Who says atomistic PDP cannot die? By Tonnie Iredia

Some years back, it was common practice among members of Nigeria’s former ruling party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to describe their political party as the largest in Africa. None of us outside the party bothered to authenticate the claim. Perhaps some people just believed it because the party was Nigeria’s biggest, judging by the overwhelming number of elected political office holders it produced from the level of a local council to the presidency.
Indeed, the PDP won the Presidential elections of 1999, 2003, 2007 and 2011. At a point, its party chieftains boasted that their party would rule Nigeria for a minimum of 50 years. But the PDP which is visibly an atomistic entity – one that is permanently at war with itself, would incur huge challenges.
In the last 6 years, the PDP, now in the opposition, has been embroiled in one crisis or another which it has been unable to resolve. To start with, the party behaves as if it relishes being a headless body as it always rubbishes every chairman it has had. Although some members imagined their founding chairman, Solomon Lar to be too charismatic to be rubbished out of office, his tenure was not hitch free. The harassments of his successors spoke volumes. Barnabas Gemade, Audu Ogbeh, Okwesilieze Nwodo, Vincent Ogbulafor, Adamu Muazu, Uche Secondus together with the indomitable Ahmadu Ali (the Garrison Commander) were all virtually rubbished. Thus, PDP members do not appear conscious of the adverse effects of a headless body; otherwise with what does such a body think?
Whereas some PDP members often greatly disagreed with critics such as this columnist for calling them out, each time they displayed political immaturity, intolerance and avoidable tension, we have since been proven correct by the unending crises in the party. The case of chairman Bamanga Tukur was particularly annoying as party executives gave him sleepless nights for attempting to reform their palpably corrupt national secretariat. In 2015, the late media icon, Raymond Dokpesi was appointed to chair a committee to rebrand
the party ahead of its national conference. Dokpesi’s speech at the conference which was well attended by many was titled “PDP is not dying and certainly will not die.” If Dokpesi’s team successfully allayed public fears of a one-party state, this column projected other observations.
First, as large as the forum was, it was different from the usual flamboyance of the PDP. The normal bright colours of the party were not there; Abuja was not brought to a standstill as the party was used to doing whenever it organized any activity in the past. The paucity of media coverage was also observed as only Dokpesi’s Africa Independent Television gave the event partial LIVE transmission which was interrupted at a point and replaced by the coverage of another event – the 7th Anniversary of Edo governor Adams Oshiomhole. Could it be that the PDP did not have the financial muscle to sustain a LIVE coverage? Again, I didn’t see party leaders such as former President Goodluck Jonathan, his former Vice, Namadi Sambo, Alex Ekwueme, Ken Nnamani, David Mark and the popular leader Anthony Anenih who had been advertised as confirmed participants at the conference.
The national executive of the party later distanced itself from Dokpesi’s earlier apology for what he called the party’s past mistakes. The then national publicity secretary, Olisa Metuh, later told the media that Dokpesi’s apology was his personal opinion. Unfortunately, Dokpesi’s posture was more realistic as Nigerians often showed that they deprecated PDP’s attitude of self-denial. The party being a human organization that is not infallible made so many mistakes in its 16-year rule; a notable example being its constant effort of sweeping issues of public interest under the carpet. Allegations concerning the inappropriate purchase of armoured vehicles and the daily hiring of private aircraft against two influential female ministers were similarly discountenanced by the then PDP government.
A party that lacks unity of direction would always have crisis and PDP has since had too many. At different times, it lost powerful chieftains. One reason the party lost the 2015 general election was a sudden defection of its governors in 5 states namely: Rotimi Amaechi (Rivers), Rabiu Kwankwaso (Kano) Aliyu Wammako (Sokoto), Abdulfatah Ahmed (Kwara) and Murtala Nyako (Adamawa). The then Jigawa governor, Sule Lamido managed to remain but the way his own presidential ambition was thwarted particularly, the coincidence of the pursuit of his children for corruption charges as soon as he announced his presidential bid was irritating. A dramatic example of all PDP losses was that of former President Olusegun Obasanjo who publicly tore his PDP membership card in the presence of his party ward chairman and over 300 other members at a gathering in Abeokuta.
