In an addendum to my piece titled, ‘Between the PDP and its Judases’ published on May 23, last year, I had argued that: “Some persons derisively describe PDP’s major lingering ailment as Eedi Ajatuka – a Yoruba description that connotes a group’s paranormal but largely self-chosen descent into perdition”.
Today, the bubble of deceit has burst and the party is obviously at the latter stages of an implosion long foretold. Many are already battling to win the prize as the writer of a fitting epitaph for the fallen edifice. Adamu Muazu, the man Jonathan handpicked to replace Alhaji Bamanga Tukur, had thrown in the towel, having superintended over the routing of the party from the national political space. Tony Anenih, ‘the leader’ – a man famed for his infamous quote of ‘no vacancy in Aso Rock’ for every sitting President, now wrestles with age-related health challenges. He vacated the political space in PDP for Jonathan to have a free hand in reconstructing a party under intensive care with a life support machine to boot. Anenih’s post has since been taken over by a more sober Walid Jibrin. Papa Anenih just couldn’t permanently fix his rump on the Board of Trustees chair! Olisa Metuh and his co-travelers are already on their way out and will soon be replaced by another group of their ilk, without the usual free flowing money this time around. Something tells me this flailing once-upon-a-time leading party in Nigeria may soon be in the morgue, smothered by sheer, unrestrained arrogance.
Truth is: although the PDP reserves the right to pride itself as the only national party in the land; the sad reality is that it has not managed its affairs better than the opposition parties. It has been a huge failure in internal democracy. For 16 years, it operated at the whim of one man—the voice from Aso Rock. It was the norm under Obasanjo and the pattern continued with unabashed temerity under Jonathan. That, in my humble view, is not party supremacy. It is the basest form of political gobbledygook. If the party must look itself in the mirror, it must start by accepting that it has thrived on deceit and has not lived up to the minimum standard it set for itself. I doubt if there exists any tale of self-inflicted betrayal that could be bigger than this. By the way, that is what Judases do. They just gave the PDP, its leadership and the President a bloody nose.”
That was a prognosis that has lasted one good year. Today, you ask, what has changed in the PDP that gives hope of a positive revival as the party holds its national convention? Agreed that the party’s rank of rambling noisemakers has been vicariously depleted by the present administration’s fight against corruption, it is not impossible the remnants baying for its soul could have set a fresh template for its survival if they so wish. Unfortunately, nothing suggests that these persons are prepared to veer off the same self-destruct lane. The same hawks that corralled it into the biggest electoral rout in 2015 are still the ones holding it by its balls, daring anyone to save it from jumping into a pit it dug for itself.
The PDP is dancing on the brink of doom and those that should stop the taunts of the drum are busy throwing stones at one another. On one side of this interesting fight is Senator Ali Modu Sheriff, who is busy perfecting a self-perpetuating agenda in office after dribbling his way to the chairmanship seat some months back, with the help of the party’s serving governors. On the other side is a band of heavyweights led by Prof. Jerry Gana and Chief Ojo Maduekwe, trying everything within and outside the books to seize the party’s machinery from a man known for his opportunistic hobbling from one party to the other. Somehow, these persons are, justifiably so, uncomfortable with the way and manner Sheriff emerged as chairman. Apart from his deep pockets, nothing else qualifies Sheriff for that office. Having found himself there, one had expected that he would have embarked on reconciliatory parleys with all the aggrieved parties. Those in his camp said he did his best to bring everyone to a round table. Well, if he ever did, I presume it to be a failed venture as things have completely broken down with the Gana faction threatening to hold a parallel convention today in Abuja while Sheriff and his gang would converge on Port Harcourt for the same purpose.
The problem here is not the possibility of the conventions holding on the same day at different places, but the aftermath. Though the Sheriff group seems to have the support of some deep pockets in the party, including serving lawmakers and some members of the Board of Trustees, led by Senator Walid Jibrin, the Gana group equally boasts of some formidable and tested politicians. Any attempt to ignore the threat posed by these persons may finally sound the death knell of a party perennially gasping for breath. Or what do you make of a coalition of 12 groups including former ministers, former governors, former members of the National Assembly and former powerful presidential aides? If in doubt, here are some names of the forces currently stacked against Sheriff and his “co-jesters.” They include but not limited to these former governors—Lucky Igbinedion(Edo), Bonnie Haruna (Adamawa), Ibrahim Shema (Katsina), Donald Duke (Cross River), Attahiru Bafarawa (Sokoto), Mahmood Shinkafi (Zamfara), Abdulkaldir Kure (Niger), Ahmed Makarfi (Kaduna), Achike Udenwa (Imo), Babangida Aliyu (Niger), Okwesilieze Nwodo (Enugu), and Gbenga Daniel (Ogun).Others, according to a report in The PUNCH, include 14 former ministers who served under the PDP-led Federal Government when the party held power at the centre——Prof. Tunde Adeniran (Education), Inna Ciroma (Women Affairs), Adamu Maina Waziri (Police Affairs), Jerry Gana (Information), Abubakar Suleiman (National Planning), Taminu Turaki (Special Duties), Ishola Sarafa (Solid Minerals), Zainab Maina (Women Affairs), Josephine Anenih (Women Affairs), Ojo Maduekwe (Transportation), Prof. ABC Nwosu (Health), Dubem Onyia (Foreign Affairs), Bala Mohammed (FCT) and John Odey (Environment).
I wouldn’t know if anyone has done a contextual analysis of this list. I know high-wired politics when I see one. This is not just an ordinary gathering of like minds, striving to save a beloved party from dying. It is more about the return of a powerful godfather to emblematise his stranglehold on a party that once shoved him out as chair of the BoT. He may have once torn his membership card in fits of rage. But I doubt if he doesn’t have one more political mischief to play before bowing out of the scene. When you see yesterday’s men striking an under-the-table-deal with those who play a not-so-commendable role in our recent history, then there is cause to worry. It is either they are communing to bring the party to its knees or they are plotting to hatch a new baby out of it. Whatever it is, the smell is nothing but putrid!
In my closing remarks in that piece last year, I had asked if Jonathan would have the free time to revive the dying party with the cooperation of his herd of lackeys in halting the final implosion of a behemoth that waddled in deceit in a marriage of strange bedfellows under the fraternity of a “nest of killers”. Well, with the present scenario, we do not need to hazard a guess about how woefully he has fared. Nothing has been learnt. Nothing has changed as the plot thickens with various camps itching to lounge forward against one another with sharpened daggers – all in daring contention for the remaining shreds of their torn umbrella!
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