Rising from Slumber, PDP Govs Tackle APC in Enugu

For far too long, the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, has been a ghost of its old self. Although it rose to the challenge of providing strong opposition to the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) between 2015 and 2019, the party descended into deep slumber post-2019 election, ridden by self-inflicted crises and unable to keep the ruling party in check or stamp its foot hard on its errant members, who openly work against its interest.

The unity and resoluteness of what remained of the PDP after it lost the presidency and majority hold on the National Assembly was best demonstrated by how the defeated party rallied its National Assembly members-elect to a political masterstroke by trumping the APC in the race to the leadership of the 8th National Assembly. 

That manoeuvre saw the emergence of Senator Bukola Saraki as President of the Senate, while Senator Ike Ekweremadu emerged as Deputy President. Likewise, the PDP greatly decided the emergence of Hon. Yakubu Dogara as Speaker, etc.

It was also an era that saw some PDP leaders show character, refusing to join the bandwagon of defection to the APC allegedly, to either ensure that their bread was buttered or to escape the sledgehammer of what many saw as a selective anti-corruption war of former President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration. 

Those party leaders like Ekweremadu, Enyinnaya Abaribe, Nyesom Wike, Ayo Fayose, Ahmed Makarfi, David Mark, Olisa Metuh, and Uche Secondus, among others, not only held the ruling party to account but helped the PDP regain its mojo. So revived was the party that the likes of former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, Dogara, Saraki, Aminu Tambuwal, Samuel Ortom and a host of others, who had abandoned it, saw it as attractive again and returned home.

Fast-forward to 2019, the PDP gradually retrogressed to a weak opposition, unable to chastise the ruling party or stand up to those bent on undermining the party from the inside.

Worse still, the party undermined its constitution when it became obvious that it was scheming to hand the presidential ticket to the North even when it was clear that it was the turn of the South East. This led to the exit of Mr Peter Obi, striping the PDP of its holds on the South-South and South East. And for dividing its votes between Atiku and Obi, many analysts believe, and rightly so, that the PDP snatched defeat from the jaw of victory in the last presidential election.

A thunder from the blues

It was against this backdrop that many, including the Federal Government, were taken by surprise by the recent outing of the PDP Governors’ Forum in Enugu with 12 out of the 13 governors in attendance. 

Those physically present were Governor Bala Mohammed of Bauchi State, who is also the Chairman of the Forum, as well as Governors Siminalayi Fubara of Rivers State, Seyi Makinde of Oyo, Umo Eno of Akwa-Ibom, Sheriff Oborevwori of Delta, Godwin Obaseki of Edo, Caleb Mutfwang of Plateau, Agbu Kefas of Taraba, Dauda Lawal of Zamfara, Ahmadu Fintiri of Adamawa, Douye Diri of Bayelsa, and the host, Dr. Peter Mbah. Only Governor Ademola Adeleke was unavoidably absent.

Analysts believe that the fact that it was the first time the PDP governors were coming together in such large numbers and outside Abuja in recent years was enough threat to the APC. Likewise, the uncommon camaraderie they portrayed, including the trended video of them dancing to Enugu traditional music all dressed in the Igbo Isiagu, spoke volumes.

Also, they were strategic in holding the meeting in Enugu where one of the poster boys of the party, Dr. Mbah, is acknowledged even by the presidency, which had bestowed two successive awards on him in recent times for doing so well. 

As the Chairman of the Forum rightly pointed out, there could not have been a better place to hold the meeting given the governor’s giant strides that are acknowledged nationally and by the United Nations, which recently decorated him as a Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) Champion. Mbah’s sterling performance, he noted, was the true character of the PDP.

The Enugu declaration

Rising from their extraordinary meeting, the governors denounced what they described as an abysmal and lacklustre performance of the All-Progressives Congress -led Federal Government, while also commending the Governors of PDP-controlled states for their innovative approaches resulting in developmental projects across the country.

Presenting the communique, the Chairman of the Forum, Mohammed said: “Forum notes with dismay and grave concern the mismanagement of the economy by the APC-led Federal Government.

