- Where we got it wrong – Chieftains
- Calamity befell our party, but we’ll reconcile – Phillip Aivoji
- How to deal with Wike, other G5 members – Party Executives
BY TIMOTHY AGBOR, BENEDICT NWACHUKWU, FESTUS OKOROMADU MAYOWA SAMUEL AND BRIGHT JACOB
With the major opposition People’s Democratic Party gradually losing control and influence in the affairs of Nigeria, prominent leaders of the party have canvassed for renewed and sincere reconciliation for it to bounce back to reckoning and win future elections in the country.
The party stalwarts expressed concerns that the opposition party might die under the Bola Tinubu presidency if not led by a person who can pull every member or group back into the fold and build a strong party.
They said it was apparent that the internal acrimony that struck the party in the build-up to the 2023 presidential primary and the general elections had contributed in great measures to its downfall in the recent polls.
The aggrieved forces who are mainly in the group of former five governors of the party, led by Nyesom Wike, have not relented in playing opposition roles within the PDP.
This was evident recently in the politics that played out over the choice of the minority leadership in both chambers of the National Assembly, when the federal legislature chose its principal officers.
For the first time in a long while, especially since Nigeria’s return to civil rule in 1999, the PDP has failed to assert any form of control or influence in the choice of the minority leadership of the legislative arm of government as it was said that Wike and his aggrieved caucus appeared visible in the politics of the minority leadership.
The activities of the aggrieved former governors have allegedly left PDP in palpable disarray and also further exposed the party’s gradual and systemic weakening. The G-5 had resolved to continue to stand in opposition to the PDP and seize as many opportunities as they continue to avail themselves to give back to the party a dose of its own treatment.
The PDP, it was learnt, is planning for a total reorganisation, if the presidential election tribunal did not favour its presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar.
The prominent party stalwarts, including a former Deputy National Publicity Secretary of the PDP, Diran Odeyemi; a Deputy Minority Leader of the 10th Senate, Senator Lere Oyewunmi; PDP’s South West Zonal Secretary, Rahman Owokoniran and a former chairman of Osun PDP, Adekunle Akindele, in their separate interviews with The Point, identified true reconciliation of those aggrieved as the way forward for the party.
Odeyemi said the party had yet to establish anti-party activities against Wike and other former governors, adding that expelling the G-5 members would further implode the party, owing to the large supporters’ base the group enjoys.
According to Odeyemi, that Wike and others have been hobnobbing with President Bola Tinubu is not enough reason to expel them.
“If you say you are removing Wike, it’s not only Wike you are removing; you are only looking at the name Wike. Wike has his supporters virtually everywhere in Nigeria and as it is now, it’s very difficult to establish a case of anti-party against them (Wike and other aggrieved leaders); it is very difficult”
He noted that any of the aggrieved G-5 members could be expelled from PDP if they accept appointment from the APC-led Federal Government.
“I agree with you (The Point) that the party needs to be re-organized but before you can do re-organization, there is what we call reconciliation. We have to embark on real and genuine reconciliation before anything and the matter of principle in politics is that politics is a game of numbers, the more the merrier.
“If you say you are removing Wike, it’s not only Wike you are removing; you are only looking at the name Wike. Wike has his supporters virtually everywhere in Nigeria and as it is now, it’s very difficult to establish a case of anti-party against them (Wike and other aggrieved leaders); it is very difficult.
“So, rather than tow the difficult line of expelling them, I believe the party can still sit down; we are all down, he who is down should not be afraid of any fall again. We are all down now; let us agree together that we want to rise up again. So, I believe in reconciliation rather than expelling anybody.
“Expulsion has never been a great thing for the party and I think that’s why the leadership has not taken any definite step against the G-5 members. Visiting the President or conversing with the President has not established anything other than the fact that they are Nigerians and anybody could go to them. Or are you now saying because Governor Ademola Adeleke is PDP, he wouldn’t go to the President? No! It doesn’t work like that,” he said.
Also believing that real reconciliation would restore the party’s vibrancy, the incumbent South West Zonal Secretary of the party, Rahman Owokoniran, noted that the interests of the aggrieved members should be considered if the efforts at mending fences would work out.
“The way forward is that when there are issues like we have them currently, they take a while before being resolved. I don’t know what you mean by reconciliatory efforts have not been working. Reconciliation takes a while, there will be talks and people start to bare their mind, with time, there will be resolutions on the way forward.
“It is possible to still win them (G-5 Governors) back fully with the party, we have asked them and they said they are not leaving the party and that they are holding on to the party and that they are not going anywhere, that’s a point to the fact that they must meet at some point and their (Wike and other aggrieved leaders of the party) interests must also be considered,” he noted.
