The many knives against Secondus
Atiku, Saraki and other power blocs
Why party may not benefit from APC’s ‘misrule’
Ruling party blackmailing our Govs – Ologbondiyan
BY BENEDICT NWACHUKWU AND MAYOWA SAMUEL
National leaders of the main opposition Peoples Democratic Party are at their wit’s end, currently, trying to mend what many members have described as the disintegrating bricks of the party across the nation.
The momentum gathered by the PDP, in the build-up to the 2019 elections seems to have “slowed dangerously”, investigations by our correspondents have revealed.
Intra-party disagreements and power tussle by different blocs are some of the major factors linked to the waning fortune of the PDP in spite of the many challenges facing the nation under the All Progressives Congress administration.
Many of the frontliners of the PDP, in separate interviews, agreed that, unless drastic steps were taken to reinvigorate the party, it might not be able to wrestle power from the ruling party in the next eight years.
While party leaders, who made this blunt assertion, opted to speak in strict confidence, others maintained, on the surface, that the PDP was still “as strong as ever”, attributing the recent high-level defections from the party to blackmail by the ruling party.
POWER BLOCS
There are about four power blocs in the PDP currently. The Uche Secondus-led National Working Committee, the Nyesom Wike-inspired Governors’ ‘gang’, the non-aligned anti-Wike governors’ ‘clique’ and the Presidential hopefuls.
NWC
The main challenge that members of the NWC seem to have in the minds of the people is the fixation to retain their office after the expiration of their present term. Many of the PDP stakeholders, who were interviewed, felt that they had stayed too long for efficiency.
There is the huge financial misappropriation allegation being pushed by a member of the PDP, Kazeem Afegbua, against the NWC, culminating in a petition to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission.
The NWC is being accused of mismanagement of party funds, misuse of proceeds from sales of forms, and lack of transparency in the running of the accounts of the party, among others.
“It is alleged that monies are not paid into known PDP accounts. There are also issues around payment of salaries of Secretariat staff,” a top stakeholder told one of our correspondents.
Party members are also quarelling with what they described as commercialisation of the party structure by the Secondus-led NWC.
“The main challenge that members of the NWC seem to have in the minds of the people is the fixation to retain their office after the expiration of their present term”
“The fact that the NWC is seen to be causing problems across the states by doing the bidding of their cronies as opposed to laid down party guidelines is also a bone of contention that is tearing the party apart,” an impeccable source, who would not want to be named, told The Point.
“Secondus is always quick to visit states that have PDP Governors, mainly for patronage, leaving the other states unattended,” the source added.
WIKE
A good number of the strong, respected stakeholders of the PDP believe that Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers State is overbearing. They are of the view that an assumed intention of Wike to allegedly create a PDP out of his own image, which has pitted him against his former ally, Secondus, is a problem.
Many of the stakeholders who spoke on the condition of anonymity, owing to the sensitivity of the issue, said Wike’s “constant demarketing of the party”, and his persistent indecorous usage of the phrase ‘tax collector’ to describe party leaders, were being seen as a great disservice to the image of the party.
This, it was gathered, had made many of the opposition party leaders resolve to stand against “any position Wike holds in a bid to let him understand that the party is bigger than any individual.”
A few governors, who are seen to be benefitting from what respondents termed as “the Wike largesse”, have also reportedly given the impression that Wike is a demi-god of sorts in the PDP, a situation that many stakeholders consider unacceptable.
ANTI-WIKE GOVERNORS’ GANG
Uknown to Wike, many of his colleague governors are also busy scheming and finding partnership with members of the Uche Secondus NWC, in a bid to stop him, almost in a repeat fashion of what played out during the 2019 presidential primaries.
Sources, who refused to unmask those governors, insisted that the resolve of the anti-Wike group was very strong, noting that they might carry the day with attendant consequences, especially in an era of “mindless” defections.
PRESIDENTIAL HOPEFULS AND INDIVIDUAL SCHEMINGS
Behind-the scenes schemings by those who have presidential ambitions are preventing the main opposition party from speaking with one voice and acting in one clear direction, according to findings.
This, respondents say, is also limiting the ability to challenge and take on their rival APC, which seems to be harvesting their members “like plucking ripe mangoes”.
Capitalising on the long absence from the country, of their last presidential flagbearer, Atiku Abubakar, former Senate President Bukola Saraki, using the platform of the PDP Reconciliation and Strategy Committee, seemed to have been dragging state structures towards his presidential ambition, some stakeholders alleged.
The return of Atiku Abubakar, and the resurrecting of his significant structure, is also ruffling the waves of the PDP across the country.
The significance of this, according to those who were interviewed, is that high-ranking members of the party are dilly-dallying and playing safe, watching the body language of the front-runners.
“This is making it difficult for the party to come together and give a big push, similar to what the APC did to dislodge the PDP from Aso Villa in 2015,” stakeholders said.
