PDP In Search Of Leaders | Punch

As the Peoples Democratic Party holds its contentious national convention in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, on Wednesday, OLUSOLA FABIYI writes on the search for a new leadership by the former ruling party

“A politician is someone who believes you don’t have to fool all the people all the time. Just during elections” — Stanley Davis.

No Nigerian politician, unless a disgruntled one, would agree with Stanley Davis on his submission. And therefore, none of those aspiring to lead the Peoples Democratic Party at its national convention slated for Port Harcourt, Rivers State, on Wednesday, would readily agree that they are fooling the members of the party with their numerous promises.

Be that as it may, delegates to the convention who have started arriving since Monday, have to either be guided by their godfathers or in their own volition, to choose who will lead the party in the next four years.

The journey to the convention has been tortuous. Since the party lost the 2015 presidential election to the All Progressives Congress, it has been like a sheep without a shepherd. The old order whereby the Presidency called the shot and determined who led the party died with the defeat of former President Goodluck Jonathan by the incumbent President, Muhammadu Buhari. With the departure of Jonathan from the Presidential Villa to Bayelsa State after the electoral loss, honour, respect and dignity appeared to have left Wadata Plaza, which is the headquarters of the PDP.

This is the first time the party would not have a national leader to look up to since it was established about 18 years ago. The vacuum has given its members the audacity to ‘do their own things’ without fear of been summoned by the Villa. Analysts believe that this was the reason a former Presidential aide, Mr. Ahmed Gulak, could approach the court, asking for the sacking of a former Acting National Chairman, Prince Uche Secondus, and his replacement with someone from the North-East to complete the tenure of a former national chairman of the party, Alhaji Adamu Mu’azu. Gulak said that he took the action to restore law and order and to force the powers that be in the party to respect its constitution.

The unexpected court victory secured by Gulak, which made him to seize power at the party’s national secretariat, forced the members of the PDP Governors’ Forum, the party’s Board of Trustees and the National Caucus, to embark on a search for a national chairman. Governors Nyesom Wike and Ayo Fayose of Rivers and Ekiti states respectively, were able to discover a ‘worthy leader’ in a former Governor of Borno State, Sen. Modu Sheriff.

“They made me chairman. I was in my house when they came to beg me to be the national chairman,” Sheriff, a former member of the APC, had said.

The once-cordial relationship that existed between the trio has, however, gone sour. This led to the unceremonious removal of Sheriff as the national chairman of the party at the May 21 national convention, which held in Port Harcourt. Though Sheriff had pronounced the convention cancelled, governors and other stakeholders of the party defied his instruction and went ahead to hold the convention. Although no new officers were elected at the convention, members of the caretaker committee, headed by Senator Ahmed Makarfi, were announced.

Now, it is time for the committee members, who were given three months within which to organise a fresh national convention, to go. In order to avoid a vacuum, the Makarfi committee has called for applications from those willing to lead the party. The aspirants for the office of the national chairman are currently in Port Harcourt, where they are being screened ahead of the convention.

Those who have signified their intention to lead the party, which prides itself as the largest party in Africa, are its former deputy national Chairman, Chief Olabode George; a former Minister of Education, Prof. Tunde Adeniran; a former Minister of Youths, Prof. Taoheed Adedoja; a former governorship candidate of the party in Lagos State, Mr. Jimi Agbaje and Chief Raymond Dokpesi.

All the aspirants, except Dokpesi, are from the South-West, where the office was zoned to by the leaders of the party from the southern part of the country. Dokpesi, who is from the South-South, says he is in the race because the national body zoned the office to the entire South.

He defended his position further by saying, “The constitution of the party vests the power to zone a position on the National Working Committee as represented by the Sen. Ahmed Makarfi-led caretaker committee. It zoned the office to the entire south. When you are in government, you can do micro zoning, but now you have to look for the best. The zoning of the presidential ticket was zoned to the entire north. The office had not been zoned to any of the three zones from the north. Makarfi has said so, that anyone who feels he can win the election and knows he is capable of leading the party, is free to run. I have visited about 24 states when that micro zoning was done.”

