THE breakaway of a faction has lifted the whole
power play in the PDP party to a new crescendo.
The stake is upped and each one is fighting for its
own survival.
The way the situation is now, it is either going to
be a zero sum game, where the winner takes all
or the loser crashes. In the alternative, a much
more subdued PDP will emerge. The situation is
already creating orgasmic reactions from the
opposition parties.
How did things get to this sorry pass? The seed
has been sown right from the time of Gen
Olusegun Obasanjo as president of the country.
Arbitrariness was the order of the day. People
were appointed and removed at the whims of
those in authority.
During Obasanjo’s tenure alone, the PDP had five
chairmen of the party and five Senate presidents
within eight years – indeed a world record. In the
process, so many members were alienated.
The same methods were used to impose Yar’Adua
and Jonathan as president and vice president,
respectively. Many of them, including Atiku, left
for other parties. The short span of Yar’Adua’s
reign did not allow us to assess the extent he
would have gone in the use of presidential
powers but a few people like El- Rufai and Nuhu
Ribadu got a taste of it.
Jonathan came as a gentleman, ready to
compromise with everybody, unfortunately,
already aggrieved members, having learnt their
lessons under Obasanjo, plotted to regain control
of the PDP. Jonathan does not have the military
background and ruthlessness of Obasanjo and in
attempting to use Obasanjo’s strategies to make
the party toe the line, he is finding great
resistance. That is the situation of the PDP.
In a very simplistic manner, the problems of the
PDP can be solved if all of the participants agree
to subject themselves to a true democratic
process, beginning from the state level. If the
wishes of the PDP in terms of the majority are
allowed to reign, then everybody can go to sleep.
Unfortunately, this has not been possible –
Anambra, Rivers, Adamawa – to mention but a
few states, are still deadlocked on who their true
representatives should be. Therefore, as the
party cannot carry out genuine democratic
elections within, the fight must go on. The battle
is now between Jonathan and Atiku’s faction.
Will Atiku succeed? Why is he – Atiku- still
insisting on being a member of the PDP? What
does he stand to gain? Will it not be better for
him and acolytes to go and form a party of their
own instead of the roforofo fight they are
staging? Or is the whole thing just a gimmick to
gain control of the ruling party, as that is where
the juice is? Time will tell.
There is no need over-flogging the issue that
President Jonathan and his political strategists
mismanaged the affairs of the Rivers State crises.
A simple sincere face- to-face discussion with
Amaechi would have put the whole thing to rest.
Allowing the interest of the President’s wife to
interfere with the interest of the party was a big
mistake. Amaechi knows that his political
survival is at stake if allowed to be bullied into
submission; his political career will be over.
He is, therefore, like a goat that has his back on
the wall, he either wins it or lose everything. He
has teamed up with the North whose politicians
want the presidency to revert back to them. How
will the PDP handle the issue of Amaechi? It is a
sore thumb and must be delicately handled. It
must be noted here that, if Amaechi is persuaded
to revert back to Jonathan, the remaining
governors will be from the North, it will then,
become a North – South thing. Can Amaechi be
prised away from the group? Amaechi, from his
antecedents, is a very good political strategist.
How will the Jonathan group appease him?
We are reading from the papers that the elders of
the PDP are meeting to find a solution to the
whole crises. Where were these elders all these
while? Why did they allow the situation to get
this far? Was it in their interest to allow the
crises to degenerate to prove their importance to
the party? If they have not found solutions to the
party crises all these while, how can they do so
now? Do they belong to factions in the PDP? The
elders will have to clarify their stand and unless
they tackle these issues sincerely, no headway
will come out of it.
Basically, the whole thing is a chess game.
According to a Chinese proverb: “No one walks
out of his home without a purpose”. What do the
rebellious governors want? Sule Lamido’s
ambition to be president has been in the
grapevine for some time now, prodded by his
principal, Olusegun Obasanjo. It got to a stage
that Jonathan was addressing his state of the
nation gathering at Abuja, while Lamido was
organising a parallel function in his state. Indeed,
it is inferred in some quarters that the money
laundering charge against his son was an attempt
to rein him in and discourage his presidential
ambition.
Governor Aliyu has never been tied to one
position; he started this flirtation during the last
presidential election. Today he is for Jonathan;
tomorrow he is pursuing the interest of the
opposition. What manner of man will dine with
Mr President tonight and tomorrow declare for a
faction opposing him. What does Aliyu want? As
we know, he has never been one of the PDP
governors complaining of marginalisation;
whose interest is he serving? He should take a
stand and remain with it.
Rabiu Kwankwaso also has not declared his
grouse. Does he want to contest as a Northern
presidential candidate or he is being loyal to
Atiku Abubakar? The case of the Kwara State
governor is understandable; anywhere Bukola
Saraki pitches his tent, there will he be. The EFCC
has been hounding Saraki for some time now
because of his role in the demise of the defunct
Societe General Bank, he is fighting through the
opposition faction. All the other governors are
aligned one way or the other to the Northern
presidency movement.
What should Jonathan do? Is he capable of
bringing discipline to the party? If he chooses to
confront the opposition headlong, will such
action not destroy the party? Seven state
governors and a sizeable number of senators is a
strong force that cannot be under-estimated.
My take is that everyone should come to the
table with a sincere motive for peace in the party.
From the actions of Atiku and his gang, the
purpose is to regain control of the party
mechanism like the PDM of yore. Controlling the
party means being in charge of deciding
candidates that will stand for the elections and
invariably, if they win – control the government.
If the Atiku gang are not satisfied with the
running of the PDP like they claim, they should
exit the party and not heat up the polity as a
result. In fact, it will not be the first time that
Atiku will leave the party, if he decides to do so
now, he has been going and coming.
On the part of the President, he should – by all
means – do everything possible to restore the
confidence of the people. Imposition of
candidates and the likes should be avoided. Sort
out the Amaechi issue and for once, let us see the
real Commander-in-Chief in him.
Mr. SUNNY IKHIOYA, a commentator on national
issues, wrote from Lagos.
The Vanguard Newspaper
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