‘NO CAUSE FOR ALARM’
However, chieftains of the PDP, who spoke on the record to our correspondents, said the party was not losing any sleep over the recent gale of defection that had rocked it.
Many of the chieftains, both at the national and state levels, indicated that, rather than being perturbed, they felt nothing but pity for those they described as “victims of shameless political blackmail”.
In separate interviews with The Point, they chanted the same chorus of ‘no cause for alarm’.
This is in spite of the spate of defection from the PDP, to the ruling APC, involving high profile individuals in the mould of state governors, senators, members of the House of Representatives and state assemblies, including their teeming loyalists and hangers on.
This has fueled speculations in some quarters that the main opposition party that once referred to itself as the biggest in Africa may be going into extinction.
“Intra-party disagreements and power tussle by different blocs are some of the major factors linked to the waning fortune of the PDP in spite of the many challenges facing the nation under the All Progressives Congress administration”
Cross-party stakeholders are also worried that in a country where there have been two major parties in the last 22 years, there could be the possibility of a one-party state emerging with relative ease, if the trend continues, despite the existence of 16 other registered political parties.
National Publicity Secretary of the PDP, Kola Ologbondiyan, fumed at the suggestion of the party going into extinction. He described the suggestion and even the mere thought of it as “reckless.”
“How can PDP die?” he queried.
Ologbondiyan said, “That is a reckless comment to make and whoever made it does not wish our nation well. There is no way Nigeria would slide into a one-party state of APC and President Muhammadu Buhari.
“That will be the worst for our country and God forbid it from ever happening, and rest assured, it will never; I repeat, never happen.”
He added, “Take it from me, our party dey kampe! We’re not moved; we’re not worried. We know what is happening and we feel sympathy for the victims of this arm-twisting politics. The APC is blackmailing the governors. But the truth remains that some of those decamping are being mindless about the sufferings of the ordinary Nigerians.
“How can a sitting Governor, with constitutional immunity, be scared or worried about blackmail or threats? Rather than falling for blackmail, aren’t they supposed to strengthen their own party, rally Nigerians together and rescue the people from this tyranny of an administration?”
Anslem Ojezua, a lawyer and former APC Chairman in Edo State, who defected to the PDP with Governor Godwin Obaseki in the build up to the September 2020 governorship election in the state, repeated the same line.
Explaining why the party could not be bothered, he said, “The party is not bothered and I am not bothered, too. Defection is not new. It is an everyday thing and should be expected, especially in this clime. There are a lot of factors that are responsible for the defection that we are witnessing now.
“Some people believe that, perhaps, because of the fear of victimisation, arising from their own misconduct in office, they need to run into the APC. You recall that someone once quoted a national chairman of a party as saying that ‘once you join our party, all your sins are forgiven.’ That, exactly, may just be what is playing out here. And, I don’t think it is enough to threaten the PDP.”
Emma Okah, lawyer, journalist and two-time former Commissioner for Information in Rivers State, dismissed the development as normal phenomena with politics and politicians in this clime.
“We are not worried at all. Defection is both ways and it is normal,” he submitted.
Charles Aniagwu, two-time Delta State Commissioner for Information and a chieftain of the PDP, whose state chapter lost the senator representing him at the National Assembly about a fortnight ago to the APC, maintained that the defector had shot himself in the foot and, together with his new found party, stood to lose everything in the state, politically.
Senator Nwaoboshi, who represents Delta North Senatorial District at the Senate, had in a letter to the Senate President, Ahmad Lawan, officially announced his defection from the PDP to the APC on the floor of the red chamber about 10 days ago, after a face-off with the PDP.
Nwaoboshi blamed his defection on the alleged factionalisation of his former party at all levels. The lawmaker, who is also the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Niger Delta Affairs, accused the leadership of the party of orchestrating tyranny, arbitrariness and intolerance.
But Aniagwu carpeted the lawmaker for allegedly abusing the goodwill of Governor Ifeanyi Okowa. He told The Point at the weekend that Nwaoboshi could no longer enjoy the political benevolence of the governor.
He said, “I said this at another forum this morning. And since it is almost the same question, I want to repeat it. The people of Delta North voted for Nwaoboshi because Okowa appealed to them to support him for the party’s sake. But having realised that he can no longer enjoy the political benevolence of Okowa, he decided to jump ship despite his suspension by the party.
“Nwaoboshi is in the National Assembly on the political scholarship of Dr Ifeanyi Okowa, otherwise, there is no way he would have been in the Senate. He knows that deciding to dump the PDP or leaving the PDP even after he had been suspended by the party, means that he can no longer contest the position because he knows that even if he contests that position, he will not win.”
In a similar tone, the Oyo State PDP Publicity Secretary, Hakeem Olatunji, told The Point that defectors were mainly people who were not sure of their second term ticket, and as such, had to find their way out early because the party would not allow imposition of candidates.
He noted, “We are not worried. The party at the national level is not and we are not, too, at the state level here in Oyo State. First, this is the season of defection and it is mainly because some people are not sure of their second term tickets.