Owokoniran, however, said reconciliation efforts would start after the Election Petition Tribunal might have decided on the fate of the PDP Presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar.
“Reconciliation and reorganization of the party have to wait until after the tribunal. We do not expect any activity that will suggest that we are not interested in the tribunal, of course the party is very much interested in the tribunal,” the former member of the Lagos State House of Assembly opined.
For the immediate past chairman of Osun PDP, Adekunle Akindele, the emergence of the minority leaders of the National Assembly was fully backed and supported by the leadership of the PDP, contrary to reports that Wike influenced the choice of his candidates in the red and green chambers.
He said, “For now, the party is focused and I don’t really agree with you that G-5 members are weakening the party because the party is preoccupied with our case before the Presidential Election Tribunal and everything at our disposal has been deployed towards proving our case in court. Thereafter, the party will come back to the roundtable and begin to reconcile all the various interest groups.
“I don’t equally want to agree with you that the G-5 influenced the choice of the principal officers in the National Assembly. The National Assembly is an institution on its own and of course, you know that it’s an arm of government, so, they know how to decide the choice of their principal officers and that’s what they have done, except the press has contrary information that we don’t know. But, for our party at the House of Representatives and the Senate, whatever they have done to choose principal officers, especially those that concern our party, the PDP, are in order and we are okay with it.”
Similarly, the new Deputy Minority Leader of the Senate, Senator Lere Oyewunmi, disclosed that the leadership of the PDP was duly carried along in the choice of the principal officers, especially that of the minority caucus.
“Our rule, Order 27, Section 2 says that the National Assembly shall choose their leaders among themselves and by themselves. When the names were announced, there were no objections; those are the most important things. If the objections had come from among and within the Senators, then you can ask questions. The party has elected us and we have to be consulting them and taking advice from them.
“If you come to PDP in history, during former President Jonathan era, when the speakership was zoned to South West, did it come to the South West? It didn’t come to the South West and nothing happened. It’s a matter of getting the votes of your colleagues and once you do that, you are good to go.
“We carried our national party leadership along. We can’t afford to leave them behind as the minority. We visited our leaders, Presidential and Vice Presidential candidates and took advice from them and we promised our party that we are not going to let them down,” the PDP chieftain who represents Osun West Senatorial District explained.
‘We await start of reconciliation efforts by PDP stakeholders’
The South West General Secretary of the PDP, Rahman Owokoniran, said members of the party were awaiting the leadership to kickstart reconciliation efforts with the aim of repositioning the party.
Speaking on the way forward, Owokoniran told The Point that “reconciliation is the only way forward.”
“This is what was adopted at the last stakeholders’ meeting in Abuja. So, we wait for the leadership to kickstart the process.
“I believe there are so many angles to this but the major attribute of this is the human element and unless the human element is put together to conceive the way forward, any other thing we’re talking about may just be theoretical,” he added.
Calamity befell our party, but we’ll reconcile – Aivoji
The Lagos State Chairman of the PDP, Philip Aivoji, also disclosed that although calamity befell the party, leaders were making plans to reconcile all aggrieved members.
Aivoji said, “What we experienced during this last election, I’ve never experienced in my political history. How the election was handled, how so many things went wrong, how INEC that was supposed to be an umpire did what you all know happened.
“We are in the mode of reconciliation, we want to reconcile with everyone and that’s the mood of what the national chairman is letting us know and that’s what we are following.
“I don’t want to join issues with those who are saying they want to beg somebody to come and become the national chairman, I don’t know anything about those things, and I can’t rely on what people say in social media. Until we get to the bridge, we’ll cross it.
“But what I know is that calamity has befallen the party and even the nation. If you go around now, you’ll see most people don’t even go out, no hope for the country. But those of us who know God and still trust the God we serve, we have hope, and we know the country will still be good.
“We cannot condemn ourselves because certain things, like manipulation, make people fail to win elections. But we should keep up the hope and make sure we reconcile all. We’re carefully building up the party again and see what we can make of it,” he noted.
Also reacting to the free fall of the PDP, the Director, Atiku Media Office, Paul Ibe, said, “Let me start by saying there’s no organization where there are humans and there won’t be frictions.
“What is going on in the PDP is not unusual. Everybody, including the APC, have their own crisis. But the truth of the matter is that there’s an ongoing process for reconciliation.”
“A committee has been set up. Recently, they had a meeting on all of these (issues). So, there’s no free fall in the PDP,” Ibe posited.
Ibe added, “The people that sponsored the crisis in the PDP were doing it for their personal interests and we are beginning to see why they were doing it.
“(There are) those who wanted ‘coverage’ and ‘protection’ from all of the maladies, all of the things they have done. And those who wanted to continue to play one role or the other because they’re looking for ministerial appointments.