He insisted that he has paid his dues in the party, and that he is now ready to serve.

Agbaje also says he is the right man for the job. Like Dokpesi, he also claimed not to belong to any faction of the party. According to him, “What I bring to the table is that I am not a member of any faction or any tendency. I am in a position to talk to everybody, to ensure that if you love the PDP, then it is time to come back to the family. I appeal to those who feel very strongly to join us because Nigeria cannot make the progress it deserves without a viable opposition. The PDP is going to provide that opposition as an alternative government and in a responsible manner.”

George, a retired naval officer, has also promised to use his experience to put a stop to the turbulence in the party.

He said, “It takes a courageous and experience captain to stabilise a ship hit by tornado. And if you know the crisis in the PDP, that is the position the party is facing right now. But I am happy that all is not lost, and the condition has been enhanced, zoning has gone extremely well. I have paid my dues in this party and I should not be afraid of anybody. Since 1999, I never left the party for anywhere. I met crises and problems. I have been able to resolve them. I have risen, meritoriously, from position of the vice-chairman, South-West, to deputy chairman (South) and deputy chairman (national). I have been able to resolve problems.

“If people vote for me, I look forward to stabilise the party and put it in the right position. The ruling party should get ready for serious engagement because we have started a cohesive battle ahead of 2019.”

Adeniran, on the other hand, has promised to lead the party with integrity. He also pleaded with the members of the party from the South-West to unite ahead of the convention. Not known to be a moneybag, the former minister has said that he would use his contacts, which he claimed cuts across the country, to reposition the party.

The Director of Media, Tunde Adeniran Campaign Organisation, Taiwo Akeju, said, “Prof. Adeniran is the best candidate for the job. He is bringing back integrity, vision, experience, hope, confidence and fertile ground for engagement into the party. The PDP needs a leader, who is ready to serve; a leader not coloured by ethnic and socio-cultural sentiments. The PDP needs a leader everyone can trust. The PDP needs a political thinker and strategist at this trying period.”

Adedoja, an aspirant from Oyo State, has also said that he is in the race in the interest of the party.

“I’m far ahead of other contestants; I’m sure of total victory. I’m a detribalised Nigerian who spent the greater part of his life in the South-South and the northern part of the country,” he added.

The senator representing Ogun-East, Senator Buruji Kashamu, has warned that the convention might turn out to be an exercise in futility. He stated this in a paper, which he presented to the reconciliation committee put together by the Board of Trustees. In the paper, which was exclusively made available to our correspondent, Kashamu said the crisis in the party ought to have been resolved before the convention is held.

He said, “My highly esteemed elders, leaders, governors and colleagues at the National Assembly, my plea is that, as custodians of the rule of law, we must not be seen as perpetrators of deceit, illegality and impunity. We must be creative and fair in the search for a political resolution to the crisis. The good people of this country and the members of our party, in particular, believe in the rule of law and find stability, confidence and protection in the rule of law.

“We cannot afford to destroy their faith and confidence by going ahead with the proposed convention without resolving the issues that confront us with practical, fair and workable political solutions.”

Kashamu seems to be the lonely voice in the party’s wilderness as no one is listening to him, no matter how loud his voice is. Whether the convention will further polarised the party or not, some stakeholders have enumerated the minimum qualities expected from its next national chairman.

For example, a former Minister of National Planning, Prof. Suleiman Abubakar, said that the party needs a leader that has integrity, capability, experience and is universal in thinking.

He said, “We need a chairman that will be able to command the respect of the majority of members of the party.”

A former member of the House of Representatives, Mr. Bernard Miko, also shares a similar thought with the former minister. But he added that such a man “must be a person of cognate political experience, courage and political will to drive the party along the concept of rule of law and constitutionality in the implantation of the party’s politics, programmes and manifesto.”

Good enough, the Spokesperson for the National Caretaker Committee of the party, Prince Dayo Adeyeye, has said that his committee would provide a level playing field for all the contestants. “There is going to be a level playing field for all. We will also not print a single form for any of the positions. They must all be contested by interested and qualified persons,” he said.