WITH less than two years to the 2027 general elections, it is quite certain that the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) is not likely to pose any threat to the ruling All Progressive Congress (APC). Those at the corridors of power within the party have ensured that it has been battered, crippled, and left gasping for air.
Some have said that it is in intensive care unit (ICU). In fact, former Governor, and a current Senator on the banner of the party, Gabriel Suswam, did not believe that the PDP will come out of the ‘operating table’ successfully and he is presently bidding his time before dumping the party. The Chairman of the Conference of Professionals within the party, Barrister Obinna Nwachukwu is of the view that the PDP is dangerously haemorrhaging and on the way to self-destruction.
Many of those who press the self-destruct button in the party are known, but are ‘too big’ to be disciplined. And where there is no discipline, what you are likely to get is the ‘anyhowness’ that is presently the lot of the party.
Once touted as the biggest political party in Africa few years ago, the PDP loomed large over Nigeria as the ruling party for over 16 years between 1999 and 2015. Then, the party dreamt of ruling Africa’s most populous country for an uninterrupted 60 years. But when it was kicked out of power in 2015, the logo of the party, an umbrella, seems to have been permanently shredded.
When the wind of change blew, an adjustment to reality became tedious. The transition to life outside power has been hectic. Left in the cold for 10 years running, the party is yet to put itself together. Its bane are a lack of unity, cohesion, and focus. Now, it is a ‘house in perpetual commotion’ and on the verge of collapse. Like sheep without a shepherd, leading lights in the party now sleep at night as loyal party members and wake up in the morning in bed with the APC.
Two months ago, the entire Delta State PDP structure, led by Governor Sheriff Oborevwori, was offloaded into the APC. The state’s former governor, Dr. Ifeanyi Okowa, who was the PDP’s Vice Presidential candidate in the 2023 elections also dumped his boss, Atiku Abubakar for the broom, the political symbol of the APC. He also told those who cared to listen that Atiku is also on his way out of the PDP.
Indeed, Atiku’s body and soul has left the PDP, but he is still in the party and at the same time, coordinating the establishment of a big coalition that could wrestle political power from the ruling APC. Now, his coalition is seeking to transform to a new political party by seeking registration with the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), through which he intends to run for the presidency in 2027.
The defection train has also moved to Akwa Ibom State, where the State Governor, Umo Eno, elected on the banner of the PDP, has now found a new home with the APC. He not only dumped the PDP, several lawmakers at the state and national assembly also moved with him to the APC.
Aside state governors, many top PDP lawmakers have also defected to the ruling APC, premising their decisions on the protracted leadership crisis at the party’s national level. In Kebbi State, the three senators from the state – Adamu Aliero (Kebbi Central), Yahaya Abdullahi (Kebbi North), and Garba Maidoki (Kebbi South), joined the ruling party after a meeting with President Bola Tinubu few weeks back. Several others across the country have also jumped ship.
Yet, party leaders in the PDP that should broker peace and find a way to stop the defections are themselves not united. The key organs – the National Working Committee (NWC), the National Executive Committee (NEC), and the Board of Trustees (BoT) – are all divided.
Anxious for their political future, some PDP governors are also waiting in the wings, bidding their time to also exit the party. Their commitment to the party is waning, as they cannot see a rallying point. The journey to the future has been problematic. In actual fact, many no longer see a future for the party.
At its height, the PDP was the party of democrats – esteemed elder statesmen; a mixture of progressives, liberals, conservatives and reactionary players who realigned in 1998, but later succumbed to the influence of a tiny club of retired soldiers who drafted their past leader from retirement and set him over the bewildered country in a post-military era. Former President Olusegun Obasanjo, who could be regarded as one of the biggest beneficiaries of the PDP’s largess after emerging President twice through the PDP in 1999 and 2003, openly tore his PDP membership cards soon after leaving office.
In explaining why he took the decision, Obasanjo said that he would rather sacrifice his political party for the interest of Nigeria than sacrifice the country for a political party led by a drug baron. Then, he was referring to the emergence of Buruji Kashamu, a known drug dealer who had emerged as the PDP governorship candidate in Ogun State. “I’d rather sacrifice my political party for the interest of Nigeria than sacrifice my country for a political party led by a drug baron. I’d rather tear the PDP membership card than sit down and let Jonathan use PDP and corruption to tear my beloved country apart. I have national and international standard to maintain. For this reason, I’d rather stand-alone than be in the same political party with Kashamu”, he is quoted to have said.
