How PDP suffered defeat - HEAVY Crisis: Finally! The End Of The “Almighty PDP”?

How PDP suffered defeat - IT is no longer news that the ruling Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, after 16 years in government, lost the March 28 presidential election to the opposition All Progressives Congress, APC.

Besides the removal of President Goodluck Jonathan from office in the election, the first of its kind in Nigeria since 1999, the ruling PDP also suffered defeat at both the Senate and the House of Representatives which it hitherto controlled.

The PDP equally lost in its traditional states of Plateau; Niger; Kaduna; Benue; Bauchi; and Jigawa, just as, ahead of the inauguration of the National Assembly, on June 4, the ‘Almighty PDP’ will become an opposition party in the Senate with 49 senators while the APC has 60 members and same applies to the House of Representatives where it has been thrown into the opposition.

What is the news in the party that suddenly found itself as an opposition, which it ought to have taken as a serious challenge, is internal bickering. Leaders are up in arms against leaders of the party. The naked truth is that all is not well with the PDP which claimed it would rule for 60 years as the governors elected on its platform and the National Working Committee, NWC, are out to outwit one another, with the former calling for the resignation of the Alhaji Adamu Muazu-led National working Committee, NWC, following the party’s abysmal outing during the polls.

Muazu, in January 2014, replaced the former National Chairman, Alhaji Bamanga Tukur, who came on board March 24, 2012.

Since its inception in 1998, the party has had 11 national chairmen in full and acting capacity, namely, the late Chief Solomon Lar, Barnabas Gemade, Audu Ogbeh, Senator Ahmadu Ali, Prince Vincent Ogbulafor, Dr. Okwesilieze Nwodo, Dr Bello Haliru Mohammed, Abubakar Kawu Baraje; Alhaji Tukur and Muazu. Many of them were removed from office under controversial circumstances.

Lack of confidence
In the past few days, the governors, led by the Chairman of the PDP Governors’ Forum and outgoing governor of Akwa Ibom State, Godswill Akpabio, have been pushing for the sack of the NWC, voicing their lack of confidence in Muazu and blaming him and the NWC for leading the party into what they described as a disastrous electoral performance in the 2015 elections.

Also calling for the resignation of the Muazu – led NWC is a group under the aegis of the PDP National Renaissance Movement, the 9,000 Support Group and some organisations that supported the aspiration of Jonathan for second term in office, just as they called for fresh minds, fresh ideas, fresh vision and fresh strategies in the PDP leadership.

Rising from a meeting in Abuja, the PDP National Renaissance Movement, in a communique signed by Dr. Ayakeme Whisky and Dr. Ifedi Okwenna, Chairman, Steering Committee and Secretary, respectively, noted that the party needs rebuilding to bounce back in 2019 and the beginning of the rebuilding process was for the present NWC to throw in the towel, adding, “That in order to effectively rebuild and reposition the party as a credible opposition with intent to win back power in 2019 at the centre, there is urgent need for immediate injection of fresh minds, fresh ideas, fresh vision and fresh strategies at all levels of the party.

To effect these changes in a peaceful, orderly manner, the current leadership of the party should stand out to make a necessary, but inevitable sacrifice for the re-emergence of the party in the shortest possible time”.

As the cold war continued and following calls for his sack, Muazu took a swipe at his critics, warning that the attitude of use and dump must stop in PDP.

The National Chairnan, who warned the PDP governors, leaders, stakeholders, elders and members that the party cannot continue with the culture of changing National Chairmen and members of the NWC, said that the infighting and mudslinging in the party, after losing the 2015 presidential election, was uncalled for.

While reminding those calling for his resignation that the present leadership of the PDP has until next year to run its course, he stressed that the party would, in 2016, decide how to deal with the zoning of the next leadership and strategies for winning the 2019 elections.

Muazu said, “It is also time to end the spate of in-fighting and blame games currently dominating the political discourse among our membership and the leadership. It will do no one any good. The present leadership has until next year to run their course. The party will then decide how to deal with the zoning of the next leadership and strategies for winning the 2019 elections.

“The developing culture of using and dumping has reached fratricidal proportions in the PDP and it must end. You cannot be changing Chairmen and NWC every year and still have cohesion which is a vital ingredient of winning. A good example occurred when we changed five Senate Presidents in eight years and produced calamity in the process, but for eight years we have had one senate president and produced harmony between the presidency and parliament.

