The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has failed to choose a successor to replace Senator Iyorchia Ayu, who is on suspension, but has not resigned. Deputy Editor EMMANUEL OLADESU examines the intrigues and battle of supremacy between the two dominant, antagonistic camps, led former Vice President Atiku Abubakar and Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Minister Nyesom Wike.
As leaders of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) gathered in Abuja for two days to brainstorm on the future of the platform last week, it was obvious that they were not in one accord.
At the end of the meetings, no other key decision was taken beyond the extenstion of the interim tenure of the acting national chairman, Ambassador Umar Damagum, till August.
Addressing reporters, PDP National Publicity Secretary Debo Ologunagba said: “Our party emphasises the need for reconciliation and stability within the party at this time. Therefore, the issue of the National Chairman, Damagum, has been deferred to the next NEC meeting, which is tentatively scheduled for August 15, 2014.”
The ghost of PDP’s past undoing is hunting the party. Having committed the partisan sin of inappropriate presidential zoning and violation of its time-tested principle of inclusion during last year’s election, PDP has not remained the same.
Damagum, national deputy chairman (North), became acting chairman, following the suspension of the national chairman, Senator Iyorchia Ayu, who has now withdrawn his court case over his removal.
Three chieftains-former Benue State Governor Gabriel Suswam, Conrad Utaan, also from Benue State where Ayu hails from, and a former deputy governor of Kogi State, have unfolded their aspirations to succeed Ayu. Suswam even claimed that he had the blessing of the suspended chairman.
But, Ayu has not fully thrown in the towel by resigning. Therefore, the topmost party position, according to the party constitution, is not vacant.
The implication is that the choice of replacement would be an exercise in futility.
According to analysts, the decision by the party to retain Damagum as national acting chairman was a strategic victory for the pro-Wike camp. The camp wants Damagum conduct the state congresses that would produce new party leadership in about 26 states in the next two months.
The reason is that party officers produced by the state congresses will wield influence at the grassroots and decide significant representations at the party’s national convention in 2025. Also, party officers who will emerge at the convention will supervise 2027 party primaries.
A party chieftain from Lagos, who spoke on condition of annonimity, said influential party leaders who have future ambitions are thinking ahead. He said while Ayu is not favoured to return to office as chairman, succession has provoked a big struggle between the two groups fighting over the soul of PDP.
He added:”Ayu’s leadership is not acceptable to many people, particularly from the South. But, they agree, based on the PDP constitution, that a successor to complete his tenure should come from the Northcentral.
“There are challenges in the future. In 2025, Ayu’s tenure will expire and the feeling is that the three regions of the South may not be interested in the national chairmanship again. They will remember that they once bidded for the PDP presidential ticket.”
Although the party directed that disciplinary committee should be set up, it paled into a face-saving measure. The committee is to be headed by former Senate President Bukola Saraki. Many had expected the 36 state chapters to submit the lists of chieftains who committed infractions against the platform in the last generalelection. No list was submitted. In fact, no such matter came up.
Majority of party leaders seemed to also agree that the party needed reconciliation than applying futile punishment that does not amount to discipline. The disciplinary panel would be headed by former Akwa Ibom State Governor Udom Emmanuel, who favours fence-mending and peace moves instead of witchhunting.
The meetings of the National Caucus, Board of Trustees (BoT) and National Executive Committee (NEC) reflected the burden of split since the pre-2023 election period. The split manifested in the battle for supremacy between the two camps loyal to former Vice President Atiku Abubakar and Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Minister Nyesom Wike.
Atiku, who was the presidential candidate in last year’s election, was shunned by the Group of Five Governors (G5), led by Wike, former governor of Rivers State. PDP lost the poll to President Bola Tinubu’s All Progressives Congress (APC), and it is believed that the friction between Atiku and Wike group contributed to the electoral loss.
The bone of contention has remained the same. The G5, made up of Seyi Makinde (Oyo State), Okezie Ikpeazu (Abia), Sam Ortom (Benue), Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi (Enugu) and Wike, was adamant that zoning or rotation was sacrosant in PDP, pointing out that the insitence of some party leaders that the North should produce the presidential candidate and national chairman at the same time, to the exclusion of the three Southern zones, violated the principles of equity, fairness and justice.
