IF there is any problem the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP will have to contend with now after the primaries it conducted nation wide, it is the headache of how it will heal the wounds, the party and members sustained during and after the primaries.
Prior to the presidential primaries of the PDP, the party was polarized between the North and South. The issue of a consensus candidate came up when it became very clear that some people especially those in the north were of the view that President Goodluck Jonathan ought not to have shown any interest in contesting for the position against the backdrop that there was a zoning arrangement on ground before the death of late President Umaru Yar’adua.
This became a very serious issue and eventually Mallam Adamu Ciroma led Northern Political Leaders Forum, NPFL came up with Atiku Abubakar as the consensus candidate for the north. He was chosen ahead of former Military President Ibrahim Babaginda, ex_National Security Adviser, Aliyu Gusau and Kwara state governor, Bukola Saraki who were in the race for endorsement by the Mallam Ciroma Committee.
From the Presidential primaries of the party held at the Eagle Square on January 13, 2011 where President Goodluck Jonathan defeated former Vice President Atiku Abubakar to clinch the Party’s ticket, there have been ill-feelings especially from the other side of the divide. The result caused serious bitterness in the Atiku’s camp.
Weeks after the primaries, Atiku Abubakar who got 805 votes at the Convention as against the 2,736 votes President Goodluck Jonathan polled, has refused to congratulate the winner and move on. Only last week he said he was now ready for dialogue, but that was immediately contradicted by revelations that he had petitioned the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC over the conduct of the party primaries.
In the states, the PDP has witnessed very massive division after the primaries, even as parallel primaries took place in some of the states and this has led to mass exodus of aggrieved members to clinch tickets of other parties like Labour Party, LP, Action Congress of Nigeria, ACN, Congress for Progressive Change, CPC, among others.
Crisis in Ogun state is still raging with two parallel primaries conducted. There was the one conducted by the factional Chairman of the Ogun State chapter of the Party, Chief Joju Fadairo, which produced Gboyega Isiaka as its governorship candidate and another primaries conducted by the faction loyal to former President Olusegun Obasanjo which produced Major_ General Adetunji Olurin(rtd) as the governorship candidate They both picked and filled the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC forms.
In Enugu state, there is also a very serious crisis as to who emerges as the authentic governorship candidate of the party following parallel congresses by the two factions. While the Vita Abba led Executive came up with governor Sullivan Chime, the Okey Ogbonna’s faction produced Engr. Anayo Onwegbu.
The problem is not only in Ogun and Enugu States, it cuts across all the states of the Federation where following irreconcilable differences, many of the PDP members dumped the party for others. The deputy governor of Plateau State Mrs Paullen Tallen left to clinch the Labour Party governorship ticket for the state, Senator John Shagaya also left for LP. Some other governorship aspirants from the state like Jimmy Chetto, John Alkali, among others from Plateau state are aggrieved, waiting for the process of internal healing.
In Nasarawa State, some PDP members left the Party to fight the governor, Aliyu Akwe Doma, they include the CPC governorship candidate, Alhaji Usman Tanko Al_Makura, former Minister of Works, Hassan Lawal, among others.
Senators George Akume, Joseph Akaaghegher have dumped the party to fight the Benue State governor, Gabriel Suswan.
In Anambra, former Minister of Information and Communications, Professor Dora Akunyili dumped the PDP and the government to get the APGA Senatorial ticket, even as former Taraba state governor Jolly Nyame is now a Senatorial candidate for Taraba North on the platform of ACN while General Buba Marwa, Nigeria’s High Commissioner to South Africa who lost out to the Adamawa State governor, Murtala Nyako dumped the party.
In Kogi, those who lost out to Jibrin Ali from Kogi East in the gubernatorial race are aggrieved especially those from the other senatorial districts against the backdrop that besides the East Senatorial district, other senatorial districts have been shortchanged in the quest to produce the governor of the state.
The party must as such act fast because of the lurking presence of a formidable candidate in the ANPP, Prince Abubakar Audu, the former governor of the State. The party must reach out to the likes of Deputy Chief of Staff in the Presidency, Sola Akanmode, ‘the bridge’, former Minister of Justice and Attorney_General of the Federation, Chief Bayo Ojo, among others.
In Kwara state, the fight is in the family of Olusola Saraki. While the governor, Bukola Saraki remains in the PDP, the father left the party with his daughter, Senator Gbemisola for the Allied Congress Party of Nigeria, ACPN to actualize his ambition of making his son hand over to his daughter as governor while the daughter will at the same time handover to her brother as Senator.
The question now is, how is the national leadership of the party handling the process of internal healing of wounds?
Former President and Chairman, Board of Trustees, BoT of the party had on Tuesday at the Ibadan rally suggested that a reconciliation committee be put in place. It is hoped that the party will immediately set up the Committee, at least to bring back everyone who left and those who are about leaving because at present, the main opposition candidates the party now has especially at the state level are those who left the party to get tickets from other parties.
The party must act fast or a replay of the Anambra scenario where PDP members went to other parties and got their tickets because the house was not in order and at the end of the day, they lost out to Peter Obi of APGA.
The Party had last week through the National Publicity Secretary, Professor Rufai Ahmed Alkali beckoned on those who lost out at the primaries to sheath the sword.
According to Alkali in his statement titled, ‘’Time to move on”, said, ‘’Now that we have submitted our list of candidates to the Independent National Electoral Commission, we call on all members of the PDP, especially those who also sought to fly the flag of our Party unsuccessfully to eschew all bitterness and rancour and rally round our Presidential candidate, Dr. Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, His running mate Arc Mohammed Namadi Sambo and all candidates of our Party at all levels to ensure that our collective interests as a Party are advanced and protected.
‘’We appeal to all our Party men and women to realize that no matter who the candidate of our Party is, the ultimate consideration is the Peoples Democratic Party which is the only Party in Nigeria that accommodates all the creeds, cultures and socio economic tendencies in our country.
‘’We are happy that the tortuous process of nomination is now behind us. It is time to move on and confront the challenge posed by our opponents in the forthcoming general elections.
‘’With the zeal and enthusiasm demonstrated by our members during the nomination exercise and the transparent manner of our National Convention, it is clear that the PDP remains the most organized, most democratic and most detribalized Party in Nigeria. We are therefore confident that Nigerians will continue to identify with this great Party which represents every interest in Nigeria.”
As events unfold in the country and ahead of the April general elections, we wait to see how the PDP, the self acclaimed largest party in Africa will address its internal problems as we wait for the setting up of the reconciliation Committee.
Source:vanguardngr.com
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