Has genuine reconcilia-tion now started in the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP)? Will peace return to Rivers State, following the meeting between President Goodluck Jonathan and Governor Rotimi Amaechi? Also, is the President’s meeting with the aggrieved five northern governors -Aliyu Wamakko (Sokoto State), Sule Lamido (Jigawa), Aliyu Muazu (Niger), Murtala Nyako (Adamawa) and Rabiu Kwankwaso (Kano) -the baseline for truce?
The meetings were not the President’s initiative. It came after the progressive governors urged Amaechi to seek audience with the number one citizen. Sources also said that prominent PDP elders, especially the Board of Trustees (BoT) members and retired Generals who fear that the opposition may sweep the party out of power, brokered the meeting between the President and the five Arewa governors.
Reconciliation among feuding politicians is always an uphill task in Nigeria. It will be more challenging in the PDP because of the multiple intra-party crises. The bigger the party, the bigger the headache, or so it seems. The crisis is multi-dimensional. Curiously, crisis resolution mechanism is defective in the acclaimed largest party in Africa. Apart from the crises in the state chapters and zonal branches, there are other reconciliation assignments on the waiting list. They are necessitated by the Jonathan /Obasanjo cold war, the suspicion between Tukur and Board of Trustees Chairman, Chief Tony Anenih, Tukur/northern governors rift, Tukur/Jerry Gana conflict, Amaechi/Jang crisis, and Amaechi/Wike quarrel.
Since Alhaji Bamanga Tukur assumed the reins as the national chairman, the seat has been very hot. The billionaire businessman, the former governor and minister has found it increasingly difficult to forge unity and cohesion in the fold. The success that attended his career as boardroom politician has eluded him on the slippery political field. Analysts attribute this to the way and manner he emerged as the chairman. He was clearly the choice of the President and not the preference of the majority. That culture of imposition, which often undermines internal democracy in political parties, is not peculiar to the PDP alone.
Barely few months after resuming office, a crisis of confidence broke out between him and the National Secretary, Gen. Olagunsoye Oyinlola (rtd). The first casualty was his (Tukur’s) Chief of Staff, Abu Fari, who was booted out. But later, Oyinlola, Segun Oni and others were shoved aside from the National Executive Committee, the Obasanjo forces suspected a foul play. When many exco members were asked to resign, following the complaint by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) that they were not properly elected, party chieftains also mounted pressure on Tukur to resign. He was however, saved by the Presidency.
The preparation for 2015 has also unsettled the ruling party. The fierce opposition to Dr. Jonathan’s second term ambition by the North has rattled the Presidency. Although the President is constitutionally entitled to a second term as a right, prominent Northern leaders who are left in the cold outside power have been calling for power shift, based on the real or imagined intra-party agreement on zoning. Others whose judgment is not beclouded by the fabled rotational principle have a different dilemma. They cannot beat their chest that the PDP national leader has performed to expectation as the President and Commander-In-Chief.
To zone or not to?
Apart from Niger State Governor Muazu, who has insisted that he was a party to the zoning agreement, many governors are also not pleased with the President for different reasons. The Nigerian Governors Forum has challenged the President over the Sovereign Wealth Fund. The association led by Amaechi had threatened to go to the court to press for true federalism. As the chairman, Amaechi incurred the President’s wrath for making certain anti-federal government statements, which the duties of his office imposed on him. Hell was let loose. The President henceforth, made up his mind that he should not be returned as the NGF chair. Previously, crisis was brewing between Amaechi and the President’s wife, Patience, an indigene of Rivers State. When it reached the climax, the First Lady seized the microphone from him in Okrika at a public function. Both husband and wife have continued to nurse the grudges.
