BY GODWIN IJEDIOGOR

THE Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), once reputed as the largest political party in Africa, appears not only to be shrinking, but also on the slope, and could hit the bottom unless the current situation is arrested urgently by its founding fathers, stakeholders and leaders.

    Indeed, the rainbow umbrella party was at a time so large and towering that it could accommodation all that ran into it. So much so that in 2008, its one-time national secretary, and later, national chairman, the late Chief Vincent Ogbulafor, boasted that the party would rule Nigeria for over 60 years.

   The Abia State-born former minister in the government of former President Olusegun Obasanjo later explained his optimism: “Some time ago, I used to read in the newspapers that the umbrella of the PDP is torn. Each time I read that, I would laugh and then say to myself that the umbrella is still strong and very intact and ready to accommodate more people.

    “The PDP is a party for all and it is set to rule Nigeria for the next 60 years. I don’t care if Nigeria becomes a one-party state. We can do it and the PDP can contain all.”

He added: “When I was PDP chairman, there was peace, and I brought in four non-PDP states- Abia, Imo, Sokoto and Bauchi. Twenty-eight states were under me; 28 PDP governors and a good number of National Assembly members, and that was why I said PDP would be in office for 60 years.”

    But he lamented the exit of some influential governors, such as then governors- Chibuike Amaechi (Rivers), Bukola Saraki (Kwara) and Aliyu Wamakko (Sokoto), saying their states were areas where the party used to get a good number of voters, adding: “When they left, the party collapsed.”

     The acting National Chairman of the party, Umar Damagum, in his remarks during a valedictory session in honour of Ogbulafor, said: “Because of the strong political structure and good governance provided by the party from 1999, Ogbulafor had the boldness to declare that PDP will remain in power for 60 years.”

The slide began ahead of the 2023 general elections. The then national chairman, Dr. Iyorchia Ayu, being from the North, it was taken that the presidential candidate should come from the South in the spirit of equity and fairness, which had guided the party in the past, and also to avoid one part of the country having the party leadership and presidency.

But the insistence of Atiku Abubakar to contest the primary threw the party into confusion, more so as the former vice president was not push over in any political race. He had been taking shots at the presidency since 2003 and felt it was his best chance.

All arguments and persuasions failed to dissuade him, and he remained adamant till the end, encouraged by Ayu, who was seen my many party faithful as his poster boy.

But it all came to a head at the party’s presidential primary election, and that changed and is indeed challenging the cohesion and unity of the once powerful PDP, as the umbrella tattered over simmering internal division arising from the conduct of the presidential primary election. Unity and cohesion have taken flight, while its dwindling political fortunes continue to erode.

After the 2023 presidential election primary, the centre could no longer hold for the former ruling party. And some of those thought to be its saviour seem to be turning out to be part of its undertakers.

Aminu Tambuwal

THE former governor of Sokoto State, Aminu Tambuwal, indeed, set the ball rolling for demistification of PDP with the manner of his last-minute withdrawal from the presidential race. Not only did he opt out, his being allowed to mount the podium for a second time to not just announce his withdrawal, but to urge his supporters to vote for Atiku, has turned out to be a major undoing of the party.

His action was viewed as not just a betrayal of one of the aspirants, then governor of Rivers State, Nyesom Wike, but unethical and part of a grand design to force the emergence of Atiku as the candidate.

Recall that Wike had been the main supporter of and bankrolled Tambuwal’s presidential ambition during the 2019 PDP primary in Port Harcourt won by Atiku.

At the 2023 presidential primary election, the party gave the aspirants five minutes each to address the delegates, but Tambuwal, who was later termed “the hero” of the exercise by Ayu, was unusually given the privilege of speaking twice, and it was his 170-second address that was the deciding factor.

His withdrawal speech angered Wike, who stressed a day after the exercise that he could have scuttled the exercise if he wanted, but that he decided to let peace reign.

In that vote-swaying speech, the former Speaker of the House of Representatives, now a senator, said: “I, Aminu Waziri Tambuwal, having consulted widely throughout the length and breadth of this country.

“I have come to the firm belief and conviction that, as leaders, time may come in our sojourn to make a sacrifice for the good of the people, and in view of the situation of our country and the need for us in our party to minimise rancour and jostling for power. In any case, it is not always about an individual; it must always be about our country.

“I have come to the conclusion that to the glory of God Almighty seen and from the result of what we are seeing throughout our country, millions of Nigerians (are) suffering, and the need for us to close ranks in the party.

“And as one of the leaders of this party, I have come to the patriotic conclusion to step down my aspiration and appeal to my supporters to take this in the interest of national unity, patriotism and not only that, those who are delegates here should vote for Abubakar.”

