By Henry Umoru
…Anenih’s BoT to the rescue
When the National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Alhaji Bamanga Tukur, came on board on March 24, 2012 alongside the present members of the National Working Committee, NWC, but with two gone before the NWC marked one year in office, it was very clear that what the party required was reconciliation.
The self- acclaimed largest party in Africa really needed that trouble shooting especially against the backdrop of the irreconcilable differences that emanated from the congresses, primaries and even the National Convention held at Eagle Square, Abuja, venue of the emergence of Tukur and his team.
The story of how they came in, the story of how many aspirants were forced to step down, the story of how the aspirants did that reluctantly and how tears almost rolled down the faces of old men who had to withdraw from the race against their personal conviction, all is now history.
Realising the enormity of the problems on ground which saw aggrieved members dumping the party and others adopting a siddon-look approach without making significant inputs to the development of the party, it became imperative that if Tukur must succeed, total reconciliation, even if it means crawling and begging, was the way forward.
For this reason, the PDP boss started with the promise of carrying out total reconciliation. He came up with an agenda of Triple R, codenamed Reconciliation without vengeance, Reformation without revenge and Rebuilding on the basis of equity and justice, to bring members of the party together.
According to him, the Triple R agenda was intended to transform the party into a vehicle for national development in consonance with President Goodluck Jonathan’s transformation agenda. However, achieving this intention seemed a big challenge because of the deep-seated animosity in the party.
some of the PDP governors
And to make matters worse, the marriage of All Progressive Grand Alliance, APGA, Action Congress of Nigeria, ACN, All Nigeria Peoples Party, ANPP, and Congress for Progress Change, CPC, which gave birth to the yet to be registered, All Progressive Congress, APC, signified that the ruling party must put its house in order if it must continue in power beyond 2015. Added to this is the claim that some of the aggrieved PDP governors may dump the party and join forces with the APC ahead of the 2015 polls.
Even within the NWC, there are crises which have already consumed some members. The members include the sacked National Secretary and former governor of Ogun State, Prince Olagunsoye Oyinlola; the former National Auditor, Chief Bode Mustapha and the National Vice Chairman, South West, Engr. Segun Oni, all believed to be loyal to former President and past Chairman, Board of Trustees, BoT, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo..
Tukur, for one week, embarked on what was described as a ‘national reconciliation and consolidation tour,’ across the six geo-political zones of the country,culminating in the grand finale in Abuja.
Topping the issues were lack of internal democracy, marginalization, discrimination on the basis of gender, lack of patronage to party members and something close to used and dumped after election, just as many members said there was need for peace and unity in the party as that was the only way PDP could maintain its position not only as the ruling party, but also to attract greater development to Nigeria.
But the question on the lips of many observers was, would the tour achieve the purpose or will it be a smoke screen to shield public attention from the real issues in the party?
The question came up following the absence of some senior stakeholders in the zones. In the South-West, some major players like Obasanjo; Chief Richard Akinjide; former Ogun State governor, Chief Gbenga Daniel; Chief Bode George; Chief Ebenezer Babatope; Minister of State, FCT, Olajumoke Akinjide; former Speaker, Dimeji Bankole; former Oyo State governor Alao Akala; Oyinlola; former Ekiti State governor, Engr. Segun Oni, among others were absent at the meeting.
In the South-East, notable politicians like former Senate President Ken Nnamani; former Vice President Alex Ekwueme; Chief Chis Uba; Professor Chukwuma Soludo; Arthur Eze; Senator Jim Nwobodo; Chinwoke Mbadinuju; Adolphus Wabara; Senator Anyim Pius Anyim; Dr. Sam Egwu; leaders of two factional groups from Anambra State, Prince Ken Emeakayi and Chief Oguebego; among others, stayed away from the meeting. Governor of Ebonyi State, Chief Martins Elechi; Govertnor Sullivan Chime of Enugu; however attended while Governor Theodore Orji of Abia State was represented by his deputy. Also in attendance were Chief Emmanuel Iwuanyanwu; Dr. Okwesilieze Nwodo; and Professor Chinedu Nebo.
In the South-South, it was the same story as notable PDP members were also not there while in the North-East, party leaders like former Vice President Atiku Abubakar; former Minister of Education, Professor Jubril Aminu; among others, were absent and it was the same situation in North-Central and North-West where the governors were absent.
To top it all was the grand finale which took place in Abuja and that was the anti-climax of the event and also an opportunity for the NWC to celebrate its one year in office. The event, which took place at the International Conference Centre, Abuja, witnessed a low turn out of governors with only two governors-Idris Wada of Kogi and Godswill Akpabio of Akwa Ibom- in attendance as well as the deputy governors of Rivers, Katsina, Niger and Gombe.
President Jonathan was represented by Vice President Namadi Sambo; while the Secretary, BoT, Senator Walid Jubrin, stood in for his chairman, Chief Tony Anenih. Senate President David Mark; Speaker Aminu Tambuwal; Deputy Senate President Ike Ekweremadu; Deputy Speaker Emeka Ihedioha; and ministers were also not at the event.
