PDP Swimming in Avoidable Crisis

With the inability of the leadership of the Peoples Democratic Party to manage the fallout of the party’s presidential primary, there are growing fears that the endless crisis could cost the main opposition party victory in 2023 general election, Chuks Okocha writes

It was shocking for many to see that the meeting of the National Executive Committee (NEC) of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) last week in Abuja could not resolve the crisis in the party. Though the gathering, which came after weeks of fireworks  by the loyalists of the party’s presidential candidate,  Atiku Abubakar and Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers State, made far-reaching decisions aimed at dousing the tension that had gripped the party since it concluded its national convention last May. However, the NEC of the party did not address the elephant in the room which was to prevail on the National Chairman, Dr. Iyorchia Ayu, to resign from his position.

The party had last May held a special convention to elect its presidential candidate for the 2023 general election.

While making a presentation at the event, Governor Aminu Tambuwal of Sokoto State, who had also been screened to contest the presidential ticket, announced his withdrawal from the race and asked his supporters to back Atiku

At the end of the exercise, Atiku polled 371 votes and was declared the winner, while Wike, who was his closest rival, secured 237 votes. Former Senate President Bukola Saraki placed third with 70 votes, followed by Governor Udom Emmanuel of Akwa Ibom State (38), and Governor  Mohammed of Bauchi State governor (20).

A day after the primary, the PDP national chairman paid a visit to Tambuwal and hailed him for his efforts during the convention. “Thank you. You are the hero of the convention,” Ayu reportedly  told Tambuwal as they shook hands.

This raised mutual distrust within the party. Further cracks in the opposition party widened after Atiku overlooked Wike when selecting his running mate and settled for Governor Ifeanyi Okowa of Delta State.

In a response, Wike’s camp began to agitate  that Ayu should resign as national chairman of the party on the grounds that he and Atiku cannot be from the same region – the North. They argued that the constitution of the party does not support the emergence of the presidential candidate and the national chairman from the same geopolitical extraction.

Since then, the party has been enveloped in a crisis. The members of NEC gathered last week to ratify the resignation of the Chairman of the party’s Board of Trustees (BoT), Senator Jibrin Walid, to pave the way for the emergence of the BoT Secretary, Senator Adolphus Wabara, as the acting chairman of the BoT and the emergence of Oyo State governor, Seyi Makinde, as the new chairman of PDP Governors’ Forum following the purported stepping down of Tambuwal from the position.

Many thought these  would assuage the ill-feelings in the party, but  those who vowed that Ayu must go, did not reverse their position.

Teaming up with Oyo State Governor, Seyi Makinde; Benue State Governor, Samnuel Ortom; Abia State Governor, Okezie Ikpeazu and others, Wike has vowed to sustain the fight for the return of a healthy party structure that would allow an even representation of the interest of the North and South in the national leadership of the party, insisting that Ayu must go.

For instance, responding to the outcome of the NEC meeting, the Rivers State governor declared that the members of his camp were not discouraged by the vote of confidence passed on Ayu by the NEC, insisting that it mustthe right thing must be done. He said the current leadership structure, with the North holding the presidential ticket as well as the national chairman positions, was against the Constitution of the party and a gross injustice to the South.

He said the resignation of the BoT chairman was a distraction because Atiku had told him that Ayu must relinquish his position. He added that it was erroneous to think that he was bent on destroying the party when he was actually advocating for justice and equity.

Wike said: “Ayu said if the presidential candidate comes from the North, he will resign after the convention of our party, and that the chairman of our party will come from the South. When the North-Central leaders met in the house of the Bauchi governor, Bala Mohammed, he said so there. When he met the caucus of the Senate, he told them that.

“They have today told the BoT chairman to resign. Who is talking about the chairman of BoT? What is the role of a BoT? It is an advisory body. We have never zoned BoT. It is not a decision-making body. Those who run the party as it is today are the presidential candidate and the chairman.