Atiku and Ayu had promised that the national chairman would step down to allow a chieftain from the South to take over. But, after Atiku became the flagbeaer, the duo reneged on the promise. Atiku pleaded that Ayu should be allowed to continue in office until after the poll, which he thought he would win. Wike and his colleagues cried foul, saying that it amounted to alienation and marginalisation of the South.
As the battle of equity raged, Ayu fired salvos at G5, describing the governors as young boys who were no where when PDP was founded by the founding fathers, including himself and Atiku.
Wike returned the volley of tirade, saying that the young shall grow. It seemed like the final party of ways since interests no longer aligned.
Although the leading opposition party has done a post-mortem of its electoral defeat, not all the chieftains have embraced the reality PDP committed mistake during the electioneering.
To observers, the crisis in the party is a continuation of the bickering over 2023 presidential nomibation. It was evident that the supremacy battle between the two dominant camps was being won and lost ahead of its two-day marathon meeting in Abuja.
Two groups of protesters underlying the rivarly and intrigues in the party surfaced at Wadata Plaza, national headquarter of the party, to canvass support and denounce perceived foes in the intra-party squabbles, in a fit of mutual assured destruction. To prevent violence, FCT Police Commissioner Benneth Igweh stormed the secretariat with his men to disperse the protesters.
Two weeks before the meeting, the National Publicity Secretary, Ologunagba, announced the setting up of caretaker commitees for many states and local governments as directed by the Damagum. Members of the caretaker commitees are followers of Wike. There were hues and cries over their composition, particularly from the Rivers State chapter. But the directive has not been reversed.
In Rivers, there is a gulf between Governor Siminalayi Fubara and Wike, who handed over the baton to him on May 29, last year.
Damagum is said to be close to Wike, the PDP stalwart, who holds a key ministerial position in the APC-led Federal Government. Although there have been calls for sanctions against the former Rivers governor for anti-party activities, they have been ignored by the acting national chairman. Wike played a key role in his choice as deputy national chairman (North).
Ahead of the NEC meeting, the National Working Committee (NWC) made it known that it was not an all-comers affair. Rising from its weekly meeting at the party secretariat, the NWC announced that attendance at NEC meeting will be restricted. Ologunagba said in a statement that those who are not constitutionally recognized NEC members should stay away.
The statement reads: “The National Working Committee (NWC) of our great Party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), informs all members of the National Executive Committee (NEC) that the 98th NEC meeting scheduled for Thursday, April 18, 2024 will commence at 2pm.
“By this announcement, all NEC members are expected to arrive promptly at the NEC Hall of the PDP National Secretariat, Abuja for the commencement of the meeting.
“For the purpose of accreditation, only constitutionally accredited members of NEC will be allowed into the meeting.
“All members of the party should please, take note and be guided accordingly.”
After the vetting, 353 accredited members attended the NEC meeting.
Tension enveloped the venue of the meetings, which Atiku and Wike did not attend, as some chieftains canvassed leadership change. The goal was to appoint a new chairman to complete Ayu’s tenure.
The address of Acting BoT Chairman Senator Adolphus Wabara to the advisory organ reflected the push for a new leadership.
He said: “I must address a matter that weighs heavily on our collective conscience, the leadership of the party as it stands.
“Recalling the events that led to the ousting of the former Chairman of the Party in person of H.E. Senator Iyorchia Ayu, the current Acting Chairman has spent over a year in office, whereas as the usual practice of the party, the region from whence the national officer hails from should have produced a viable candidate to complete the tenure of the former national officer.
“Furthermore, the contentious issue surrounding the office of the National Secretary has regrettably sown seeds of discord within our party. The ambiguity surrounding this position has led to confusion and internal strife, hindering our collective efforts to pursue our noble objectives. “The solutions to these two challenges are clearly imbibed in our party’s constitution but deliberate litigations have made the application of these constitutional solutions impossible.
“It is incumbent upon us to resolve this matter with utmost urgency, guided by transparency, fairness, and the best interests of our party and its member.”
The national secretary, Senator Samuel Anyanwu, has been given the nod to continue in the position after participating at the Imo State governorship poll where he was PDP candidate.
When Wabara asked Anyanwu to resign from his position after he became the governorship candidate, Wike, who played a key role in his election as party secretary, countered the former Senate President, saying that the call lacked justification.