“Great lessons to be learned from the outcome of the 2015 Elections are many and I have already mentioned this in earlier interactions with the media. Lessons of candidate imposition, deepening of internal democracy in our party and other obvious lessons we need to learn for future guidance. It is so important for us to learn from what has happened. We must note that when the going gets tough, only the tough like the PDP can get going.

“Therefore, what I consider the most stupid thing going on within our party at the moment is the gale of defections. “Personally it does not worry me but I shudder at the wedge placed by the new ruling party banning the incoming troupes. It shows signs of how they will run the country from May 29 2015. It shows how they will not regard non APC Nigerians as part of their responsibility which will be a shame.”

In a statement titled, “Time to Reinvent the PDP and signed by his Chief Press Secretary, Chief Tony Amadi, the PDP National Chairman further said, “The result of the 2015 presidential election is the elixir the Peoples Democratic Party needs to reinvent itself and retake power in 2019 instead of wasting time and energy mudslinging and blame gaming over the party’s failed bid to win a fourth consecutive presidential election victory.

“It is therefore time for our great party to reinvent ourselves, show great maturity and map out a strategy that will return us to power in 2019. Despite losing our dominance in the National Assembly, our party has the largest number of experienced legislators in both chambers and will surely be calling the shots there. We will however help to reduce the imminent issue of learning process occasioned by the horde of inexperienced APC members in both houses because of national interest.”

Truce committee

As part of the moves to rescue the PDP, a committee of 15 members, with Deputy Senate President Ike Ekweremadu as Chairman, was put in place by the NWC to carry out a post-mortem of the 2015 elections, look at why the party lost the polls and the way forward. The committee is saddled with, among others, the responsibility of looking at the funding of the elections to determine whether or not the funds meant for the campaigns were adequate and whether disbursements were properly done, just as how the funds meant for the campaigns were spent and shared have been raging in the last couple of days.

Governors, who are members of the Ekweremadu- led committee and tagged, PDP Post- Election Assessment Committee, are the Chairman, PDP Governors’ Forum, Akpabio; Governor Ibrahim Hassan Dankwabo of Gombe ; Governor Theodore Orji of Abia State and the Rivers State governor- elect, Nyesom Wike.

Other members of the committee are the Minister of Education, Mal. Ibrahim Shekarau; Minister of Women Affairs, Hajia Zainab Maina; former governor of Niger State, Engr. Abdulkadir Kure; Deputy Speaker, House of Representatives, Hon. Emeka Ihedioha; Minister of Interior, Mr. Abba Moro; Alh. Adamu Waziri; Sen. Ahmed Mohammed Makarfi; Chief Makanjuola Ogundipe ; Chief Pegba Otemolu; Shauibu Oyedokun; Senator Florence Ita- Giwa.

Secretary, PDP Board of Trustees, BoT, Sen. Walid Jibril, who was earlier named as Secretary of the committee, was replaced with Maina Waziri, who would act as Secretary till Jubril recovers from the surgery he undertook.

At the inauguration of the committee, which took place at the NWC Hall of the PDP National Secretariat, Akpabio, Dankwabo and Orji were absent, just as Muazu and Jibril were also absent. They did not give reasons for their absence, but the PDP National Publicity Secretary, Olisa Metuh, disclosed that Muazu was outside the country on a family commitment and the three governors were indisposed.

The absence of the governors at the inauguration may not be unconnected with the lingering crisis between them and members of the NWC.

Inaugurating the committee, PDP National Secretary, Professor Adewale Oladipo, who gave the committee three weeks to submit its report, rolled out the terms of reference as follows: To identify the remote and immediate causes of the relatively poor performance of the PDP in the 2015 general elections; trace the origin and process of the seeming decline of the party in its electoral performance; take a critical look at the preparations and build-up of the PDP to the general elections and determine its adequacies and lapses; review and determine the adequacy of the structures for the 2015 general elections and how those structures functioned; ascertain the degree of anti-party activities, compromises and outright sabotage that may have contributed to the misfortunes of our party at the elections; look at the funding of the elections to determine whether or not the funds meant for the campaigns were adequate and whether disbursements were properly done;

identify different groups in the party who were to play critical roles before and during the elections and determine the effectiveness or otherwise; determine any other matter that may be considered necessary and in the interest of the party; and propose a road map for the party to recover its past glory and definitely win the general elections in 2019.”

Responding, the Chairman of the PDP Post-Election Assessment Committee, Ekweremadu, who urged PDP members to learn from their failure and stop what he termed self pity, said blame trading will not solve PDD problems. “I thank the national leadership of our great party for deeming it imperative to assess PDP’s performance in the 2015 general elections and finding us worthy of prosecuting the task”, he said.