“The Forum regrets that the 16 years of tremendous development under the PDP-led Federal Government, during which the country witnessed single-digit inflation, the establishment of the existing anti-corruption institutions and a higher standard of living for every Nigerian has been eroded during the life span of the lacklustre APC-led Federal Government.

“The Forum identifies with the Nigerian populace in these troubling times and promises to bring back those good old days, of the low inflation rate, affordable food, fuel and transportation, steady FDI inflows resulting in high naira value and the greater quality of human life as recorded.

“The Forum therefore calls on all Nigerians to refrain from anarchy as we all march towards the return of the PDP to power in 2027.”

On the forthcoming Edo and Ondo governorship elections, PDP governors admonished all the parties to “ensure that campaigns are issues-based, violence-free and in strict compliance with the provisions of the electoral act.”

“The Forum urges the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to provide a level playing field that guarantees transparent, fair and unimpeachable elections as any act of bias will be resisted.

“The Forum also urges Mr. President to show leadership as a true democrat by refraining from making any statement suggestive of political interference in the entire process.”

The governors equally frowned at the protracted minimum wage negotiation in the face of extreme hardship, urging the Federal Government to expedite action on it. They, however, noted that the ability of other tiers of government to pay should be taken into consideration.

“Labour’s demand for a substantial salary raise is eminently justified and therefore commands the total support of the Forum. “While the Forum fully supports Labour’s demand, agreement must take into consideration the ability to pay by the local government, sub-national and federal government.

“While negotiations are ongoing, we appeal for restraint in both utterances and actions that could lead to the complete breakdown of law and order and ultimately, the collapse of the economy,” the opposition governors said.

Instructively, the governors threw their weight behind Governor Fubara in the crisis rocking Rivers State and pushed for a political solution. This came to many as a surprise, especially given that Wike allies were very much in the meeting.

“The Forum notes the crises in the Rivers State Chapter of the party and commits to ensuring peace. The Forum has resolved to stand by Sir Sim Fubara, Governor of Rivers State; while at the same time employing wider consultations with stakeholders for a peaceful resolution and thus find a lasting solution to the crises,” they said.

The governors while welcoming the Supreme Court judgement on local government autonomy, promised to continue to support LG autonomy, but urged that “the implementation of the court decision must be done in a manner that does not create a trust deficit between the federal government and sub-national governments while also ensuring that the system does not suffer.”

They commended the host governor, Mbah “for holding the Party together not only in Enugu State but in the entire South Eastern geo-political zone as well as extolled his virtues and achievements as evidenced by major landmark projects and interventions”.

Of course, they did not fail to touch on the party’s forthcoming congresses, calling for and also committing to a free, fair, and credible process.

APC Reacts

Expectedly, the APC has not taken PDP’s heavy vitriols lying low, as it insisted the opposition party was morally unfit to criticise or blame it for the state of the nation’s economy. APC’s National National Publicity Secretary, Felix Morka, in a statement claimed that the APC was instead trying to rebuild the country from PDP’s 16 years of misrule.

“PDP Governors are barefaced heirs of a legacy of sleaze and ruin, morally and politically unfit to point fingers. By their statement, it is now obvious that the PDP Governors lack understanding of their place and responsibility in our system of government. 

“They do not understand the seriousness of the responsibility that they bear as chief executives of their states to justify the resources at their disposal to build and bolster their domestic economies for the good of their people. 

“Rather, the PDP Governors speak and carry on as idle spectators and executive free-loaders while blaming the federal government for everything, including their spectacular failure to accomplish the most elementary service delivery to their people,” the statement read.

Whether life is better for Nigerians under APC than it was for them during the PDP’s 16-year rule, is a question every citizen will answer  based on individual experiences under the leadership of both parties at different times. 

But what is not in doubt is that the PDP governors scored a bull’s eye in their Enugu meeting. Their coming together in their numbers and making bold and consequential statements paint the picture of a party back with a bite, determined to regain its old self. But how far the Forum and the party can go is left to be seen soon.