Ever since the Peoples Democratic Party, few weeks ago, announced its decision to hold its elective national convention on December 9, aspirants for the position of national chairman have feverishly embarked on what is known in political circles as quiet campaign to win the support of influential members of the party.
Aspirants resort to quiet campaign because delegates that will decide their fate are not yet known. There is no clear time table for the convention and the field has not yet been declared open for aspirants to express their interest in any of the offices that may interest them. Party leaders say the committee set up to organise the convention may soon come up with a clear time table.
“Those already campaigning for various offices are not necessarily jumping the gun. You can see posters of some aspirants already campaigning for various offices here in Abuja. But active and effective campaign will commence as soon as the time table for the convention is out and people are asked to come out to collect forms for the various offices. The caretaker committee will ensure that the party holds a successful convention,” a party chief said last week.
Investigations reveal that some aspirants are reaching out to important leaders for support, while others are trying to test the waters by publicly announcing their interest to contest for the top job. Party leaders, who spoke to our correspondent, seem to have decided on the kind of chairman needed by the party at this time, bearing in mind that the party is just coming out of an excruciating internecine war that took so much time and resources. Chairman of the rival All Progressive Congress, Chief John Odigie Oyegun, said recently that the PDP was just coming out of intensive care and nobody should take anything it says seriously.
Reacting to the APC chairman’s comment, spokesman for PDP, Prince Dayo Adeyeye, said that Chief Oyegun would be surprised when it dawned on him and those thinking like him that the PDP is actually stronger than the APC.
For almost two years, the PDP was at crossroad as two different factions of the party laid claim to its leadership. Ali Modu Sheriff, who was one of the founding fathers of the ruling APC, was brought in as the interim chairman of the PDP after he fell out with powerful forces in the ruling party. All organs of the party agreed he should temporarily take charge of the party until a proper convention to elect officers was held within three months. One thing led to the other and two governors spearheaded the retention of Sheriff as chairman until things almost fell apart for the party at the convention scheduled to hold last year in Port Harcourt. The Port Harcourt convention settled for Ahmed Makarfi as chairman of the newly set up caretaker committee while Sheriff insisted he was still in charge. The two factions claiming to be in charge of the party headed for court and the two factions at different times won and lost in court. The party was bruised and its ego seriously injured before the Supreme Court finally pronounced Makarfi the authentic chairman of the party. Party leaders reason that now is the time for the party to settle down if it intends to win the presidential election and do well in all other elections scheduled to hold early in 2019. That explains why those who regard themselves as true and committed PDP leaders are rooting for a careful choice of party chairman.
The caretaker committee chairman has made it clear that various important offices are zoned to different parts of the country. He emphasised the fact that the North would produce the Presidential candidate while the South would produce the national chairman of the party. As far as the party is concerned, the race for the presidential ticket of the party is open to the entire north while that of the chairmanship of the party is open to the entire south.
When the party took that position before the aborted convention in Port Harcourt last year, leaders of the party from the three geo-political zones in the south decided to resort to what was known as micro zone and the position was zoned to the South West of the country. However, Raymon Alegho Dokpesi collected the expression of interest form, though he is from the South South geo political zone of the country.
According to some reports, there were attempts by some governors to foist a candidate on the party last year. Such moves, according to some party chieftains, would have further polarised the party. The saving grace was that the convention was aborted. The caretaker committee has allegedly vowed not to allow such to happen at the convention scheduled to hold in Abuja on December 9.
Who are the chairmanship aspirants and what are the chances of the aspirants? Until aspirants collect the expression of interest form, it cannot conclusively be decided that those indicating interest in the position will run. But from all indications, those who collected forms last year for the convention that was held in Port Harcourt are likely to run on December 9. Most prominent aspirants include: Chief Olabode George, Prof. Tunde Adeniran, Raymond Dokpesi, Jimi Agbaje, Gbenga Daniel and Femi Fani Kayode.
Olabode George
He has been touted as the most likely aspirant to emerge as winner of the election scheduled to hold on December 9 provided there are no manipulations. Investigations reveal that what attracts party leaders to him is his experience in party administration. George was the national vice chairman of the party when the party controlled about 26 states, out of 36, in the country. He later became the national deputy chairman, when Ahmadu Ali was the national chairman of the party. His experience in party organisation is considered to be invaluable at this moment. Even though some governors are reported to be scheming for other aspirants who they consider to be politically stainless, George is reported to be on top of the situation. Those opposed to him claim they don’t want a chairman that the opposition parties can refer to as a former jailbird.