“So, it’s clear why what happened, happened. The party is not in a free fall. Presently, the party is focused on the litigation process in the election tribunal.”
Asked whether a loss at the Election Petition Tribunal would necessitate a reorganization in the party, Ibe said the PDP was confident of victory because the party had “put forward a very robust case matched by evidences” at the tribunal.
According to him, the overwhelming evidence had rattled the APC because “they know they’re sitting on a keg of gunpowder.”
Moreover, Ibe said, “You see, as far as reorganization is concerned, you must be aware that the party has started a process that will review and see how it can forge ahead.
“At every point in time, we do a review and we take cognizance of what has happened and why it happened.”
However, he said because of the process of reconciliation in the party, the members of the G5, like the prodigal son, could also have a rethink and return to the party.
“It is obvious, even to the blind, that the journey they embarked upon was a journey to enhance their interests. And sooner than later, they’ll harvest in abundance all that they have sown,” he concluded.
A member of the PDP and the National Publicity Secretary of the Middle Belt Forum, Dr. Isuwa Dogo, thinks the PDP still remains a formidable opposition in the light of speculations of division within the party.
He said the party was restrategising to deliver better leadership for Nigerians.
On whether the G5 leader by former Rivers State governor is now in charge as it is believed that his nominees won the minority leaders in the National Assembly, he said, “Wike is the greatest loser, as far as we are concerned, PDP as a party remains strong. I know we are having some challenges right now but we will soon overcome them.
“The party has not lost anything in terms of the National Assembly; the question you should ask is what party do those leading the minority caucus belong to. We are getting stronger and will offer better opposition in the days ahead.
“Those who think it is over with the PDP as a party are joking, let them watch and see. We do not have to disclose all we’re doing internally in the public, but rest assured that our party will bounce back stronger.
“Talking about Wike, did you hear of his last visit to Aso Rock? What did he have in return for betraying the party? Even the Rivers State he thinks he is in control of, you watch out what happens in the future. We are politicians. This is our game and we know how to play it.
“Those who think it is over with the PDP as a party are joking, let them watch and see. We do not have to disclose all we’re doing internally in the public, but be rest assured that our party will bounce back stronger”
“I never expected the PDP to be in control forever, neither will the APC, so anyone who thinks it’s over for the PDP, that person is a dreamer.
“The talk or speculations about sharing of portfolios in the National Assembly are mere distractions. The reality is that the minority leadership position in both the upper and lower chambers is controlled by the PDP. Those appointed into the positions are members of PDP, so for those of you speculating that they belong to either Wike or Atiku camp that is your problem. They have not come out to tell you that they belong to one camp or the other. What is important to us for now is that they are members of the PDP and they will work in the interest of the nation and the party not of any individual.
“But what I can assure you at this moment is that Wike is a loser from both ends. You watch out how things play out soon.”
Saraki under pressure to lead PDP as national chairman
Meanwhile, it has been reported that the governors and National Assembly members elected on the platform of the PDP are putting pressure on former Senate President Bukola Saraki to accept to lead the party in the capacity of national chairman.
A member of the party’s National Working Committee said, “Those mounting pressure on Saraki are visiting his Maitama, Abuja; and Ikoyi, Lagos, homes under the guise of discussing the future of the main opposition party. While some make it a single-person visit, others come as small groups.”
Another member of the NWC said that with the current situation of the party, which had left the national secretariat as a graveyard with no activity, the only solution is a reorganization with somebody like Saraki at the helm of affairs.
According to him, Saraki is a natural unifier who enjoys wide acceptability and goodwill among all groups including the G-5 Group, Atiku’s acolytes, the non-aligned members, and others, such as the members of the NWC.
Saraki, he said, did very well when, in 2021, he handled the reconciliation assignment of the party that brought life back into the party after the 2019 loss of the presidential election.
“Saraki also enjoys the support of elder statesmen like Generals Ibrahim Babangida, Aliyu Gusau, and the rest of them. His acceptance by the youths is also a strong factor,” the NWC member said.
However, it was gathered that the former Senate President has continued to rebuff the overtures.
A source close to the former Senate president said that he had insisted that the discussion about the next executive should not come up until after the litigation over the presidential election result had been finally resolved.
The source added that Saraki had cautioned those who spoke to him about the need to avoid opening a fresh crisis by trying to terminate the tenure of the present NWC members.
The source added that Saraki made it clear that he would rather operate from the background to help the party than to take a formal party position.
It is, however, believed that those close to the former Senate President within the party are unrelenting about getting him to lead the party.
Those mounting the pressure on him, it was learnt, were planning to involve his associates in the business world in the move to get him to help rebuild the party.
