen democracy by eschewing factional politics, instilling discipline and ensuring a level playing ground for all members. Matter of fact, the party needs a reform, not just reconcile aggrieved members, if it is to wriggle itself out of the snarl it is currently mired.

    Past failure in putting its house in order culminated in the official rascality and uncivilised manner party members conducted themselves at the convention, a testament to the poor rating of the PDP’s leadership capacity.

    Political observers have surmised that the ‘Old PDP’ is headed for the rocks. The Baraje faction is taking their time to garner more members, goodwill from the public and ultimately, destroy the PDP, before finally making deft political moves to the new parties: PDM, VOP or the APC.

    Mr President’s desire to run for 2015 at all cost against the wishes of aggrieved governors, and his quest to have a firm grip of the party’s machinery, by launching a counter attack to whittle down the influence of those opposed to his ambition, coupled with the wind of the opposition, is what is tearing the umbrella to shreds today. The president’s foot soldiers are ready for a showdown with the ‘new PDP’.

    Without a clear cut policy direction, the continuous existence and dominance of such a party will mean total ruination of all the attractions, stimulation or semblance of democratic principles that has given Nigerians hope in governance. The reality of the situation is, the party is already headed towards destruction. The death knell is sounding loud and clear. Nigerians must rise up to bail the country from the firm grip of the PDP powers that be have plundered the resources of the country in a mafia-like circus.

    The war of words between the Tukur and Baraje factions is bound to leave a bad impression on the minds of Nigerians. The PDP wittingly or unwittingly is nursing a dangerous death wish. The party behaves as if it has no opposition which can capitalise on its monumental weaknesses, or they assume that whatever their weakness, they can still capture power in 2015 and it seems every action of government is now deliberately intended to intimidate opposition, within and outside the party, against President Jonathan’s pesky 2015 ambition. This perception from the public can erase whatever good luck is left in Jonathan or any PDP politician for that matter. Such negative politics that elevates party chaos with its attendant reconciliation process with tax payer’s money over governance must henceforth be put on the back burner.

    The writer can be reached via: theophilus@ilevbare.com, http://ilevbare.com, twitter: @tilevbare

  • ‘PDP cannot declare factional members’ seat vacant’

    The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) cannot declare vacant the seats of lawmakers elected on its platform because they joined the new faction, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), Chief Emeka Ngige, said yesterday.

    He said the Supreme Court recognises that individuals cannot be punished for the factionalisation of their party.

    In an interview with The Nation, Ngige condemned the sealing off of the faction’s secretariat, saying it was illegal and unconstitutional.

    “So, what they are doing is primitive. It’s one of those elements of jack-boot democracy we’re witnessing under this present government,” Ngige said.

    He added: “The seats of members of the PDP faction cannot be declared vacant because the Constitution, particularly in Section 109 as it relates to a member of the State House of Assembly, and the corresponding section for members of the federal legislature recognises factionalisation or division of a party.

    “Once there is such a division, a member who decides to join another political party cannot lose his seat.

    “In so far as the Constitution recognises a situation where there could be factionalisation or division in a political party, sealing off the secretariat of the new PDP, to me, is a negation of the provisions of the Constitution.

    “It has happened before during Obasanjp’s regime, when Atiku Abubakar floated a rival PDP, and had Shuaibu Oyedeku as chairman, and Solomon Lar as one of the sponsors.

    “The following morning Obasanjo sent a lorry-load of policemen with armoured tank to seal off the place. But that did not stop Atiku from joining the Action Congress as it was then called, and becoming its standered-bearer.

    “Obasanjo went to court to get Atiku’s seat declared vacant, but the Supreme Court held that Atiku Abubakar has a right to join another party, particularly when there was a factionalisation of his party.”

    Ngige said the sealing of the faction’s office was an act of intimidation.

    He said: “It’s unconstitutional and it’s an act of intimidation of opponents. That act shows that the people who are doing it are not well-informed.

    “The sealing off the secretariat is only physical, but have they been able to seal up the faction’s website? That rival PDP can open a website off where they will be propagating their ideas or message. They cannot send the police to seal off the Internet website.”