“First, let me empathize with party faithfuls across the country over what has been generally accepted as the poorest outing of the PDP in any general elections since its birth in 1998. Our pains and disappointments are well founded, especially given the enormous hopes and prospects the party holds as a pan-Nigerian movement for social, economic, and political transformations. Thus, it is not a loss for the PDP only, but a loss to the great people of this country that the party lost the steering at the time it had laid a solid foundation through the Transformation Agenda of the present administration.

“However, we must appreciate the fact that change is the only constant thing in life. Much as we are pained by the sad turn of events, we must come to terms with the fact that anger, recriminations, self-pity, and blame trading will not take us even an inch away from the harsh outcomes of the 2015 general elections.

“Let me empahsise that the worst tragedy that could befall the PDP is not to have lost the 2015 presidential election or our majority status at the National Assembly or some PDP controlled states to the opposition. All through human history, even the greatest and strongest empires have suffered one setback or the other at certain points of their existence. Instead, the greatest tragedy would be our failure to draw from the lessons embedded in the outcome of the elections.

“The seeming dwindle in our fortunes is an opportunity to reassess and reinvent our party to retake its rightful place in the Nigerian polity for a much longer time. But we must first understand our immediate past to be able to chart our future. I believe this underscores the essence of this Committee, which we have been called to serve on. Indeed, unless a man knows where the rain started beating him, he would never know where it stopped.

“Members of the Committee, therefore, count it an honour to be called upon to pilot this voyage of soul-searching and reinvention. We wish to assure you all that we will carry out this assignment to the best of our ability and without fear or favour. We earnestly request members of our party to avail the Committee all necessary information in line with its terms of reference. We will ensure that all shades of opinion are heard. This is the only sure way to get to the root of the matter and move the party forward.

‘“In the interest of our party, we call on party faithfuls to cease all internal bickering and media hostilities. Such tendencies are not only capable of further deepening the challenges we currently face, but also wrongly portraying us as confused, frustrated, stranded, and bad losers. We must be careful lest we play into the hands of our opponents. We also urge all our members to remain with the PDP and rest assured that we will bounce back very soon. I agree with the position of our national leader, His Excellency, President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, GCFR, that those who dump the PDP will return home with empty stomach. I therefore enjoin all of us to remain in our house and rebuild it instead of running to already-made shelters.”

Following the PDP post-election crisis, Jonathan warned members of the NWC, stakeholders and elders to put an end to all internal bickering and media hostility as they were capable of further deepening the challenges the party is facing.

Oladipo, who gave the message of the President, said, “Let me use this opportunity to relay President Jonathan’s message to all PDP leaders and members. He has given definite instruction that all acts of unwarranted attacks and counter-attacks on members and leadership of the party should stop immediately.”

‘Party may die’

Speaking along the same line, President of the Senate, Senator David Mark, warned that the PDP would head for its final destruction if the leadership, stakeholders and members failed to end internal bickering, accusation, tongue lashing and media hostility.

Mark who, when the Deputy President of the Senate, Ekweremadu, and other nembers of the PDP post- election committee, visited him, cautioned members of the party that the in-fighting was unnecessary, condemnable and capable of further deepening the challenges the party is facing.

According to him, all stakeholders must rise above the present circumstances and work hard to rejuvenate the party, against the backdrop that the new status of the PDP as an opposition was a challenge which “we must face with all honesty, sincerity of purpose and dedication to duty”.

Mark believes that democracy and the nation would be better for it, “if we play credible opposition to ensure good governance and delivery of dividends of democracy to Nigerians”.

Expressing worries over the unfolding scenario especially from the leadership and between factions in the party, he said, “the PDP is already hemorrhaging”, pointing out that, “unless we halt the bleeding and find the necessary therapy, we may be heading for the final burial of the party”.

The Senate president went on: “The party is already in a comatose status and we should do all we can to resuscitate the party rather than this unnecessary rancor and bulk passing. The emerging factions are absolutely unnecessary. The combatants must sheathe their swords and embrace dialogue. My appeal is that we should not do anything further that would damage the already fragmented house.

“Everybody should come together and rebuild the party. We have gotten enough bruises. We need not inflict further pains on ourselves, with continuous bickering. Enough of this blame-game. We should return to the drawing board and need not wash our dirty linen in the public, anymore.

“I believe a useful lesson has been learnt from the PDP electoral misfortune. As for me, it is time to put on our thinking caps and chart a new course.

