The Race for PDP National Chairmanship

The race for Peoples Democratic Party national chairmanship will be interesting because a lot is at stake. Onyebuchi Ezigbo writes

The tussle for the emergence of a new and substantive national chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has begun. Aspirants gunning for the coveted seat have started emerging ahead of the national convention, which is expected to hold in December this year. Among the politicians from the South-west that are in the race are a former Deputy Chairman, Bode George, former Ogun State governor, Otunba Gbenga Daniel, former Minister of Education, Prof. Tunde Adeniran, and a former PDP governorship aspirant in Lagos State, Jimi Agbaje.

For now, it is the South-west all the way as it is the only zone, where aspirants have come out openly to declare interest in the office. One of the aspirants, George, launched his campaign in Lagos recently with a challenge to other contestants to match his experience and competence on the job.

Having been around for quite some time within the leadership circle of the PDP, George confidently believed that with his intimidating experience and candor, he stood a good chance of securing the position. He has boasted that he possessed what it would take to rebuild the PDP and to put it in a position to win the 2019 elections. For him, there is no need to experiment with persons that have not tested leadership at that level.

But George does not seem to be in the good books of one of the power brokers, the group of PDP governors whose role in the emergence of national leadership of the party cannot be ignored. Apart from his not being able to resolve the crisis that engulfed the party in the South-west zone even as then Vice Chairman, those who are against his candidacy feel he would be arrogant and stiff in handling difficult issues in the party.

Another aspirant, Daniel, has paid his dues in the party and wields considerable influence having been part of the many efforts to rebuild the party and to reconcile disputes amongst its ranks. Daniel spoke of his aspiration recently saying, “It is not a do-or-die affair. It is an in-house contest and I’m running to win so as to bring my experiences to bear on the party and work on re-positioning the party”.

But the crisis in his South-west zone has not abated despite the series of peace efforts. Presently, the dispute between him and another party stalwart, the Senator representing Ogun East Senatorial District, Buruji Kashamu, has persisted with no signs of abating. His declaration for the chairmanship contest has sparked off further tussle between him and Senator Kashamu.

Former education minister, Adeniran, is an Ekiti State-born political tactician, who is going on with his well-laid out campaign for the plump job at the PDP. A visit to his campaign, office located in Wuse area of Abuja will convince anyone of his seriousness and cool-headed approach to the contest. Adeniran is well-connected to all the power blocks in the party and boasts a good knowledge of the workings of the party and its core vision, having been one of the founding fathers. He served as the chairman of the sub-committee of the party on strategy during the effort to resolve the leadership crisis in the party.

The other aspirant, Agbaje came into limelight in the PDP when he flew the party’s flag in the 2015 governorship contest. Agbaje also almost emerged as the PDP joker, whom some of the governors wanted to succeed the ousted former National Chairman, Senator Ali Modu Sheriff, at the botched May 21, 2015 national convention in Port Harcourt, Rivers State. He is expected to assert his personality again this time around, perhaps, not as anyone’s stooge.

But the list is not yet complete as a former Minister of Sports, Prof. Taoheed Adedoja, is also said to be interested in the job. Although he has not come out strongly as others have done, there are indications that he has a keen interest in the job and has begun to consult to that effect.

However, one of the issues believed to be heating up the polity as far as the PDP national convention is concerned is the controversy over the zoning of the chairmanship seat to the South-west. Before the botched May 21 Port Harcourt national convention in 2016, the party had zoned the position of national chairman to the South and the presidential ticket to the North.

In the same manner, stakeholders of the party in the South met and endorsed an agreement to further zone the chairmanship seat to the South-west since in their wisdom, the zone deserved to produce the person to occupy the seat. But from all indications, the jostle for the coveted position may not be limited to one zone in the South as there are signs of maneuvering by some other interested persons, who are being supported by influential stakeholders like the governors elected on the party’s platform.

Certainly, the old intrigues are here again. For instance, there are reports of plans to reorder the micro zoning arrangement that ceded the chairmanship seat to the South-west in order to suit the desires of those scheming to control party mechanism ahead of the 2019, even though such fears have been dispelled by some of the chairmanship aspirants. Yet, the plot of a possible hijacking of the process by powerful forces is getting thicker by the day.
In his intervention on the matter, the Chairman of the National Caretaker Committee, Senator Ahmed Makarfi, clarified the position of the party on the issue of micro-zoning of other national executive offices, saying it is not binding on members.

At a consultative meeting of party stakeholders from the North held in Abuja last week, Makarfi said in order to avoid dispute arising from the contest, party leaders in the South would be encouraged to also explore ways of amicably resolving the issue of zoning through dialogue and consultation of the stakeholders.

A lot has been said about how PDP’s penchant for imposition and anointing of candidates without regard to rules and processes had impacted negatively on the party’s electoral fortune. In the same vein, the party has suffered greatly in the past due to its style of politics, especially in the handling of processes leading to filling of elective positions in the party but it does not seem that it has been completely exorcised.

Thus, as the aspirants file out to contest for the chairmanship position and other elective positions, all eyes are on the leadership of the PDP to prove doubting Thomases wrong that it has sufficiently learnt its lessons from the mistakes of the past and that it is now ready to chat a new course by ensuring smooth and transparent emergence of new leaders of the opposition party.