  • ‘I will commit suicide than joining PDP’

    ‘I will commit suicide than joining PDP’

    Human rights activist and lawyer Festus Keyamo is a senatorial aspirant on the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the Delta Central District. He spoke with WALE AJETUNMOBI on his plans for the zone.

     

     

    What is your mission in politics?

    It is no news again that we have declared for the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Delta State. And the reason is because we understand the need for all the progressive forces in the country to come together. We also realise the need for a strong coalition to confront the menace of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). That is why we think that, whatever reservation we may have as individuals about certain individuals, who are also coming into the APC; the most important thing for us is to bury our differences as opposition parties to the PDP and come together to fight the PDP.

    And I am sure you know that I am even the last convert, the last convert because, all the so-called radicals have all gone into politics, including my late boss, Chief Gani Fawehinmi. But I have since kept away from politics because I felt that, perhaps, I could still make a huge difference as a private person. I have tried my best as a private person and I am sure you have followed the course of my struggle for sometimes.

    So, I have a strong conviction going into politics because I have seen even the limitations I have as a private person. I know that I will have a bigger voice if I have a bigger platform to express myself. I am sure you saw recently that the senators did not even know the power they have over the appointment of Service Chiefs; it took my effort to go to court and it was a four-year legal battle that culminated into a judgment in my favour, that in fact, the President cannot appoint the Service Chiefs without the concurrence of the Senate. But they, themselves, did not know the extent of their power; all of these I did as a private person, not as a senator. Recently, I sent a memo to the National Assembly about how to speed up corruption trials and constitutional amendment. It was a very detailed suggestion on how to amend the Constitution. But I was doing all of these as a private person. So you can see that this is not an overnight brainwave, that I have woken up overnight and said I want to be a senator. No.

    There are other highly qualified aspirants on the field…

    Permit me to say, and with the greatest respect to other aspirants, there is no single aspirant in Delta Central, that comes one mile near to what I have achieved in promoting constitutional democracy. Not one of them.

    So, if you are talking about somebody, who is a square peg in a square hole or a round peg in a round hole, please, it cannot be anybody but myself for this job. And they all agreed, if you ask all of them. Even the supporters of the other parties, they agreed that Keyamo is the best for this job, ‘but…’ they will now bring other things… ‘he has been a lawyer and he has been doing well…leave this for politicians…’

    But the question I ask is this: in the last 20 years or so, I have grown up in the eyes of the public; everybody can account for everywhere I have been and every position I have taken. You may like me or hate; you may detest me, but you cannot deny the fact that, for the last 20 years, I have spoken up my mind on every issue. So, I am not hidden; it will be a surprise, if I take a position in the public and somebody says na Keyamo dey talk this? It is because they know the position I would normally take. Now, do you want to vote for people, who you don’t even know where they stand on issues? Look at all the aspirants, you cannot say of any of them that you know where they stand on any issue. Not one. And I am serious about this; not one.

    What are your programmes for the people in your senatorial district?

    I have released a six-page document and I passed it round to everybody. Even your newspaper, The Nation, has used it. I am the only person that has done so. The six-page document is on why I want to be in the Senate and what I intend to do. I have talked about the consumers’ rights protection bill I intend to propose; I have talked about corporate manslaughter bill that the late Senator Ewherido was pursuing before he died, that I intend to continue. I have talked about even the Aladja Steel Complex, what I intend to do as a senator to make sure that I touch the right button to even revive it. I also talked about this judgment I got on the part of the Senate and I want to make sure that they implement that judgment and to make sure that they exercise the right power.

    I have also said that I will be the first senator in the history of Nigeria, and I am saying this on tape and you know I will do it, to publish my salary and allowances. I will be the first to run a very transparent tenure. Every three months, I will publish my activities in the Senate. It would be an innovation that every quarter, I will be publishing my activities in the Senate to my constituents and Nigerians. Those are the types of things I want to do differently because, the normal question to ask is: ‘ what are you doing differently?’ but that exactly is the type of innovation I want to bring into the senate. I want to plead; for many years, The Nation’s editorial slant has always been: let good people come out to run. That is the totality of all your editorials, that we do not deserve the leaders we have; but we keep lamenting that nobody wants to take the plunge. People are saying I am going into murky waters of politics; I am sure many people believe I am a mad person now.

