Rancour-free Convention: Has PDP Beaten APC to Its Game?

Chuks Okocha writes on how the Peoples Democratic Party adopted a rancour-free consensus approach to elect over 95 percent of members of the National Working Committee (NWC), while the ruling All Progressives Congress has continued to postpone its National Convention

On October 30, 2021, the Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP) held its national convention in Abuja amid accolades and loud ovation from Nigerians. The opposition party, which lost the presidential seat to the All Progressives Congress (APC) both in 2015 and 2019, held many people by surprise when it pulled through its convention despite the ominous signs of litigations and internal turbulence.

In the build-up to the PDP convention, there were ominous signs that all was not well with the PDP. In the South-west, there was the Governor Seyi Makinde and former Governor Ayo Fayose’s supremacy battle, which almost tore the zone apart. In the South-east, the PDP lost grip of a major stronghold, Ebonyi Stat, to the ruling APC due to the defection of Governor Dave Umahi.

The story was the same in the South-South with the unexpected loss of Cross River State to the APC.

But apart from these major losses, many also expressed worries over the war of supremacy between the ex-chairman of the party, Prince Uche Secondus, and many political heavyweights and powerbrokers in the party, notably Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers State.

It was against this background that analysts had expressed concerns about the party’s ability to organise a peaceful convention and place itself in position as Nigeria’s leading opposition party ahead of the 2023 election. But at the convention ground in Abuja, the PDP pulled a surprise and staged what many across party divides have described as its most successful convention in recent years.

Rancor-free Convention

To the surprise of many bookmakers, the PDP held its convention which saw to the election of new NWC who would oversee the activities of the party in the next four years. For many pundits and political analysts, including those in the ruling party, the convention was rancour-free as 18 executives out of the 21 emerged through consensus arrangement.

Only the positions of Deputy National Chairman, North, Deputy National Chairman, South, and National Youth Leader were contested for. The result has triggered thoughts among pundits that the opposition party has shown commitment to reform itself and wrestle power from the APC in 2023.

Although there are concerns on how the party would manage its post-convention issues and fielding of candidates for the general election, many have hailed the party for doing what the ruling party has almost failed to do since the beginning of the year.

The party has also shown that it is ready to do things quite differently from the way it operated in the past.

The Place of the North-central

First, at the convention, PDP zoned its chairmanship position to the North-central, a region that is largely considered the backwaters of Nigerian politics. The decision led to the emergence of Dr. Iyorchia Ayu, a former Senate President, as the party’s chairman. Many pundits have said that Ayu is not new to party politics and his emergence would breathe life into the party’s structures across the federation.

Beyond Ayu’s experience as a grassroots politician, the decision to pick the party chair from the North-central has given the region a sense of belonging, reinforcing the party’s claim about doing things differently.

The Age Factor

Perhaps the most fascinating take-away from the convention was the election of Muhammed Suleiman, a 25-year-old, as the National Youth Leader of the party. Suleiman’s emergence has also rekindled the hope many Nigerians have in the youth constituency in the nation’s drive towards development.

What will the APC do differently?

While the opposition PDP continues to look ahead in mobilising Nigerians into its fold, scheming for the next general elections, the APC is still struggling to organise its national convention after several months of promises to do same.

After postponing the exercise at different occasions, the ruling APC has yet to decide on the date for its national convention.

There are concerns about state chapters of the party which are yet to conduct membership registration/revalidation and congresses. There are also multiple cases of internal wrangling and supremacy wars among members.

As of November 2021, members of the party in states where parallel congresses were held have failed to withdraw court cases they filed to challenge the congresses while others still nursed grievances sustained from the congresses with little hope of reconciliations. The situation has continued to worry party members and leaders alike.

First is the choice of the zone from which its national chairman would emerge. From the line-up of candidates that have so far expressed interest in the chairmanship seat, the contest seem to have been narrowed to only the North-Central and North-East geopolitical zones. Of these two, the case for the former has been the loudest for obvious reasons. On this, the APC has it job well cut out.

But by far the biggest challenge the ruling party faces right now is perhaps the choice of its National Chairman. Whereas the PDP has settled for a 69- year- old academic as its National Chairman, several pundits have posited that the APC could do better regarding the age and exposure of its National Chairman.

In a statement earlier in the week, a pressure group within the ruling party, the APC Professionals Group (APG), stated that it was time for the APC to organise itself better than the PDP, starting first with the choice of the leaders that will pilot the affairs of the party for the next four years.

The group, talking through its National Coordinator, Ambassador Alfred Chukwuma, therefore appealed to President Muhammadu Buhari, Senator Bola Ahmed Tinubu, Governor Mai Mala-Buni and a host of other top stakeholders of the party to ensure that the party put its best foot forward in the choice of the leadership hierarchy of the party.

Consensus as the new trend

But by far the biggest achievement of the PDP Ahmadu Fintiri-led PDP National Convention Organising Committee was the successful adoption of the option of consensus in arriving at the choices of the NEC members of the party.

It will be recalled that the PDP governors, led by Governor Aminu Bello Tambuwal of Sokoto State, on a week earlier before the convention hinted that they would adopt the consensus option. He said it was to avoid any form of rancor or disagreement.

“We are hoping that at the end of the day we are going to have a very hitch-free convention where hopefully we will have all or most of the officers emerge via consensus.”

“So far, we can say that we have achieved not less than 80 per cent of that process and it’s still ongoing.

In any case, consensus is part of the democratic process; so, we hope to stabilise the party with the new officers for the challenges ahead, he said”

At the end of the exercise, 3,600 delegates voted for new members of the NWC of the PDP at the convention, with only the office of the Deputy National Chairman (South) and the Youths Leader contested out of the 21 NWC positions

PDP Bounces back

Meanwhile, at the PDP convention in Abuja, Ayu noted that the PDP is back to wrestle power from the APC.

He said: “I want to sincerely appreciate the PDP family. Today is simply a thank you address. When we started this party 23 years ago, we never in any way imagined that the journey would get us to this stage.

“A stage where we ruled for 16 years, we went into rough times, but for anybody who bothers to see, PDP is back.”

As the PDP continues to bask in the euphoria of its successful convention, what special tricks does the APC have up its sleeves to counterbalance the PDP’s rising positive rating?

The APC Professionals Group, it would seem, have some ready answers to this. At its last press conference in Abuja, the group said the APC has all it takes to counterbalance the PDP onslaught.

“It would only take a sincere soul-searching, and the ability to look inward.

“If it is about the North-Central, the APC already has competent candidates contesting from there.

If it’s about consensus, the APC has already shown from its previous congresses that that consensus is the best and most suitable way to go.

“And if it is age related, the APC not only has in his fold but also has actively contesting, sound and competent middle aged party chieftains who are capable of doing things differently as the National Chairman of the party.”