The absence of these major key players from the zones and that of Abuja may have suggested that all is not well and the leadership of the party must take a second look at the reconciliation move.
But, in his defence a day after the Abuja event, Tukur explained that majority of the governors were outside the country when it held and that, that explained why they were not at the Abuja grand finale of the reconciliation tour.
According to him, the reconciliation meetings across the zones and Abuja were designed for members, most especially those who were estranged, and not necessarily for state governors who, he said, had played their parts meaningfully in the reconciliation agenda at the zonal level.
Tukur however boasted that the PDP would never succumb to blackmail coming from those he described as virulent opponents, particularly on their desire to paint a picture of a PDP being at war with itself.
He stressed that the PDP had always been in accord with its governors, as evident in the encouraging outcome of the reconciliation tours across the federation, even as he described the reconciliation initiative across the zones and Abuja as a huge success.
PDP Chairman, Bamanga Tukur .
The PDP leader, however, appealed to the media to show deep understanding of the party’s efforts to promote democracy, inclusiveness and a sense of harmony among members, as, according to him, the party remained the best political instrument for deepening democracy in Nigeria.
“This is the first time in the history of democracy in Nigeria that the NWC of a party would embark on a nationwide tour on reconciliation drive. This is the first time that the leadership of the party went out of comfort to have a feel of what has been happening to our members at the grassroots. This is the first time that we are making conscious efforts to return theparty to the owners; the ordinary members,’’ he stated.
“Who should appreciate these efforts if not you people in the media? If we are making efforts to promote peace in national interest, no right thinking person or group of persons should make attempts to promote hate and cause disharmony. I think the media should not join the pseudo-democrats, the demagogues and the treacherous fellows who always love to reap from chaos and crises. This is why we require the media support in our desire to re-invent politics and recreate Nigeria”.
According to him, during the tours, the PDP realised that imposition of candidates during elections had been the root cause of misunderstanding within the party, adding that it was against this backdrop that the party had been fashioning out agenda to promote internal democracy and transparency in future elections as a means of earning the confidence of members.
Tukur said the need to transform PDP into an agenda-setting and issue- based party more from election winning alone had been the reason it entered into bilateral relationship with the African National Congress (ANC) in South-Africa, the ruling parties in Ghana, Sierra Leone and other African countries.
But Akpabio, while defending the governors absence at the Abuja event, noted that the state chief executives were not duly informed of the programme, adding that even him as the Chairman of the PDP Governors’ Forum got a late invitation.
Chief Tony Anenih
The Akwa Ibom governor, who was one of the two governors who attended the event, said, “The PDP launch was not well publicised. I had a meeting with the PDP Publicity Secretary, Olisa Metuh. Many governors were not aware of the ceremony. Metuh mentioned to me if I will be at the International Conference Centre and I said for what? And he said for the grand finale of the zonal meeting of the National Chairman and I told him I was not aware of it. And somehow, I was receiving the Super Eagles in my state.
“I still said let me struggle to get to the International Conference Centre to represent the governors of the PDP many of whom were not aware that the event was going on. I knew that if the governors were not there, Nigerians will think they boycotted the meeting. It was more or less a slightly rushed affair. It was not well publicized, so you cannot blame any governor that was not there. I was even surprised that the governor of Kogi State heard about the function that morning and he managed to be there.”
From Tukur’s and Akpabio’s statements, it will appear there is a communication gap in the PDP family. Also at his residence on Wednesday while speaking with journalists, the PDP National Chairman dismissed the speculation that there was a rift between him and the governors elected on the platform of the party, adding that his relationship with the governors was 100 percent cordial.
He said, ‘’’There is no rift between me and our governors. The governors are the commanders of our party in their respective states working along with the Chairmen for the progress of the party; there is no competition between me and them, our common goal is to win the next general elections.”
Anenih’s trouble shooting mission
Sensing the implication of the low turnout of governors and stakeholders at the zonal meetings and that of Abuja and the coming on board of APC, the BoT Chairman, Chief Tony Anenih, a strategist and one who knows when to strike politically as well as penetrate, has begun a trouble shooting mission to Jigawa and Kano states where he met with the governors, Sule Lamido and Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso respectively.
Anenih’s team had to meet with them to plead that they stay back in the PDP. On the team are Ken Nnamani; Chief Ebenezer Babatope; Walid Jubrin; former PDP National Chairmen; Dr. Ahmadu Ali, Senator Barnabas Gemade and Dr. Bello Haliru Mohammed.
Also on Wednesday, Tukur disclosed that the NWC will soon commence a tour of the states having concluded that of the zones. The visits may have afforded the NWC the opportunity to know that all is not well in the zones and Abuja; they may also have given Tukur and his men the opportunity to appreciate the logjam and to know that the problems vary and would require different formula to solve them.
However, the NWC needs to move fast to prevent the opposition from taking advantage of what is presently on ground to upstage the PDP from the Presidency in 2015. The leadership must use the findings from the tour to plan, strategise and forge ahead.
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