PDP: My Readings From Contemporary History, By Taiwo Adisa
Whatever goes around comes around is a proverb from our elders. The elders also say that while digging a hole for your enemy, make it shallow. These are warnings to any would-be bad man to remember that tomorrow would certainly come, no matter how long it takes.
The above applies to the fate that is currently bedeviling the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), a party that once called itself the largest party in Africa. Last week, Nigerians saw combatants in the PDP tear at one another during the battle for control of the national secretariat of the party, Wadata Plaza, Abuja. Tears, not triggered from the body’s emotional bank, flowed freely at the plaza, located in Wuse Zone 5, Abuja, following the effusive release of tear gas by a team of policemen deployed to keep the peace. Some people ran helter-skelter trying to evade the pepperish air already polluted by policemen. The party has been in the news for the wrong reasons in the last two years. Things are bad, in fact, they are growing worse, to the extent that the best of the soothsayers in town would find it hard to decipher whether the party would live to tell the story of its current travails.
But who are the combatants in the PDP house of commotion? They are the members of the PDP Governors’ Forum (PDPGF), constituted by a few governors who remain standing in the already depleted and troubled party, the former governor of Rivers State, Nyesom Wike, the party’s national secretary, Senator Sam Anyanwu, the immediate past national chairman of the party, Ambassador Umar Iliya Damagum, the Board of Trustees (BoT), led by former Senate President Adolphus Wabara, and other actors including the members of the National Assembly, state chairmen of the party and other stakeholders.
Between November 15 and 16, the party held its elective national convention in the ancient city of Ibadan, the capital of Oyo State. A good number of the above-mentioned stakeholders were present during the convention. They moved motions, adopted positions, and called the bluff of the estranged national secretary, Anyanwu, who had announced days before that the convention would not hold. The Ibadan convention retaliated by suspending Anyanwu, Wike, and nine other leaders of the party, including the South-South zonal chairman, Chief Dan Osi Orbih. The convention then cut the tenure of the Damagum-led National Working Committee (NWC) short by dissolving the body and electing Alhaji Tanimu Turaki, SAN, a former Minister of Special Duties under Dr. Good luck, Jonathan, as the new helmsman. In doing that, the Ibadan convention cut an ‘I-don’t-care’ wink at the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), which did not appear at the gathering, apparently in compliance with one of the court orders that preceded the convention.
Maybe some of our compatriots who heard the cries for democratic freedom that oozed out of the Wadata Plaza on Tuesday, November 17, following the rain of tear gas, might have been carried away by the pro-democracy fighters of Wadata, who faced the Abuja fire. However, many compatriots would insist that it would be difficult to shed genuine tears for the PDP. The PDP is a party that appeared to have run into a moving train; its devastation, therefore, could be foretold. Many would say that the current state of things in that party was cooked by the oil of conspiracy and that the fresh-looking dodo (plantain) was fried in the Julius Caesar/Brutus scenario betrayal pot.
In 2023, betrayal and conspiracy were woven together as the plot to stop Atiku Abubakar from winning the presidency unfolded. Atiku had won the May 2022 presidential primaries. But shortly after, words like ‘equity, justice, and fairness’ became the catchphrases of the PDP campaign in many states. It was difficult to see a PDP governor who was really standing on the ‘Power to the People’ slogan. While some stood for justice, equity, and fairness, others were too lukewarm for a team that wanted to pull through a successful campaign.
No one could fathom why even the elders in that party could not rein in the combatants or what the agitation would bring to the fortunes of the party. But that agitation consumed the then party chairman, Dr Iyorchia Ayu, thus bringing control of the party under one of the main tendencies in the battle.
Not a few members of the party saw the awkwardness in that arrangement. They pushed for a change, but the PDPGF under Governor Bala Mohammed resisted whatever could bring in a candidate capable of leading the party independent of the dictates of some tendencies. Damagum, as acting chairman, should act for a few months and yield the leadership structure to someone from North Central to complete Ayu’s tenure. Names like Senator David Mark, Senator Bukola Saraki, and Senator Gabriel Suswam were bandied at different times, but it was clear that the conspiracy to keep Atiku at bay would ensure the party is never yielded to anyone who could run its affairs independently of the dictates of certain tendencies, especially the PDPGF.
Anyanwu departed the party to contest the Imo governorship election, but he came back and started laying claim to the same seat. I think it’s only in the legislature that one can contest a governorship seat and still return to his seat because lawmakers are elected for a particular session at a time. But Damagum paved the way for Anyanwau’s return, much to the chagrin of the South- East PDP caucus leaders who had already endorsed Hon. Udeh Okoye, as Anyanwu’s replacement.
As the governors kept dribbling, the space was getting narrow. Damagum and Anyanwu ran the affairs of the party the way they deemed fit, but it was certain their leadership was taking the former ruling party into the bottomless pit. There was a seemingly endless drama over a bid to hold the National Executive Committee (NEC) of the party, and genuine disillusionment ran through the minds of many members. Legislators were defecting to the ruling party in their numbers, and the main opposition party remained unmoved. It even closed its eyes to constitutional remedies as provided for in Section 68(1g) in the case of the National Assembly positions. Then, governors started leaving the party as well, and the whole place was becoming a ghost town. At one point, feelers from the party indicated that the drift in the PDP was such that the party would not produce a presidential candidate in the 2027 election, even though it was not planning to enter into any alliance.
You could, therefore, see that the tears triggered by the police invasion of the Wadata Plaza in Abuja were more or less friendly fire gone awry. It would look like the fight against Atiku had been pursued too deep into the forest, such that the commander can no longer hear the troops.
So, at what point did things fall apart this time? That is the question to ask the combatants. Atiku, Mark, and co, having been excused, why are the supposed pals beating war drums? The elders say whatever goes around comes around. Party members are bound to disagree; they agree to disagree a lot in politics. That is why politicians often reecho the British diplomat, Lord Palmerston’s claim: “In politics, there are no permanent friends, only permanent interests.” Even at that, there are rules of the game that must be respected. When rules are set, parties to the arrangement must keep the bargain. You don’t shift the goalpost when the match is on. In the PDP, lots of recent occurrences suggest that some of its leaders want the goalpost to be shifted during the match. In the build-up to the 2015 election, former vice president Atiku Abubakar led some governors and several members out of the party to join the All Progressives Congress (APC). The grouse was that President Jonathan should not have contested the 2015 election because “it was the turn of the North.” That claim was latched onto despite the clear provisions of the party’s constitution and the 1999 Constitution, which guarantees an office holder’s right to seek reelection. The claimants had also failed to stop Jonathan through the courts. Atiku and co defected in 2014, creating the avenue for PDP’s defeat in 2015. That act was not punished, and in 2023, history repeated itself. Atiku was given a dose of the medicine he had applied earlier to Jonathan when the G5 agitators conspired against him. That also led to PDP’s failure at the polls. The governors seized hold of the party, and they appeared to be coasting home. Now, friends have turned foes, and the centre is pulling in wide directions-whatever goes around, comes around. Only God knows which destination the current battle will lead the once bourgeoning party.