The 5 governors that left the PDP during Goodluck Jonathan’s administration were not the last to do so. Two others, Dave Umahi (Ebonyi) and Ben Ayade (Cross River) left PDP to join former President Muhammadu Buhari’s government. Speculations that some incumbent PDP governors and other political office holders are working towards joining President Bola Tinubu’s administration may not be far-fetched. Researchers who may be interested in searching for what is repulsive in the PDP may begin by examining the high degree of self interest in the party. The general impression that Nigerian politicians often defect from their parties because such parties have no ideology needs to be further illuminated. Political office-holders defect to only the ruling parties while those who defect from the ruling parties are only searching for another platform that can guarantee their candidacy in future primaries
It is self-interest that explains the current controversies surrounding the office of the national secretary of the PDP. In other climes, political party executives would resign from office as soon as it becomes clear that they no longer enjoy the confidence of their members. But here, the PDP national secretary cannot see his
lack of popularity. He would rather wait for a court order and if what comes is not favourable, he would disobey and then embark on a long litigation process through the hierarchy of courts notwithstanding the turmoil in his party. His predecessor, Iyorcha Ayu did not leave office even though he had promised to do so if a northerner emerged from party primaries as presidential candidate. When will the current acting national chairman in the interest of party unity and progress, allow the appropriate zone to fill the position?
The PDP has continued to engage in circumlocution choosing different chieftains to resolve grievances of certain party members as if the main cause of the grievances is unknown. Everybody is blaming FCT Minister, Nyesom Wike as the cause of PDP’s problem but no one has the courage to suspend him. We hear Wike ought not to have accepted to serve in the APC government, but none of the reconciliation committees says anything about Wike’s defence that the party executive approved for him to take the post. Another offence of Wike is that he spent huge sums of money building the party. What did other governors of the party do with their own money? A state governor is the official leader of the PDP in a state, why is the party unable to sanction all those disputing Governor Sim Fubara’s position in Rivers state?
PDP is the party that introduced zoning to Nigerian politics, but it is the only party that thinks it is in order to continue to support the emergence of only a Northern presidential candidate. By the time this happens again in 2027, PDP will give birth to many more reconciliation committees. After that, it will tell the nation that APC officials are the ones luring PDP members to the ruling party. In Edo state, Nigerians are being told that it is the APC that lured elected PDP councillors to disown their own chairmen and vice chairmen with whom they were jointly elected. Well, with continuing implosion, PDP leaders will not have to waste time claiming to be the largest in Africa; they will instead find out if anyone is still with them.
lack of popularity. He would rather wait for a court order and if what comes is not favourable, he would disobey and then embark on a long litigation process through the hierarchy of courts notwithstanding the turmoil in his party. His predecessor, Iyorcha Ayu did not leave office even though he had promised to do so if a northerner emerged from party primaries as presidential candidate. When will the current acting national chairman in the interest of party unity and progress, allow the appropriate zone to fill the position?
The PDP has continued to engage in circumlocution choosing different chieftains to resolve grievances of certain party members as if the main cause of the grievances is unknown. Everybody is blaming FCT Minister, Nyesom Wike as the cause of PDP’s problem but no one has the courage to suspend him. We hear Wike ought not to have accepted to serve in the APC government, but none of the reconciliation committees says anything about Wike’s defence that the party executive approved for him to take the post. Another offence of Wike is that he spent huge sums of money building the party. What did other governors of the party do with their own money? A state governor is the official leader of the PDP in a state, why is the party unable to sanction all those disputing Governor Sim Fubara’s position in Rivers state?
PDP is the party that introduced zoning to Nigerian politics, but it is the only party that thinks it is in order to continue to support the emergence of only a Northern presidential candidate. By the time this happens again in 2027, PDP will give birth to many more reconciliation committees. After that, it will tell the nation that APC officials are the ones luring PDP members to the ruling party. In Edo state, Nigerians are being told that it is the APC that lured elected PDP councillors to disown their own chairmen and vice chairmen with whom they were jointly elected. Well, with continuing implosion, PDP leaders will not have to waste time claiming to be the largest in Africa; they will instead find out if anyone is still with them.