But before his ‘siddon-look’ stance, the old soldier also found it difficult to adjust easily to civilian life post-Presidency, as he continued to dictate, impose, and coerce other chieftains to submission without going through the channels of consultations, debate, and consensus building. Experienced politicians at the helm of party affairs were shoved aside, leading to leadership instability. In the last 27 years, PDP has produced 16 national chairmen – Alex Ekwueme, Solomon Lar, Barnabas Gemade, Audu Ogbeh, Ahmadu Ali, Vincent Ogbulafor, Ezekwesilieze Nwodo, Haliru Mohammed Bello (acting), Kawu Baraje (acting), Bamanga Tukur, Adamu Muazu, Ali Modu Sheriff, Ahmed Makarfi, Uche Secondus, Iyorchia Ayu and Umar Damagun (acting). Five of them, at one time or the other – Gemade, Ogeh, Baraje, Muazu and Modu Sheriff – defected from the party.
The latest round of crisis within the party began in the build-up to the 2023 presidential election. The party, rather than stick to its zoning arrangement, threw the curtain open and allowed everyone wishing to contest to have a go at the presidency. That inconsistency, lack of commitment and sacrifice, and the pursuit of selfish interests by some PDP leaders, made many members to jump ship. Atiku Abubakar, a northerner, became the flagbearer of the party when it was the turn of the South to produce PDP’s presidential torchbearer. For many, Atiku, who left the party for the Action Congress (AC) in 2006/2007, only to return after the poll, did not deserve such special treatment. Again, he also abandoned the party in 2014, only to retrace his steps in 2018. It is ironic that he returned to the fold to fly its flag at the presidential polls in 2019 and 2023.
Southern Governors led by former Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike, felt that the zone had been cheated, and came out with the G-5, a group of five southern governors that effectively worked against the interest of Atiku and the party during the election. In partisan politics, what Wike and his fellow governors did was blue murder that should have been punished with expulsion from the party. But because they were fighting a just cause, Wike and his colleagues became the untouchables.
As expected, Wike was rewarded with a ministerial position by the rival APC, and has since become a thorn in the flesh of the PDP. A thorn because he has been in the forefront of every effort at destabilising the party. He is behind the protracted issue of whom to serve as the substantive national secretary of the party.
His arrowhead in the party is the Acting National Chairman, Umar Damagum, ably supported by the Secretary, Samuel Anyanwu. Anyanwu, in the build-up to the 2023 gubernatorial elections, refused to step down as the PDP National Secretary, but went ahead to pick the gubernatorial ticket of the same party in Imo State. The party’s Board of Trustees felt that he should not hold two positions in the party and called for his resignation as PDP National Secretary. He simply refused. But the South East caucus of the party went ahead to nominate Sunday Udey-Okoye as his replacement.
When Anyanwu lost, he returned to the PDP secretariat, insisting that he remained the substantive Secretary of the party. Both parties went to court – from the High Court up to the Supreme Court – yet, there was no solution to the protracted battle.
To resolve the logjam, some PDP Governors, led by Seyi Makinde, went ahead to nominate Setonji Koshoedo, who was the Deputy National Secretary to serve as Acting National Secretary. But rather than solving the issue, the PDP house became further divided.
Now, without a substantive Secretary recognised by the INEC to sign a formal letter alongside the party’s chairman, inviting the electoral body to witness its NEC meeting, such a meeting cannot hold in the face of the law.
However, a faction within the party is now bent on going ahead with a NEC meeting today (Monday), with or without INEC’s involvement, splitting the party into three factions, some of whom are loyal to Wike, some, led by Seyi Makinde, while some are loyal to Atiku.
The Board of Trustees of the party recently set up a committee headed by former Senate President, Bukola Saraki, to find a lasting solution to the internal crisis within the party. He has been on a fence-mending tour to the gladiator’s causing crisis within the PDP. But his committee is recording little or no success at the moment. Power play, envy, and ego-tripping are mostly at play in the intractable crisis within the PDP.
As expected, some members of the party are pointing accusing fingers in the direction of Tinubu, accusing him of being behind the crisis within the party. Their belief is that he was hell-bent on foisting a one-party structure on the country. A man known not to shy away from a political fight, Tinubu has replied, saying that he could not possibly run the PDP for them and that he is happy that the party is in tatters.
Will the PDP survive its self-induced destruction? Will today’s NEC hold? So many questions and no clear-cut answers. As the count-down to the 2027 general elections begins, it can only be hoped that the PDP can manage to make appreciable impact at the polls. Who goes to war with a divided house?
See you next week.
- Akintunde is the Publisher and Editor-in-Chief of Glittersonline newspaper. His syndicated column, Monday Discourse, appears on News Point Nigeria newspaper on Mondays.