Pity the lot of Nigeria’s once formidable Peoples Democratic Party as it today wriggles in death throes. Given its well-known reputation as a bad mother, it is no surprise that some of the children of the PDP who rose to prominence on the platform have been quick to disown the party. Even worse, to poke fun at their mother.
Last Tuesday as the Senate resumed plenary, a former PDP Senate leader, two-term governor on the banner of the party, and before then, multi-commissioner on the platform of the PDP, that is, Senator Godswill Akpabio, now sitting comfortably as All Progressives Congress, APC Senate President took the joke to another level.
Responding to the prayer by Senator Ned Nwoko to set up a Senate ad-hoc Committee to investigate the crisis in the PDP following his defection, Akpabio with a smirk said:
“This defection is an earthquake, one that will lead to many other PDP senators dumping the party.”
The prayer by Nwoko for a Senate investigation into the crisis in the PDP, undoubtedly, epitomises the low level the party has gone to. Even those who speak for the party today at almost every level are doing so not out of conviction but for selfish reasons.
The intervention by the Board of Trustees, BoT into the latest crisis in the party in the face of contention over the position of National Secretary has now been enveloped with controversy.
The BoT ordinarily should be the conscience of the party, able to through moral suasion and institutional memory of its members, help to nudge the party towards good manners.
However, that intervention has now been riddled with controversy. The first controversy is the moral fettles of the chairman of the BoT, that is Senator Adolphus Wabara. When it suited him very well not too long ago, Wabara easily played anti-party by ruling out his party’s prospects in 2027 in Abia State when he affirmed the Labour Party governor, Mr Alex Otti for a second term.
Beyond that is the way the BoT has gone about the duty of arbitrating between the contenders for the position of National Secretary. While the BoT may be commended for its decision to seek expert advice from one of the leading legal experts in the party, Dr Taminu Turaki SAN, the BoT’s seeming refusal to vigorously interrogate the issues at stake is befuddling.
The main contention presently in the PDP is that Senator Samuel Anyanwu who was elected to the position in 2021 did not resign the position to contest the party’s governorship ticket in Imo State.
This correspondent like many others within and outside the party may have been troubled by the morality of the act. However, the constitution of the PDP allows such actions. Section 47 (5) of the party’s constitution gives the leeway for party executives to stay on in their positions and seek elective offices.
Why the BoT closed its eyes to this constitutional matter is mind-boggling. Even more, is the fact that a group of stakeholders could come together to remove an officer elected by the National Convention and foist such a person on the party.
It means that two, three, or more stakeholders could gather together and take a resolution that could become binding.
This correspondent has seen the copy of the report of the Dr Taminu Turaki one-man committee that was mandated by the BoT to interrogate the issues. His report was revealing.
However, questions are hanging from the report. One of such is the issue of the import of Section 47(5) of the PDP Constitution that allows party officials to contest for politically elective positions. One is puzzled as to why the issue was left out.
The issue of the stay of execution was covered with legal jargons in the Turaki report which stretched the claim that Udeh-Okoye had become National Secretary by the time the judgment was given!
The PDP constitution has methods for the removal of an officer, and especially one elected by the National Convention. It does not allow somebody to be removed by “Stakeholders” which is an amorphous term that could include anyone including Senators Akpabio and Nwoko, two ‘disgruntled’ PDP children.
Beyond the legal sophistries is the political permutation going on that make some to look at the PDP as a total embarrassment. Senator Anyanwu has been accused by some to be an associate of FCT Minister, Nyesom Wike who as everybody knows is working for the APC administration.
But we also will not forget that Sunday Udeh-Okoye, the other contender for the office of National Secretary was widely reported to have also been a pawn in the hands of Wike in the removal of Prince Uche Secondus as national chairman.
We will also not forget that Samuel Anyanwu as national secretary turned his back on Wike in collaborating with the Atiku camp during the 2023 General Election. Even more, it is no secret that Wike did not support Anyanwu in his bid to be governor of Imo State.
It is against this background that the dynamics in the PDP must be interrogated towards ensuring that the PDP survives the present intrigues. As it is, the BoT which ordinarily should have brought the moral suasion has lost its bearing. It is no surprise that delinquent PDP children can thus make a mockery of the party that once gave them the platform to shine.