“Those who have betrayed the members of the party in their domain have every reason to defect because there is not going to be imposition and they know that they cannot get the ticket of the party on a platter.”
“So, we are not disturbed at all. We are not worried. They know PDP has a character, which is lacking in the other party. We know what is happening. Some of them are running away from prosecution and persecution. The fact is, it is not easy to be in the opposition,” he stated.
PLAN ‘B’
Nonetheless, the PDP is not folding its arms and leaving everything to blind chance, according to findings.
A source who would not want to be named hinted that the party was determined to unseat the ruling APC, in spite of what seemed like a disintegration of its structure by high-level defection.
According to him, the party is planning “to pay APC back in its own coin” by forging a formidable alliance with other likeminded parties.
“That was what the APC did in 2014. So, I think it should be the turn of PDP to do that just now and the spade work is ongoing,” he disclosed.
But Ologbondiyan would not say much on this. In response to the question of a possible realignment or alliance with other parties to strengthen the PDP structure, ahead of the 2023 elections, and to mitigate the effect of the recent defections, he simply said, “The PDP will work with all Nigerians without giving anything away.”
ALBATROSS AROUND APC’s ‘NECK’
The Point gathered that the confidence being exuded by the PDP is mainly induced by what a source described as the “albatross around APC’s neck.”
The source, who spoke in confidence to one of our correspondents, listed the obstacles in the way of the APC to include the poor state of the economy, escalating insecurity, and barely disguised nepotism, which the ruling party has not been able to halt or tame.
“The level of division among component nations and the ever growing agitation for self determination are a pointer to failed government and a disaster that must be averted in 2023,” he claimed.
Former Deputy Governor of Ekiti State, Prof. Olusola Eleka, also highlighted the challenges the APC would contend with in the coming months and 2023.
Speaking through his media aide, Adeola Adebisi, the aspirant in the coming governorship election in state, said, “It is unfortunate that since the coming to power of the ruling party in Nigeria, the country has been moving from one deplorable situation to another.
“Despite the unfortunate situation that the APC has plunged the nation into, it is unfortunate that some people are more concerned about their interests by defecting to the party, even at a time Nigerians are looking up to them for direction.
“While I am not against the right of people to exercise their democratic right of association, I find it difficult to understand defectors into APC citing their interests as motivation for defection and not service delivery, which should be the motivation.
“I do not doubt that the APC will be defeated in the 2023 poll across Nigeria. Before then, they will be defeated in Anambra, Ekiti and Osun states’ gubernatorial elections scheduled for November 2021 and 2022 respectively.”
“It is a shame and disgrace for any political leader to abandon the PDP, which Nigerians are looking up to for redemption, at this time,” he noted.
APC disagrees
The APC is, however, not buying any of the PDP’s arguments. It rather claimed that the performance of the Buhari-led Federal Government was the star attraction for the defectors and not coercion or blackmail.
National Secretary, Caretaker/Extraordinary Convention Planning Committee of the APC, John Akpanudoedehe, said, recently, in an apparent response to charges by the PDP National Chairman, Uche Secondus, that APC’s “track record in implementing projects and programmes that meet the needs of Nigerians” was attracting more members, supporters and sympathisers from all over the country into the party.
He said, “Strong internal democracy, transparency and fairness in the conduct of its affairs, which are demonstrably lacking in the PDP, are additional reasons that make the APC a better option for Nigerians, including serving State Governors, National and State Assembly members who are abandoning the PDP and joining the APC.
“Uknown to Wike, many of his colleague governors are also busy scheming and finding partnership with members of the Uche Secondus NWC, in a bid to stop him, almost in a repeat fashion of what played out during the 2019 presidential primaries”
“We want to remind Nigerians that while many APC members were victims of rigging when the PDP was in power, the APC has no record of rigging elections. The Muhammadu Buhari-led administation has introduced electoral reforms, aimed at ensuring that all loopholes that open the electoral process to possible abuse in future elections are sealed and eliminated.”
The bandwagon
The defection train this year has seen Governor David Umahi of Ebonyi State, his Cross River counterpart, Ben Ayade; and, lately, their Zamfara State colleague, Bello Matawalle, move into the APC with their supporters.
This, analysts said, should not be dismissed with a wave of the hand.
Umahi’s defection further weakened the PDP’s hold on the South East. In 1999, the party cleared all the five states in the region. Today, it boasts of only three. But for Governor Godwin Obaseki who picked the PDP ticket when APC slammed the door in his face, the party would have only been left with three states also in the South South today.
With the defection of the senators from Zamfara, along with their Governor, the PDP recorded a loss of four senators within a week. The implication is that the ruling party now has a huge majority in the Senate and so can pass any motion without recourse to how the others feel.
Whether the PDP is perturbed or not; defection from the party in the manner seen lately cannot be said to be a good signal, analysts conclude.