    They would say: ‘ you have done so well as a lawyer, you have reached your height… what are you doing here?’ But I asked a simple, which I have been asking for the past one year when I made up my mind, I have not gotten an answer. The simple question is: if people who are successful in their individual professions like us should remain where they are, who should run for public office? Nobody has provided an answer.

    Does it mean you will jettison your governorship ambition?

    Absolutely not. Governorship is in 2015, this is 2013. There is a vacancy in the Senate. So, 2015 is still faraway. But then, it has afforded me an opportunity to write an examination for people to see how much I can handle public office. If I did not do well, they can easily tell me to sit at home. But this time, I will have less to talk and more to do. If I win the Senate seat, my work would speak for me more than my rhetoric this time. Because it would now be a situation of, here is how I can do it. So, I will not talk too much again. If I am running as a private person, I have to talk and talk, and beg people to convince them that I can also handle public office. But if I run for the Senate now, I would do less talking and more work, for my work will speak for myself.

    Why APC and not PDP or other parties?

    I have said it before, that if the PDP is the last party on earth, then I would commit suicide. If they say for me to continue to live, that I must join the PDP, I will rather commit suicide. The PDP is an amalgam of the most undemocratic forces I have seen on earth, where 16 is more than 19 in the arithmetic of the party; where five people are more than 27 people in Rivers State House of Assembly to impeach a governor. It is only in Africa, and in Nigeria, it is only in the PDP that you can find that kind of arithmetic. I will not be part of that arithmetic because to be part of that arithmetic, I will have to go back to Primary One and I don’t want to go back to Primary One.

     

    How do you intend to win people in DPP, where the late Senator Ewerido belonged, over to the APC?

    I think many of them realise that if you are serious opposition in this country now, you have to be in APC. That is the truth of the matter; there is no gainsaying it. That is why you see people like us, hard converts, going into politics going into APC. It is only coalition of serious-minded opposition now. If DPP is an opposition to the PDP in Delta State, and they know they are serious, they know, too, that the only place they should come to is APC. You can see many of them are coming over to the APC now. With very much respect to the leaders of the DPP in Delta State, we know that it is only a matter of time for all them to be in the APC. It can’t be too long.

     

     

     

     

     

  • PDP is brain dead

    Sir: In medical parlance, coma is a state of extreme unresponsiveness in which an individual exhibits no voluntary movement or behaviour. In deep coma, even painful stimuli which when performed on a healthy individual result in reaction are unable to affect any response and normal reflexes may be lost. The individual in coma is still alive, but the brain is functioning at its lowest stage of alertness.

    The People’s Democratic Party (PDP), under the leadership of Alh. Bamanga Tukur can not be said to be different from the above situation as at today. A flock of sheep without shepherd is like a human body without a soul. The PDP does not have a soul. Despite all the pretensions or posturing that defy obvious reality, the party is in the state of coma. The funeral atmosphere that attended the party’s special convention had removed any vestige of doubt that the PDP is actually ill.

    A convention at which there were more long faces than smiling faces conveys ominous signal of the uncertain fate that await the party. Indeed, any one who had the curiosity to watch the proceeding on AIT live could not have failed to notice the bizarre features of the controversial convention. The atmosphere of conviviality and amiability that should attend a gathering of one family was palpably missing. Infact, the whole event appears like a wedding attended by reluctant or unhappy guests. Many of the delegates and participants,including the President, Governors, Ministers, Parliamentarians and party faithfuls wore the expression of minds on their faces, especially when the former Vice President Atiku Abubakar and seven governors walked out of the venue of the convention. Wiill the factionalisation of the PDP mark the beginning and the end of the party’s dominance in Nigeria’s political arena? And what about strained relationship between the President and some governors; will it distort the parties masterplan come 2015?

    I must diagnose in tears that PDP will soon die of her curable disease if not urgently attended to.

    • John Akevi,

    Bauchi