But Amaechi had the majority on his side in the NGF. Although he won the NGF chairmanship election by beating his ‘emergency’ opponent, Plateau State Governor Jonah Jang, with 19 to 16 votes, the President acknowledged the latter as the chairman. The PDP Governors’ Forum hurriedly put together by the party and Presidency failed to unseat Amaechi. A seed of discord was sowed in the NGF. Amaechi was suspended from the party for inexplicable anti-party activities. Sources said that his perceived vice presidential ambition in 2015 infuriated the PDP leadership.
Other ‘rebellious’ governors have been insulated from such punitive measures. For example, Muazu, who has been keeping the rotational agreement paper to his chest, Lamido, who is said to be nursing presidential ambition and Nyako, who has been having a running battle at the home front with his kinsman, Tukur, have not been hacked down. When Wamakko was suspended, it was temporary. Reality dawned on the party and the Presidency that they have incurred the wrath of the most populous zone. The outcry by the zonal leader, Ambassador Ibrahim Kazaure, the PDP governors in the zone and state party chairmen made the National Working Committee (NWC) to retrace its steps. Although the suspension was lifted, it has not changed Wamakko’s anti-Jonathan and anti-Tukur’s views.
When the northern governors paid a solidarity visit to Amaechi two weeks ago, it was evident that they have made up their mind against the party. Nyako later predicted the imminent fall of the PDP, ahead of 2015, insisting that Tukur has failed the test of leadership. It paled into a bold warning that certain forces in the fold were committed to wrecking the ship. The bow of fate is on the national chairman’s head. On one side, he is battling with the governors. On the other side, he is battling with the mini-convention hurdles.
Neither has the Rivers PDP crisis abated. The split underscores the biased disposition of the President, despite the persistent camouflage denial of involvement and neutrality. His wife, Patience, had told the visiting clerics from the Southsouth that Amaechi had hot temper, adding that he was fond of disrespecting her husband. Dr. Jonathan’s liaison officer in Port Harcourt is the Minister of State, Nyensom Wike, who commands a civilian army of anti-Amaechi protesters, which has attempted to make the state ungovernable. Two men, Adepke and Obuah, are laying antagonistic claims to the PDP chairmanship in the state. The neutral President threw his support behind Obuah, who has challenged Amaechi to a duel. The war gained a momentum. The activities of biased and compromised Police Commissioner, Mathew Mbu, who has taken sides in the crisis, provided a tonic for the anti-Amaechi forces to go on rampage. As much energy was dissipated on the avoidable crisis in the oil-rich state, attention was diverted from governance. The crisis reached a climax when five out of 32 members of the House of Assembly attempted to impeach the Speaker, Amaechree, and proclaim the impostor, Evans Bipi, as the new Speaker. The calculation was that the President who did not object to the declaration of the loser as the winner of the NGF election will definitely tacitly applaud the numerical supremacy of five over and above 27.
But now that the President appears disposed to reconciliation as a last resort, where will the PDP begin? There is no precedent to follow. When former President Obasanjo pretended that the war between him and the former Senate President Dr. Chuba Okadigbo, was over, he was impeached the same week as the Senate President. After OBJ embraced former PDP national Chairman Chief Audu Ogbeh, he was forced to resign afterwards. After visiting former Ogun State Governor Gbenga Daniel and shared cake with him, the crisis between the duo escalated. When President Jonathan recently visited Rivers State, he shook Amaechi’s hands most heartily. That week, the state became a battle ground.
What will be the conditions for truce? Will the President call Wike to order? Will he tame his wife? Will Tukur be asked to step aside, as being demanded by the governors? Will it end the deep-seated animosity and acrimony between Tukur and Nyako? Will Jang continue to parade himself as the NGF chairman or accept defeat? Will the northern governors who have presidential ambition put it on hold? Will the northern elders suspend their clamour for power shift? Will the five Rivers legislators and other anti-Amaechi supporters return to their shell? Will the reconciliation last?
Will the President back the reconciliation with genuine or peculiar hypocritical commitment? Will all the parties to the multi-faceted disputes learn their lessons? Will peace return to the PDP?
Many puzzles; fewer answers.