On October 20, 2023, the Southeast Zonal Executive Committee of the PDP nominated Sunday Udeh-Okoye to replace Anyanwu as national secretary. But, Anyanwu lated got a ruling from the court validating his claim to the party office.
Thus, efforts to remove Wike’s two loyalists-Damagum and Anyanwu-from NWC, NEC and BoT have collapsed.
To douse the anxiety and anger in the party, the Governors Forum, led by Bauchi State Governor Bala Mohammed, declared that “there is no plan to appoint a new Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) national chairman at the National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting.”
The forum also said any plan to hijack the party by any individual or group would also be resisted.
A source said a key party chieftain has allegedly been consulting with other opposition parties for collaboration, merger or coalition ahead of 2027.
The governors, who held a pre-NEC meeting at the Akwa Ibom State Lodge in Abuja, said while they never discussed the change of leadership as being speculated by some people, they resolved to tackle the lingering party challenges in accordance with the PDP constitution.
As the governors’ meeting was on, information got to them that Ayu had withdrawn his case against the party while the party had also withdrawn its appeal against the suspended chairman. The fact that an appeal was lodged meant that the same forces that shoved Ayu aside was determined to keep him outside the party secretariat.
The governors’ parley preceded the meeting of National Caucus, which was followed by the meeting of the BoT and NEC.
Apart from Governor Mohammed, who read the communique, other PDP governors’ the governors’ meeting were the Forum’s Vice chairman, Fubara (Rivers State), Ahmadu Umaru Fintiri (Adamawa), Umo Eno (Akwa Ibom), Douye Diri (Bayelsa) and Sheriff Oborevwori (Delta). Also at theeeting were Deputy Governors Omobayo Godwins (Edo) and Ifeanyi Ossai (Enugu).
The governors held divergent views. But, they had to later agree that the survival of the party was more important than divisive camp interests. They reasoned that a change of leadership will do more harm than good at this delicate period.
Mohammed, who spoke with reporters on behalf of his colleagues, was tactical. He emphasised that the change of party leadership was not on the agenda, stressing that the party cannot violate its constitution.
The move to retain Damagum meant that the group led by Wike would maintain its hold on the party machinery till August.
Mohammed said:”We are looking forward to doing everything within the constitutional provision of the party. So, we are not here to discuss about change of leadership.
“We are talking about resolving all the issues and going forward, so that at the end of the day, the timeliness allowed in the constitution for Congresses and what have you, would have been done.
“But certainly, the public is free to permutate, to discuss and of course, PDP NEC will decide on some of these issues.”
Mohammed reflected on the internal contradiction in the party, saying that there are marauders plotting to hijack a camp for the purpose of forming a coalition with another party.
He stressed: “We are aware that there are some marauders hanging around somewhere, trying to factionalise our party and take one faction to go and do coalition. We are not going to allow that.”
However, the Bauchi governor said the party would conduct congresses to elect ward and local government party officers instead of caretaker committees.
Consistent with the forum’s position, the NWC also passed a vote of confidence Damagum, hailing his commitmentto the progress of the party. The vote of confidence underscored the loyalty of officers who steer the affairs at the party to his leadership.
Ologunagba said: “The National Working Committee (NWC) of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has passed a vote of confidence on the party’s acting national chairman, Ambassador Umar Iliya Damagum.
“The decision of the NWC, which came at the end of its 584th meeting at the party’s National Secretariat on Tuesday, April 16, 2024, is in commendation of the efforts and commitment of the Acting National Chairman to stabilise and reposition the PDP as the main opposition Party in Nigeria.
“The Deputy National Chairman (South), Ambassador Taofeek Arapaja, presided over the motion for vote of confidence on the acting national chairman, which was moved by the National Vice Chairman (South East), Chief Ali Odefa, and seconded by the National Treasurer, Yayari Mohammed.
“The NWC assures of its commitment in ensuring the continued stability, growth and success of our great party at all time.”
The PDP Governors’ Forum, of which Fubara is a member, also refrained from taking sides in the Rivers political impasse. Mohammed said the forum will explore political solution to the protracted rift.
The camps of Atiku and Wike have returned to the drawing board. So far, Wike appears to be winning. Between now and August, the two antagonistic groups will be strategising on how turn the table.
The party has two options. The first is genuine reconciliation. The second is to ignore reason and intensity the acrimony. Both options have their implications for the survival of the party.
