PDP AND THE CRISIS OF CREDIBLE OPPOSITION
The main opposition party should put its house in order
State governors under the platform of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) rose from a closed-door meeting in Asaba, the Delta State capital last weekend to endorse former Youth Leader, Sunday Ude-Okoye as the national secretary. This was after a meeting of the party’s 79th Board of Trustees (BOT) in Abuja degenerated into chaos. Ude-Okoye was attacked and forced out of the BoT meeting by thugs. The development prompted a chieftain of the main opposition party, Olabode George, to warn against becoming “an agbero party”. While a semblance of order was restored after the intervention of security agencies, the crisis within the party is far from being over.
The controversy started last February when the PDP leadership in the South-east zone asked the National Working Committee (NWC) and other organs of the party to ratify Sunday Udeh-Okoye as the national secretary in accordance with the party’s constitution. The substantive occupant of the position, Samuel Anyanwu had stepped aside to contest the November 2023 Imo State governorship election which he lost to the incumbent governor, Hope Uzodinma of the All Progressives Congress (APC). But Anyanwu has refused to relinquish his position, even when the Appeal Court in Enugu confirmed Ude-Okoye as the National Secretary. Meanwhile, Anyanwu has obtained a counter judgment from the Court of Appeal in Abuja, instructing him to remain in position pending a Supreme Court decision. This perhaps prompted Anyanwu’s loyalists to physically haul Ude-Okoye from the BOT meeting last week.
Unfortunately, the PDP has long been at war with itself. Inability to abide by its own rules has been its greatest undoing. Party leaders openly prioritise their ambitions in flagrant disobedience to its own constitution. As a result, the party is in disarray, torn apart by self-inflicted crises. Besides disagreements on the position of the National Secretary, the rift between some powerful members as well as in the ongoing zonal congresses within the party are all undermining the party. Unfortunately, the bickering and infighting are not about the interest of the people but rather about cold calculations for the 2027 general election.
Today, Nigerians who look up to the PDP to anchor responsible and virile opposition that can articulate alternative policies and views are getting increasingly disappointed. The PDP has repeatedly failed in adhering to its internal rules as they affect the filling of vacancies in the NWC of the party. For instance, the provisions of the party’s constitution are precise on ‘Micro zoning’. The acting National Chairman of the party, Iliya Damagun ought to have stepped down for someone to emerge from the North Central Zone, to serve out the tenure of the former substantive national chairman, Iyorchia Ayu. Damagun is from the Northeast Zone. Like Anyanwu, he has been using the courts to stay put and undermine the party.
In a democracy, opposition parties are expected to offer credible alternative to the governing party and enhance transparency and accountability in governance. By playing their role effectively, they help to put the people in power on their toes. It is therefore in the interest of our democracy that there be credible opposition platforms that can effectively respond to the excesses of the ruling party to safeguard the integrity of the political process. Bu the dysfunctionality is systemic. Even the ruling APC is coherent in appearance mostly because it is in power and has patronage to share. In real terms, our parties have no belief content and are only equal to the superficiality of their principal members. It is therefore difficult to even speak of viable opposition parties when no one knows what the ruling party stands for.
In essence, while we lament the disarray within the PDP, what requires serious homework is the meaning, content and substance of our political parties.