He was previously sentenced to a two-year imprisonment for what was referred to as contract splitting, when he served as chairman of the Nigerian Ports Authority. Although he served his sentence, the Supreme Court, which is the highest court in the land, ruled that he should not have been sentenced in the first place because he was not guilty of the offence for which he was sentenced. Usually reliable sources close to him said he might commence full scale campaign for the office this week.
Jimi Agbaje
Agbaje is a pharmacist, who contested the governorship election in Lagos on different political platforms between 2007 and 2015. He contested the last gubernatorial election on the ticket of the PDP in Lagos and lost to Akinwumi Ambode of the APC. It is generally believed that he won the gubernatorial ticket of the Lagos PDP with the assistance of Olabode George, whose political structure in Lagos remained solid and almost unbeatable in the last one decade. Last year, Agbaje and his aides publicly stated that he was invited to contest for the chairmanship position by powerful stakeholders in the party. The stakeholders referred to are governors Nyesom Wike of Rivers State and Ayodele Fayose of Ekiti State.
Party leaders are, however, said to be wary of supporting his candidature because they realised that the two governors brought Ali Modu Sheriff to the party as interim chairman. The result of their insistence on Sheriff still rankles. Party sources said that when the lists of delegates from the North West and North East were slashed at the Port Harcourt convention, last year, powerful leaders from the two northern zones left the convention in anger. The result was that the leaders remaining behind quickly turned it to a non-elective convention and the tenure of the caretaker was extended by one year. A party chieftain complained to our correspondent in Abuja last week that Agbaje had not been tested in any political position.
“We need people with the necessary experience for the position, bearing our recent past experience. No doubt, Agbaje must be a good man for the governors to be supporting him. But these same governors also brought Sheriff. There will be no problem if he can win in a free and fair primary to be organised for all aspirants. Let there be no manipulations,” he said.
As of the time of putting together this report, it was not clear if the powerful forces were still behind Agbaje. Some party chieftains claimed he had fallen out of favour because he did not identify with the party at the critical period, when Sheriff and Markafi slugged it out in court.
Party leaders seem to have decided on the kind of chairman needed by the party at this time, bearing in mind that the party is just coming out of an excruciating internecine war that took so much time and resources
Tunde Adeniran
Prof. Tunde Adeniran is a respected member of the party, who in the past served the party in different capacities. He was minister of education during the Olusegun Obasanjo Presidency. Party leaders sing praises of him because of his commitment and loyalty to the party. Like George, Adeniran has experience and he is well connected with leaders of the party. He is regarded as a leading aspirant for the job. There is no doubt that Adeniran is a serious aspirant.
Raymond Dokpesi
Dokpesi is another respected leader of the party. He has expended his time, money and energy on the survival of the party, when the going was tough. Dokpesi is a man party leaders speak about with reverence. His commitment, they say, qualifies him to hold any position in the party.
The only dark spot that may stand between him and winning the chairmanship is that many party stalwarts from the South are favourably disposed to giving the job to somebody from the Southwest. Dokpesi is from the South South geo-political zone of the country. If he decides to run, he may campaign hard and go round all the 36 states to meet delegates for support, as he did last year.
Usually reliable sources close to him say he may change his mind and support one of the candidates. Some other sources disputed the rumour. Dokpesi could not be reached to confirm or deny if he would run for the position on December 9. His decision may go a long way to affect the outcome of the result of the chairmanship election.
Femi Fani Kayode
Fani Kayode is a vibrant politician from the South West. He was a minister during the Olusegun Obasanjo administration. He was also the Director-General for the Goodluck Jonathan campaign organisation. He was one of the founders of APC. Fani Kayode is perhaps about the most outspoken PDP chieftain today. The only man who can possibly rival him is the Governor of Ekiti State, Fayose.
Last week, there were reports that pressure was being mounted on Fani Kayode to contest the chairmanship position at the convention. Party leaders in position to know say he may be testing the waters to know the thinking of the party leaders about his chances. Fani Kayode, by all standards, is good enough to be chairman of the party, considering the important positions he held in the recent past. However, there are speculations that he may throw his weight behind one of the leading aspirants. His relatively young age and temperament may not be in his favour.
Gbenga Daniel
Otunba Gbenga Daniel has been touted as one of the aspirants for the position of PDP chairman. He was the governor of Ogun State for eight years. It is believed that some serving governors and former ministers want him to run. Yet, others say Daniel is now the new bride as far as the powerful and influential PDP governors are
concerned.
Sources close to Daniel say he does not have his heart in the race and he may not contest against Bode George because they had been very close since his days as the governor of Ogun State. He recently publicly stated that he had nothing against George and that it was not true that there was any misunderstanding between him and George. Unofficial sources say he has indicated his interest in running for the position through a letter to the party Caretaker Committee last week.
