BY AUGUSTINE AVWODE
With time running out and less than 70 days to the February 25, 2023, presidential election, investigation by The Point has shown that the major opposition People’s Democratic Party faces an increasingly bleak prospect in the run-in to Election Day. Frantic efforts being made to reconcile the aggrieved faction, now known as the Integrity Group, have failed woefully to yield any reasonable dividends.
The five aggrieved governors of the party, formerly known as the G-5 led by Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers State and some other party chieftains, recently in Lagos, announced the formation of the Integrity Group within the opposition party.
Other governors in the group are Samuel Ortom of Benue State, Seyi Makinde of Oyo State, Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi of Enugu State and Okezie Ikpeazu of Abia State. The governors and some aggrieved party members, who are bigwigs in their own right, are agitating for the removal of the PDP national chairman, Iyorchia Ayu.
They contend that the current configuration of the party is such that it negates everything about inclusiveness, fairness, justice and equity.
Checks by our correspondent revealed that insincerity on the part of the party leadership and the adoption of a ‘carrot and stick’ policy while systematically buying time are the major hurdles working against the reconciliation bid.
A source in the party from one of the South-South states, who would not want his name mentioned, told our Correspondent in confidence that only a miracle would make reconciliation in the party possible now.
He stated that “from what I know today, only a miracle can make it work. You don’t do things in a manner that is full of insincerity and expect other people to follow you as if they are fools. Our leaders are not sincere.”
The source explained that whereas the party leadership shouts in the open that it is particular about reconciliation, it is actually sidelining the real people. He argued that if the party was serious, two things that happened last week shouldn’t have happened at all. He contended that while they are scheming behind the scene, they are praying that a time comes when it would not be necessary to talk to the aggrieved party anymore.
“If you say you are working for reconciliation, you don’t go and appoint people to replace those you are talking to. That was what happened last week. They made strategic appointments to checkmate others. The party appointed Governor Ademola Adeleke to a very high position in the South West, so Seyi Makinde is out. In Benue, Gabriel Suswam is in, so Samuel Ortom is out. In Rivers, you have next-door neighbour, Governor Duoye Diri, so Nyesom Wike can be contained. And many others like that.
In Abia, you appointed the former Governor, Theodore Orji. This is the thing we are talking about. If you are sincere, you would deal straight and not cut corners.
“If you say you are working for reconciliation, you don’t go appoint people to replace those you are talking to. That was what happened last week. They made strategic appointments to checkmate others”
“Then, look at Governor Aminu Tambuwal visiting Governor Samuel Ortom. The reading by the others is that he visited the man close in proximity to appeal to Northern sentiments. With that, they hope to break the ranks of the Integrity Group. Why didn’t he visit Abia or Enugu or Oyo? Are they not all in the same PDP as Governors? That is why here, they feel they are not sincere and this idea of sweet-talking people into agreeing to whatever you want will not work with these people. I think we really have a problem and the party leaders are feeling it now because the ruling APC is gaining more ground. But some hawks are in there that do not want the right things to be done. I don’t know what they are afraid of?” the source said.
Last week, Governor Aminu Tambuwal of Sokoto State visited his Benue State counterpart, Governor Samuel Ortom. Tambuwal, who is also the Director General of the People’s Democratic Party Presidential Campaign Council, admitted that politicians will always disagree but said the need to seek reconciliation and mend fences, most times, help rebuild the ranks of members for a stronger purpose.
Tambuwal said, “We, even in our families, have reasons to disagree several times and even come back stronger. So, it’s a work in progress. We are interested in bringing everybody together and working together.”
But a blunt Ortom, while commending Tambuwal, said “The leadership of this party has failed in taking advantage of the challenges of the party and making it stronger. They have failed to do this. Rather, it is arrogance, it is a nonchalant attitude. Nobody cared to reach out to us even when we voiced out that things weren’t going well.
“Talking to me alone will not solve the problem, but reaching out to others will be more meaningful. I also believe he will also try to do the needful to put the party together as it is,” Ortom said.
Tambuwal had penultimate Saturday announced some appointments that looked like positioning people in places of those who are seemingly difficult to work with. The party approved the appointment of the Osun State Governor, Ademola Adeleke, as a member of the campaign council.
Adeleke was appointed as the Chairman of the South West Coordinating Committee of the campaign council, according to a notice signed by Tambuwal. These appointments said to be “with immediate effects,” include Senator Theodore Orji as South East Chairman; Senator Duoye Diri, South South Chairman; Senator Gabriel Suswam, North Central Chairman and Darius Ishiaku as the North East Chairman.
Worried by the possible effect of not fashioning out a united front within the PDP for the electoral contest ahead, the Vice Presidential Candidate of the party and Delta State Governor, Ifeanyi Okowa, last week appealed to members of the opposition to unite to defeat the same-faith ticket of the ruling APC saying it would divide Nigerians further.
Speaking at a Town Hall meeting with Christian leaders in Owerri, Imo State, Okowa said that splitting of opposition votes may indirectly lead to the emergence of the same-faith ticket which could lead to the closure of the Chapel at the Presidential Villa.
“We are in a very delicate situation in our country and I know that our fathers in the Lord have been praying for all political parties. But if the opposition remains continually divided in such a manner that they are sharing their votes, we will be indirectly helping the same-faith ticket to emerge in this country,” he said.
Our source further said that already, the calculation in some quarters within the leadership of the party, because of the fact that the presidential and national assembly elections are taking place simultaneously, claims that one governor will be able to influence the outcome of the one over the other is remote.
“We have been told that in their caucus meeting, they are saying no governor will be able to influence the voting pattern. They are saying our people are not educated and that once it is the logo and not the name that would be voted for, the possibility of differentiating between presidential and other elections is almost nil. So they are playing for time. They are buying time so that if by mid-January they see that it is late to sensitise the voters, they can simply say to hell with you. That is the game they are playing. But they don’t know that these people are young, fast thinking and pragmatic individuals. My worry is that the PDP may remain in opposition for another four years,” he bemoaned.
The indication that the Integrity Group will not settle for a half deal was revealed recently when a former National Deputy Chairman and a leading chieftain of the party in the South West, Olabode George, declared that the faction will not support or campaign for the party’s presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, in the 2023 general elections. He, however, assured that the Integrity Group will support all other candidates of the party across the country in the coming elections.
George said “Despite the ongoing inept attitude of the gladiators holding us down, we are ready and will, with all the strength we can muster, God helping us, support all the party’s candidates, except for the Presidency because the top party managers definitively refuse to share the six top positions before the general elections and not after the election as being canvassed by these few people.
He added that “By insisting that the presidential candidate, national chairman and Director General of the Presidential Campaign Council of PDP should come from a particular section of the country, you are trying to destroy the culture and norms of the party in a nation with diverse ethnic groups and sectarian plurality, where the strong fiber of national union is still much tenuous, where suspicions still flare, where the sectarian divide is yet volatile. I make bold to say the recourse to the principle of zoning is the stop gap that induces a sense of belonging and unity among our people.”
As the clock ticks towards 2023, whether the party leadership will learn the art of ‘stooping to conquer’ or damn the agitation of the Integrity Group, only time will
tell.
