2023 AND PDP’S SINKING SHIP
As political preparations and activities gather momentum ahead of the 2023 general election, the main opposition, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) seems to be embroiled in a turbulence of its own making just few days to the lifting of ban on campaign activities. While the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) is putting its house order and waxing stronger by the day, the PDP since its presidential convention which witnessed an intense competition between the duo of former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar and Rivers State governor, Nyesome Wike, has been locked in a war of attrition.
The latest salvo in that combo is the National Executive Council (NEC) meeting of last Thursday, which though saw embattled national chairman of the party, Prof. Iyorchia Ayu surviving a confidence vote, coming on the heels of calls for his removal by the Rivers governor and his cohorts from the South, also witnessed the group abstaining from the meeting as a way of registering their displeasure.
The resignation of Walid Jibrin as PDP BOT chairman and his replacement by former Senate President, Adolphus Wabara allegedly to appease the Southern caucus, is apparently an effort in futility as Governor Wike has vowed to carry on with his fight for the soul of the party.
As a show of the party’s double standard and wholesale hypocrisy, Wike and the southern bloc which had been instrumental to the continued relevance and the fortune of the party since its abrupt displacement from power in 2015, is being taken for a ride, despite the magnanimity displayed in 2019, which saw the party ceding the presidential ticket to the north, which eventually produced the same Atiku Abubakar as presidential candidate.
What the current situation shows is that a party that is promising to unite and stabilize the country cannot even unite and stabilize itself. While their apologists and ideologues have been issuing remarks and innuendoes to conceal the reality on ground, it is clear that the Nigerian public and masses that were the victims of the old order during its 16-year-rule, won’t be surprised as the leopard rarely shed its spots. The pledge of rescue is nothing but another hackneyed phrase designed to hoodwink their way back to power, as they rally their marauding gang for yet another push.
But like the popular phrase, there is no honour among thieves, and without sincerity of purpose and objective, how can any organization, let alone a political party maintain its unity and coherence? In sharp contrast, the APC has shown itself a party of inclusiveness and common interest. Atiku has never been loyal to any PDP past president. He betrayed them by decamping just to fight against them. Now he wants governors to be loyal to him and support his own ambition never. PDP caucus knows that Atiku wouldn’t have been in PDP by now, if he had lost to Wike. He wouldn’t have supported Wike. This is a man who told Goodluck Jonathan to step down, that it was the turn of the north to rule in 2015; he didn’t even stop there. He joined a second force (APC) to ensure that the north grabbed power in 2015. Now he has returned to PDP to contest without considering that it is the turn of the south to succeed Buhari. My question is this, has he lost that sense of justice and fairness he preached in 2015 to ensure power is shifted to north?
So those people you are counting on as PDP members in South east, South south and South west are not with Atiku despite the fact they are still in PDP. You may think Wike’s fight against Atiku is between both of them. Wike is just the arrow head, Atiku will be disgraced in 2023 election, mark my word.
Dr. Tom Ohikere, Publisher of APC NewsOnline, Abuja