No other aspirant was given a second chance to address the delegates, and indeed, that speech sowed rancour in the PDP rather than minimize it. And it attracted condemnation from pro-zoning groups across the country, who felt power must shift to the South after the eight-year tenure of then President Muhammadu Buhari.

   The Pan-Niger Delta Forum (PANDEF) alleged that the manner Tambuwal withdrew from the contest was dubious, noting in a statement by its National Publicity Secretary, Ken Robinson: “The outcome of the presidential primary of the PDP was predetermined.

“We knew long ago that this was what it would be. That is why they violated their zoning principle and left the party’s presidential ticket open. The Southern aspirants, particularly, Wike, we would think had justifiable reasons not to have joined the ‘programmed’ winner on the stage while he was giving his acceptance speech.

“Though the conduct of the primary election, in terms of the accreditation of delegates, voting and counting of votes was transparent, orderly and unquestionable, the way and manner Tambuwal was allowed to announce his withdrawal and support for Atiku, was, to say the least, dubious and most unfair.

“Why was Tambuwal allowed to do that after all aspirants had made their speeches and voting was about to commence?

“It is also essential to note that the exercise was rigged, ab initio, there was no level-playing ground. The scale was skewed; they had one delegate from each of the 774 local government areas of the country, and of course, we know there are more local government areas in the North than the South, and given the swerving undercurrents of politics, the former vice president was guaranteed to win the primary election.

“It is these situations that informed our insistence on the zoning of the presidential ticket for fairness, equity and balance.”

Many party faithful and supporters in that mould vowed to work against the victory of Atiku at the polls. The rest is now history, as the party paid dearly for it.

Iyorchia Ayu

IYORCHIA Ayu, the erstwhile national chairman, was in good stead to rescue the party from its slide, having led it into it by presiding over the violation of its own uniting principle of zoning.

Indeed, Wike and his camp alleged that Ayu pressured other presidential aspirants to step down for Atiku and even threated to resign if the former Rivers State governor won the primary. 

Wike, at a media chat in Port Harcourt later, said Ayu was calling aspirants on the phone to withdraw from the race for Atiku and that he even threatened to resign his office if he won the primary and held several meetings with aspirants in this regard, necessitating a delay in the start of the convention.

Even after his candidate (Atiku) had emerged, in contempt of the zoning principle, and he had unmasked himself by describing Tambuwal as “hero of the convention,” the least many observers expected Ayu to do if he had the interest of the party at heart was to step aside, as was being agitated by most stakeholders from the South, for the sake of whatever was remaining of equity and fairness to fester, and go into the elected united.

Wike said Atiku visited him at his Abuja residence after the primary and told him, “look, governor, Ayu will go,” because the presidential candidate and the national chairman cannot come from the same zone.

Wike insisted that Ayu must relinquish office for a southerner to ensure “inclusivity,” describing the leadership of the PDP as arrogant and saying “no party that wants to win an election can be arrogant like this.”

    Incidentally, then chairman of the PDP Board of Trustees (BoT), Walid Jibrin, who is also a northerner from Nasarawa State, resigned, ostensibly to placate Wike and his group, paving the way for his deputy and former senate president, Adolphus Wabara, from Abia State in the Southeast, to take over in acting capacity.

As politicians who know where the real power lies, the Wike camp, not swayed by Jibrin’s resignation, insisted that Ayu must step down.

Alas! The former senate president said his promise to stand down if a northerner emerged the presidential candidate was to take effect after the elections and not before, a position that further polarised the party.

All pleas to persuade him and rescue the party fell on deaf ears, even as the PDP started disintegrating, with many southern stakeholders remaining aloof in the affairs and activities of the party towards the elections.

Ayu’s refusal to step down stalled reconciliation efforts, as he insisted that he was elected for a four-year tenure and was ready to serve it out.

It later took just a suspension from his ward to put him where he belonged, and today, the former minister is history, politically, at least, as not much is heard of him, from him or about him today.

Atiku Abubakar

UNTIL that primary and events that followed, into the presidential election, many had considered the former vee pee as a political master strategist. But his actions before and after the primary exposed how ambition could becloud reason and how easy it could be to floor a supposed colossus.

Like his ‘boy,’ Ayu, Atiku had the opportunity to rescue the PDP and indeed, his long-term ambition, after his emergence as its candidate, even as five sitting state governors- Wike, Seyi Makinde (Oyo), Samuel Otorm (Benue), Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi (Enugu) and Okezie Ikpeazu (Abia)- and their supporters opted out of his campaigns.