“They will sit down and make decisions. The candidate is from the North, the chairman is from the North; who will represent the South in decision-making? It is not about me. They are flying propaganda; will I be chairman of a party? No.”

Toeing Wike’s line, a PDP chieftain in Rivers, Ogbonna Nwuke, has said the resignation of Jibril as BoT chairman, as well as the stepping aside of Tambuwal as chairman of the PDP Governors’ Forum, was not enough to appease Wike and his team. 

“The situation is very clear; you cannot have a presidential candidate from a particular zone and the national chairman from that same zone. That does not answer the equation question inherent in the PDP Constitution. We must do the needful if we want peace as we get closer to the kick-off of campaigns.”

However, Makinde has since rejected the new position while Tambuwal described the report of his resignation as fake.

The former APC spokesman in the state, who recently defected to PDP commended Jibril for always being on the path of truth but added that the BoT was only an advisory body, which has not much effect.

“Wahid Jibril is a gentleman. From the beginning, he was always on the path of truth. But that is not enough to balance the imbalanced equation as we see it in the PDP today. The national chairman of the party has to resign. That demand is very key to us,” he said.

Wike’s position was reechoed at the PDP’s South-west stakeholders’ meeting with with Atiku, in Ibadan last Wednesday, where Makinde insisted that Ayu must resign for the people of the South to feel a sense of belonging in the party.

Though he described Atiku in his welcome address, as “the incoming President of Nigeria in 2023,” which elicited a loud applause from the party stakeholders at the venue of the meeting, Makinde, however, added that what is needed is for there to be equity in the party.

He said, “The truth is that we do not have any issue either with our party or our candidate. If there are challenges they must be tabled. We are supposed to give hope to our people; we want them to listen to us. Our party wants to rescue Nigeria and our candidate is a unifier. He wants to restructure Nigeria. Eight years of the All Progressives Congress have left us sharply divided. The issue is that we must practise what we preach. If we want to unify Nigeria, we must unify the PDP first.

“If we want to restructure Nigeria, we must have the willingness to bring inclusivity to the PDP. Do we have the capacity? The answer is resounding yes. The message from the South-West PDP is the South-West is asking that the National Working Committee of the PDP should be restructured. We are asking the National Chairman to step aside so that the South will be fully included. That is the message.”

But responding to Makinde, Atiku said that the national chairman’s resignation is also possible, as long as it is in accordance with the party’s constitution.

Atiku said: “I have no problem about anywhere any party member comes from but it must be done in accordance with the party’s constitution or regulations and practices. What governor Seyi Makinde is calling for is achievable under the party’s constitution under the party rules and regulations and procedures.

“This constitution must guide whatever changes we make, so that is why we cannot do anything outside that constitution unless it is amended. We do not say people should not have different views but all views must go through the party’s constitution, rules regulations and our practices.”

However, the senator representing Benue North-west, Emmanuel Orker-Jev, said the party may be plunged into a bigger crisis if Ayu steps down. Speaking on Sunday Politics, a programme on Channels Television, the senator said instead of insisting that Ayu should resign, his resignation should be “negotiated.”

“The biggest enemy of the PDP will be the PDP itself. Every day, I go to bed and wake up very unsatisfied with how things are going. Not to say that things will not be resolved, but it’s not going to be an easy thing. The resignation of the board of trustees chairman is one step to finding the solution to the problem.

“I am a lawyer and I have read the Constitution of the party. If Ayu steps down today, what will happen? The deputy national chairman north will still take over if we are going by the constitution; if we are not going by impunity. If the deputy chairman north steps down, then it will go to the deputy chairman, south.

“Ayu will step down but it has to be negotiated in such a way that the party will not go into a deeper crisis. The best that can happen is that we call for a special national convention and even change the constitution of the party,” Orker-Jev said.

For now, many fear that if Atiku does not make quick concessions that can lead to the resolution of the crisis in the party, it could re-enact the tragedy that befell the party in November 2013 when it lost five serving governors to the then opposition All Progressives Congress (APC), which eventually led to the defeat of the party in the 2015 presidential election.