“I trust Senator Ekweremadu that he and his team will do a good job and unearth the remote and immediate causes of our misfortune and make recommendations that will enhance the future of the party.

“I have worked closely with the Deputy President of the Senate over the years and I know his capability and capacity to handle issues”.

To ease the tension in the PDP, the PDP National Publicity Secretary, Olisa Metuh, in a statement, disclosed that the party had recovered from the shock and trauma it went through following the defeat of the President at the polls.

The PDP spokesman attributed the timely intervention of Jonathan to the quick recovery, just as the party hailed the President for the mature and timely intervention in ending the bickering among leaders of the party.

The party asked all members to join forces to ensure that the core values and the vision of the founding fathers were sustained, even as it directed all organs of the party to focus only on party administration in a manner that would rekindle the zeal and commitment among members as well as supporters at all levels.

Getting it right

With the Ekweremadu committee in place, it is hoped that the PDP can still get it right if the stakeholders can put aside ego, self aggrandisement, sentiments and put the interest of the party above all personal interests. If supported by the stakeholders and, learning from the past, the Ekweremadu committee would succeed especially against the backdrop of the zeal the Deputy Senate President would put into the job as he did in the Senate during the 1999 Constitution review.

It is hoped that the party would implement to the letter all the recommendations of the committee at the end of its three- week brainstorming. It is also hoped that all those involved in the PDP crisis will avail the committee of needed information.

The leadership of the party, through Metuh, asked stakeholders who have complaints about the election and the way forward to submit such to the Post -Election Assessment Committee.

A peep into the past

Before the Post – Election Assessment Committee, there was the PDP National Integration Committee inaugurated on September 12, 2014 by Muazu for the six geo- political zones of the country. The committee was saddled with the task of reconciling estranged members with the party.

Also, his predecessors, in their different ways, tried to find ways to resolve political quagmires that came up and almost tore the party apart. After the 1999 presidential election, which brought in former President Olusegun Obasanjo, the late Chairman of the party and former governor of Plateau State, Chief Solomon Lar, set up a reconciliation committee headed by former Vice President Alex Ekwueme.

The committee had a former Kano State governor, the late Abubakar Rimi; a former governor of Old Anambra State, Chief Jim Nwobodo; Chief Richard Akinjide; a former governor of old Kaduna State, Alhaji Lawal Kaita, among others, as members.

It had become imperative for Lar to unite all in the party, following issues before the 1999 election that saw Ekwueme stepping down for Obasanjo because it was clear then that colleagues of the latter in the military were backing him to win the PDP’s ticket. Ekwueme was pressurised to settle for the Senate where he would be the Senate President, but he refused.

There was also, in 2002, a PDP reconciliation committee on the executive/legislature impasse.

Still on the moves to bring back members who were forced out of the party, the late President Umaru Yar’Adua raised a committee also with Ekwueme as Chairman. The Ekwueme committee, at the end of the exercise, discovered to its chagrin that only six of the 34 founding members were still in the party.

The committee recommended that those who left be allowed to come back while there must be rule of law, internal democracy, among others.

Rather than implement the recommendations of the the committee’s report, soon after he came in as the PDP National Chairman in 2008, Prince Vincent Ogbulafor set up another 18-member committee to review the report with his then deputy and former Minister of Defence, Mohammed Haliru Bello as Chairman.

Soon after Bamanga Tukur came in and with the determination to implement his 3R agenda of Reconciliation, Reformation and Re- building the party, he set up an eight–man committee with Chief Alabo Graham Douglas as Chairman to reconcile members in Kano State.

He also set up a committee headed by former Deputy National Chairman, Alhaji Shuaib Oyedokun to reconcile aggrieved members of the PDP in Benue State, just as there was that of Governor Ibrahim Shema of Katsina State to resolve the issues in the South West.

There was also a 30-member Reconciliation Panel headed by Governor Henry Seriake Dickson of Bayelsa State. Former Governor Diepreye Alamieyeseigha of Bayelsa State was in the wake of crisis in the state appointed to chair the PDP Elders Forum to reconcile all.

But the problems continued in all the zones even after the committees’ efforts. Perhaps if their recommendations were adhered to, there would have been party supremacy, rule of law, respect for party structure, hijack of party structure by the governors under the guise of leaders would not have existed, imposition of candidates would have been a thing of the past, there would have been serious and genuine primaries and not selection.

It is hoped that now that the PDP is out of government to adjust to its new status, the opposition for the next four years, it would put its house in order.

IS PDP ACTUALLY HEADING FOR SELF DESTRUCTION? Nigerians watch as events unfold.