Eromosele Ebhomele

Many questions pop up about the various roles played by actors in the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, in the massive defeat the party recorded in the 2015 elections

A major event that shook the world happened at 11:40 p.m. on 14 April, 1912. At that time and on that day, the RMS Titanic, owned by White Star Line and which had departed Southampton on 10 April to New York City, hit an iceberg while on its maiden voyage. She sank two hours, 40 minutes later. The Titanic was arguably the biggest ship to sail at that time. Even though it was said to be under capacity, she had 1,317 people aboard her: 324 in First Class, 284 in Second Class and 709 in Third Class. Of these figures, according to historians, 869 were male, 447 female and 107 were children.

Prior to its end, the ship had been a major cause for celebration. All those on board the ship savoured the fun that came with the launch of the gigantic means of transportation on water. The captains continued to weather every storm that came the ship’s way. But out of perceived human error, the ship could not reach its destination. As history shows, the Titanic received a series of warnings from other ships of drifting ice in the area of the Grand Banks of Newfoundland. Yet she sailed on, seeking to maneuver its way though. By the time the captains, led by First Officer William Murdoch, realised it, the situation had gone out of control. The ship struck the iceberg, creating a series of holes below the waterline. Five of the ship’s watertight compartments were breached. And the ship became doomed while those aboard her were ill-prepared for such an emergency. In fact, it was a disaster.

•Adamu Mu’azu: PDP crumbling under him

Now, 103 years after, a replay of the wreck of Titanic played out. This time in 2015, it occurred in Nigeria, the biggest black nation of the world. The ship is the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, and as Murdoch led the ship that hit the iceberg, so does Alhaji Ahmadu Adamu Mu’azu, the former governor of Bauchi State, become the face of the leadership of the party that came crashing to the astonishment of many Nigerians and analysts. Many members of the party are still upset. Except with a few members of the party including Governor Babangida Aliyu of Niger State and Sule Lamido of Jigawa State, it is still difficult for the other members to believe that the ‘umbrella’, the colourful symbol of party that prides itself the biggest in Africa, could suddenly be blown away while the legs of its candidate and incumbent President Goodluck Jonathan could be easily swept off by the broom-wielding members of the All Progressives Congress, APC.

While the party members were yet to recover from the shock, Governor Aliyu declared that the disastrous defeat suffered by the party at the presidential election of 28 March was the result of man-made mistakes and greed among members of the party. Like the captains in the ill-fated Titanic, Aliyu, who also lost woefully his election into the Senate, explained before Prof. Ahmed Alkali, the Political Adviser to the President, that the painful defeat was not surprising. At least few of the members saw it coming and raised alarm, cried, protested. Yet, it was a case of crying to deaf ears and warning a party leadership whose mind was made up.

The opportunity for Aliyu to actually vent his anger came as a special guest of honour at the convocation lecture of the Federal University of Technology, Minna, the Niger State capital. “Many of us saw it coming. When I reminded us that we had an agreement for one term (indicating the alleged one-term pact agreed to by President Goodluck Jonathan prior to the 2011 election), they nearly crucified me. When I led the G7 (the aggrieved governors of the party, some of whom later defected to the APC), they did not do what we wanted them to do until five members left and they did what we asked them to do. Many of us saw the defeat coming. Even when I told some of us that we had a one-term agreement, they nearly crucified me. Now, sir (now to Alkali), you have seen the results.

Apart from this, Aliyu told Alkali and the other guests that the PDP should have known that it needed to put into consideration the fact that it had held on to power for 16 years and the challenges it was likely encounter. Nigerians had become more politically enlightened and can no longer be taken for granted. Maybe the PDP forgot this while strategising for the elections.

•Aliyu: PDP’s crash, a result of greed and man-made mistakes within the party

The defeat in the presidential election spread to the state governorship and other elections two weeks later. Out of the 28 governorship positions for battle, the APC won 19 in what is described as the biggest defeat of the party that earlier boasted it would hold on to power for another 60 years. The PDP lost all the northern states where it had held sway except Taraba State where the election was declared inconclusive and Gombe which the APC allegedly lost as a result of in-fighting among members of the party. Vice President Namadi Sambo and Governor Mukhtar Yero of Kaduna State where Sambo hails from, could not deliver their states. Same was in Jigawa, Adamawa, Katsina, Benue, Plateau where Governor Jonah Jang, a die-hard supporter of the President, could not deliver, and a host of other such states where the PDP performed very poorly. Pathetic was the fact that Mu’azu lost his own Bauchi State where he was governor for eight years between 1999 and 2007.

The PDP only succeeded in the South-Eastern part of the country where the All Progressives Grand Alliance, APGA, was supposed to be the party on ground. However, many believe that APGA’s undoing was that it adopted President Jonathan as its candidate. Members of the party are still protesting the outcome of the elections in some areas including Abia where the PDP upstaged the party. Some analysts think the adoption of a PDP presidential candidate created the opportunity for APGA’s defeat in the other elections as the electorate, many of whom are still half literate or not literate, simply chose to vote for the PDP in all the elections in the zone, except in Anambra where Governor Willy Obiano ensured APGA won majority of seats at the National Assembly.

In the South-south region, the PDP was declared the winner of the governorship election that witnessed blood, tears and sorrow and for which Dr. Dakuku Peterside, the candidate of the APC, is believed to be prepared, with his party, to head to the tribunal.