Ayorinde Ouokun/Abuja
The ongoing battle to gain control of Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, by different forces deepens the woes inflicted on the party by its massive loss at the 2015 general elections
Nigeria’s ruling Peoples Democratic Party, PDP will transform from being the overwhelmingly dominant political party to the biggest opposition party in the country when officials elected at the recently concluded 2015 general elections are sworn in on 29 May. But already, the prospects of being out of power after 16 years is not looking very bright for the party whose chieftains had boasted at various times that the PDP will rule the country continuously for 60 years.
Indeed, leaders of the party had, since the loss of the 28 March presidential elections, engaged in recriminations over the roles played by each individual in the unexpected turn in the fortunes of the party. The mutual accusations peaked last week with members of the National Working Committee, the second highest decision making organ of the party, some governors elected on the platform of the party and some aides of President Goodluck Jonathan openly accusing each other of being responsible for the shellacking suffered by PDP at the polls.
There have been calls for the resignation of members of Alhaji Adamu Muazu led NWC over allegations that having led the party to its worst outing in 16 years, they did not deserve spending a single day more in office. It was gathered that the campaign to get rid of the Muazu-led NWC was being spearheaded by some governors in the South east and South-south part of the country who believe that the PDP National chairman, a Northerner did not do enough to ensure that the party at least put up a respectable showing in his part of the country during the elections.
It was gathered that the plot to sack the PDP NWC came up at a meeting of all the PDP governors, governors- elect, Senators, Senators- elect, Reps and Reps-elect held about three weeks ago where the party’s performance in each of the six geo-political zones was critically examined. Members of the party, particularly from the North, according to sources, threw accusations and counter accusations of disloyalty, and allegations of engaging in anti-party activities at each other.
The meeting however ended without any firm decision on the issue. However, the sentiment of PDP members from the North over the issue was expressed by Senator Suleiman Adoke, a member representing Nasarawa South in the Senate. The Senator who lost his bid for re-election recently told journalists that ranking members of the PDP at the federal and state levels actively connived with the All Progressives Congress (APC) to defeat President Jonathan. He added that all those who contested election on the ticket of PDP, on March 28, suffered the same fate with Jonathan. “I maintain that there is a complete institutional conspiracy to shift the government from the PDP to the APC at all costs. Virtually everybody participated in this movement across the political parties. In fact, ranking PDP stalwarts participated in this grand design to effect a change in governance. Even when the ordinary people knew the election was not fair, they looked the other way because everybody was united to make sure that PDP was out of government,” said Adoke.
Other chieftains of the party had also accused Mu’azu of mismanaging affairs of the party like the conduct of the governorship and national assembly primaries, accusing the NWC of compromising itself in the course of the assignment. This magazine gathered that PDP governors had convened a meeting of party stakeholders in Abuja about two weeks ago during which they asked all members of the NWC to quit over the dismal performance of the PDP in the last elections.
It was gathered that at the meeting convened at the instance of Governor Godswill Akpabio, the Chairman of the PDP Governors’ Forum, the Governors resolved to appoint a caretaker committee to run the affairs of the party till next year when a national convention of the party would be convened to elect new national officers. But it was gathered that the governors later changed their stand on the issue. Reports indicated that two of the governors, one from the South-West and another one from the South-South decided to push ahead with plans to ensure the removal of the NWC before President Jonathan vacated office on 29 May.
As it has turned out, one of the Governors, baying for heads of members of the NWC was Ayo Fayose, the enfant terrible chief executive of Ekiti State. Fayose, with Chief Bode George, the former Deputy Chairman , PDP South as his ally, convened a meeting of party stakeholders under the under the aegis of South West Presidential Contact and Mobilization Committee on 2 May in Ado Ekiti during which they asked members of PDP NWC to resign over the abysmal performance of the party in the 2015 general election. In a communiqué released after the meeting and read to journalists after the meeting, the South West chapter of the party asked members of the NWC to resign their positions and return home to work for the party.
The NWC had denied the accusation, countering that its presidential campaign was managed by a Presidential Campaign Council which even marginalized it in the course of its assignment. Against the calls that it should account for the billions of naira it spent during the campaign, the NWC had also said the funds for the campaign were directly given to the Ahmadu Ali-led PDP Presidential Campaign Council.
The PDP NWC had in a statement on Saturday, 2 May alerted the nation that some aides and associates of the President are behind the allegations with the aim of instigating crisis within the party to pave way for their defection to other parties. The party said in the statement signed by its publicity secretary, Olisah Metuh said it would expose such individuals and make them face the full weight of the party’s disciplinary measures if they fail to immediately retrace their steps.
As contained in the statement, the aides who according to Metuh, are the “same individuals who mismanaged the presidential campaigns” have been trying to arm-twist the President to summon a meeting of party leaders at the Presidential Villa where the NWC members would be put under pressure to vacate office, though their tenure will officially expire on March 2016. But Metuh said members of the NWC will not be forced out of office. “The PDP is a party built on the rule of law and democratic ethos. Its NWC is elected and not appointed and as such cannot be sacked at will or by an executive fiat.
“Besides, no section of the party constitution prescribes that the NWC should quit if the party loses in a general election,” said Metuh who advised the ambitious aides of the President “to leave party matters and concentrate on the Presidential transition and smooth handover of power to the incoming administration as well as preparing for post handover issues that might arise regarding the administration in which they served.” He added that the PDP NWC did not manage the campaign and its fund and those who managed the campaigns have already submitted their reports to the President who gave them the mandate.