One, he could have persuaded Ayu to stand down to heal the wound inflicted  by his decision to truncate, directly or indirectly, the zoning arrangement by contesting the primary election.

Instead, he maintained that the issue of resignation was a sole decision for Ayu to take and that nobody could force him to do so, adding, however, that if Ayu will be removed from office, it must be done in accordance with law and the party’s constitution.

“On the calls for the resignation or removal from office of our national chairman, however, I must reiterate what I have said severally in public and in private; the decision for Iyorchia Ayu to resign from office is personal to Ayu, and neither I nor anyone else can make that decision for him.

“In any event, you will all recall that the very body that is empowered by law to initiate this removal from office, has already passed a vote of confidence in him,” Atiku said in a statement.

   Wike’s camp later officially withdrew from Atiku’s campaign council, insisting that Ayu must go.

To this, Atiku stated: “I will urge those members of our party that have stated their resolve to withdraw from the presidential campaign council to have a rethink, retrace their steps and join us in these efforts.”

   The second opportunity for Atiku to mend fences and forge a common front in his party came during the search for his running mate. Many party faithful, especially the Wike camp, believed he should have picked Wike if he actually wanted PDP to go into the contest united.

   A member of the Wike camp said: “Ayu has shown that he cannot be an impartial judge. How can a chairman that is supposed to be for all brazenly show his hand in support of a candidate?

“After the election, he was also among those that insisted that Wike should not be nominated as the running mate. If you remember in 2019, Atiku unilaterally nominated Peter Obi, but this time around, he asked the party to choose for him, even though he could have chosen whoever he wanted.   But Ayu and co denied the choice of Wike.”

But shortly after the emergence of Atiku, Ayu, in his opening remarks at the meeting with members of the consultative committee set up to assist Atiku to choose a running mate, chaired by Damagum, who was the deputy national chairman (North), expressed confidence that PDP and Atiku would present a running mate Nigerians would relate well with and vote into office.

He rationalised that Atiku, this time, had decided to carry everybody along, unlike in 2019 when he didn’t consult widely in his choice of running mate (Peter Obi).

It was rumoured that the committee actually recommended Wike, but it later emerged that Atiku settled for Ifeanyi Okowa, the then Delta State governor, who he said met “all or most of the qualities” he desired.

Umar Damagum

THE current acting National Chairman of the PDP, Umar Damagum, to many stakeholders, especially those loyal to Atiku and a few on the fence, should have since stepped aside or organise a convention to elected a substantive national chairman from the North Central to complete Ayu’s tenure if he meant well for the party.

More so, many accuse him of being sympathetic towards Wike, if not loyal to him. And his attempts to shed that toga has seemingly failed. His initial action or lack of it in the simmering political crisis in Rivers State, his opponents say, tells it all. Indeed, they see him as behaving like the main undertaker of the party.

There have been persistent calls for him to step aside and let the North Central present a choice to serve out Ayu’s tenure, but he remains adamant, with the support of his backers. And the party continues to bleed and is worse off for his actions and inactions.

Nyesom Wike

THE Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike, initially was thought to be the rescuer or savior of the PDP. When many of its stakeholders jumped ship and defected to other political parties shortly before and after the 2019 general elections, Wike not only remained; he actually sustained the party, with a few others.

   Perhaps with eyes on the ball and towards the realisation of his ambition, especially given the zoning arrangement, the former Rivers State governor was one of the most outspoken supporters of the PDP.

    But after the truncation of his ambition by a combination of Tambuwal, Ayu and Atiku, he seems to have turned around 360 degrees, using his clout and war chest to ensure that Atiku and his train did not benefit from ditching of the zoning arrangement. In short, he is making sure that they do not eat their cakes and still have them.

    The one-time chairman of Obio-Akpor Local Council has not only become a thorn in their flesh, he has indeed become like a bull in a China shop and gradually seen by his opponents as one of the party’s undertakers.

    Not only has the former Education minister seize the party from his traducers, he is turning like a bile in a sweet meat that must be exocisted with utmost care and caution.

   His support for the All Progressives Congress (APC) presidential candidate, now President, Bola Tinubu, against his party’s candidate, Atiku, in the 2023 elections, and his subsequent appointment into the APC government, as well as the way and manner he has been carrying on, seem to convince many that he might indeed be a PDP undertaker after all.

    With one leg in PDP and the other leg in APC-led federal government, it is difficult to really discern where his most loyalty lies. Wike has in the last almost two years changed from being a uniting force to a divisive factor in PDP.

    In the end, if the umbrella continues to tatter and is finally blown off its root and base ahead the 2027 elections, certainly the above politicians would share in the blame for bringing the party to its knees, along with major stakeholders who have failed or failed to intervene.