Those bent on seeing the back of Mu’azu and his members moved their game higher with the release of documents indicating that the NWC members stole funds from the party’s treasury shortly after the President was defeated in the presidential election. Internal vouchers released to the media showed that the NWC members paid themselves over N250 million on 8 April, 2015. As indicated by the voucher, Mua’zu was paid N100 million through Julius Berger PLC while the deputy chairman of the party, Uche Secondus, received N40 million.
Also, the PDP’s National Secretary, Adewale Oladipo, National Treasurer, Buhari Bala; National Financial Secretary, Bolaji Akpan Anani; national publicity secretary, Olisa Metuh; National Auditor, Adeyanju Fatai; National Organizing Secretary, Abubakar Mustapha, national Women Leader, Kema Chikwe; National Legal Adviser, Victor Yusuf Kwon among others also received N30 million bonanza payment each. Also, there were documents indicating that members of the NWC also compelled delegates to its annual convention to pay N10,000 each into the private accounts of Marufi Nigeria Limited, described by one of the aides to the President as belonging to a member of the NWC.
While agreeing that they indeed took the funds out of the account of the party, members of the NWC however said the funds was payment for their housing, furniture and medical allowances for two and half years. According to them, though the NWC did not receive any money directly for the 2015 general elections, the party donated the sum of N500 million to the presidential campaign of the party, N100 million each to the 29 governorship candidates of the party that out of the N9 billion generated from the sales of delegate forms, governorship and state and national assembly forms. While the accusations and counter accusations continue, one thing that most Nigerians will find interesting is the self indicting story coming out of the brouhaha between the two parties is evident that PDP went into the last presidential election as a divided house.
For one, in their bid to distance themselves from the woeful performance of the President, the NWC had now agreed with some Nigerians that the hate campaigns adopted by the Presidential Campaigns against the opposition presidential candidate, General Muhammadu Buhari was partly responsible for the loss of President Jonathan in the election. While emphasizing that the President should be man enough to agree that his loss is as a result of decline in his popularity among Nigerians, sources within the party also lamented that the billions of naira spent on campaigns for the PDP presidential candidate was managed by members of the PDP presidential campaign.
According to Metuh, denigration of Buhari who is revered across the North by the Jonathan campaign team instead of dwelling on issues, cost the party a lot of votes: “We (NWC members) did not lead the party to failure. We were not involved in the campaigns and our advice was ignored. If we had handled the campaign, Mr. President would have won the election. We cannot be held responsible when our advice was ignored. For those of us in the North where the type of campaign that we generated made it impossible for our leaders in the North to garner support for our candidate because of the hate campaign that was generated we are not answerable for it.” He added:“Let me say this. In 2003, President Obasanjo ran an election against Odumegwu-Ojukwu in the South-East. In 2007, Yar’Adua ran election against Ojukwu. I can tell you, if PDP had engaged in name calling or abused Ojukwu in any way, PDP would have lost the elections in the South-East.” Metuh told journalists that apart from the N500m the NWC donated for the presidential campaign, the Jerry Gana -led fund raising campaign committee generated about N21bn which it spent without involving the NWC members.
Mu’azu had also severally defended himself, affirming that he did his best to ensure the re-election of President Jonathan. While emphasizing that he cannot control the way people voted across the North in the presidential election, the PDP Chairman noted that the perception of President Jonathan and the PDP was at an all-time low in that part of the country at the time of the election. “Those who blame us for not delivering maximum votes to the president in the north seem to have forgotten that it’s the people who vote. I have always preached against ethnicity and tribalism and the voting pattern in the election was a concern to me personally. If I had my way, everyone in my state ‘Bauchi’ would have voted for President Jonathan but it’s the people that vote not me,” the PDP Chairman who was reported to have left the country said. It was learnt that that President Jonathan has intervened and asked every party to the conflict to sheathe its sword, at least for now.
The PDP also inaugurated a 15-member Post-Election Assessment Committee to review and evaluate its poor performance in the last general elections and make recommendations for the repositioning of the party last Tuesday, an action that many believed was aimed at taking the sail out of the crisis afflicting the party. But this magazine gathered that the storm may not be over for PDP as diverse interests angling to take control of the carcass of the party are unlikely to relent until they see the Muazu led NWC out of Wadata plaza, the party’s national secretariat. This is in spite of the declaration last week by Metuh that the party has overcome the trauma from its loss in the general elections.
This magazine gathered that though it lost woefully in the 2015 elections, many members still considered the party attractive, since it still controls at least 14 states, including the oil rich states of Rivers, Delta and Akwa Ibom. With the states, it is believed that party positions are still lucrative while the party will also have access to funds it can deploy to turn around its fortunes. But it was gathered that the Governors that will handle the funding activities of the party who are mostly from the South east and the South south now want to control the machinery of the party, hence, the clamour for the appointment of somebody from the two regions as the chairman of the new party.
One of those who have indicated that he will not give up until the PDP Chairman and his team is sacked was Governot Fayose who had insisted that the PDP lost the presidential election because Muazu, compromised in the conduct of the election. The Governor even said he has cogent evidences of his unholy alliance with the opposition before the elections. “How do we explain the PDP losing so scandalously in Bauchi State, despite the presence of the National Chairman, Federal Capital Territory Minister and the State governor? I am even more particular about the National Chairman because he sold the party to the opposition. I have cogent evidences of his unholy alliance with the opposition before the elections and if they go any further, I will expose all his underhand deals,” the Governor said in a statement released last Tuesday through his spokesperson, Lere Olayinka.
Senate President David Mark warned last week that with the unrelenting trading of blames, PDP may be heading for self destruction. Analyts said this is a prediction that may come to pass as the battle for the soul of PDP continues.