Even in Ibadan, PDP fails Itself

BY KUNLE OYATOMI

“Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) quakes in Ibadan.” That was the cover story in one of Nigeria’s leading dailies on Sunday. It was carefully crafted, catchy and impossible to ignore.

But for objectivity and integrity which are some of the news virtues, given the turmoil unsettling the party, one could argue it might just as well have read: PDP in tatters, elimination nears.

Even at that, this roforofo fight, apologies to Fela Kuti, currently consuming the PDP was not a meal for only one paper to feast on Sunday. Other mainstream dailies seized on the crisis, splashing their front pages with unmissable headlines.

The drama, as spotlighted, was soothing and exciting for me, given the trauma the party inflicted on Nigerians during its cruising, yet devastating days.

While one of the newspapers declared that Govs revolt as Wike’s expulsion breaks PDP, another stated that Convention Fallout: PDP expels Wike, Fayose, nine others as Fintiri, Mutfwang kick.

Though concealed, the central message of their headlines is that the Peoples Democratic Party and its once protective umbrella are now in shreds, dangerously close to being permanently binned.

To think that just a few days ago, some PDP members organised a protest at the United States Embassy in Abuja, where they called for international intervention to save Nigeria’s democracy, it becomes even more laughable.

Videos online showed demonstrators carrying placards, calling for PDP and Nigeria to be fixed. The cash and carry protesters even went as far as calling on the US to stop the intimidation of opposition parties in Nigeria, noting that the country’s democracy must be saved. Yet they forget that the dagger piercing the heart of the dominant opposition party in Nigeria is wielded from within.

It is even fascinating that former Deputy National Chairman of the party, Chief Bode George, who, in his infinite wisdom, apologies to Laura Groves, usually refers to the party as the unshakeable Iroko, is now among those leading the procession towards what looks like the PDP’s highly probable funeral.

At the Ibadan convention where the party reached its breaking point, George, without seeking other viable options to reunite the party, declared that former governors Nyesom Wike and Ayo Fayose, among others, had been expelled.

Given what is playing out even among the party’s chieftains, Dr Alex Ekwueme, Chief Solomon Lar and Chief Sunday Awoniyi, among others, must be weeping in their graves.

Bode George had justified the expulsion by accusing them of conducting illegal and parallel conferences, sponsoring litigations against the party, among others, which has left the PDP divided. He forgot that the PDP had long been divided without any genuine reconciliation efforts emerging.

Recounting an incident, the elder statesman said: “Recent is Suit CABJCS21, which is 2025. The suit, between Honourable Austin Nwachukwu and others versus the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, and others seek to stop the 2025 national convention for no just cause, which is contrary to Article 58 (1) and (j) of our constitution. Senator Samuel Anyanwu, Umar Bature, Kamaldeen Ajibade ingloriously supported Wike and others to ensure that the 2025 national convention did not hold.”

For that reason and others that have provoked his faction, he said: “I, Chief Olabode George, hereby move that this convention should expel these persons mentioned from the PDP.”

He further added that “the party has completely lost its esteem, regards and respect in the eyes of the public on account of despicable conducts of the former governor of Rivers State and these men he recruited to help him destroy the party, which is contrary to article 58 (1) (b) and (i) of our constitution.”

With those words and that motion, at a convention suffering from legal question marks, he helped in paralysing a political institution once regarded as the most formidable in Africa.

Note that despite always claiming superior wisdom, the septuagenarian led a faction that went ahead with the convention in spite of a Federal High Court in Abuja restraining the party pending the determination of the substantive suit filed by ex-Governor Sule Lamido of Jigawa.

For fairness, Justice Peter Lifu also restrained INEC from monitoring, supervising or recognising the convention until the matter in court was resolved.

Yet when another round of legal fireworks begins, Bode George and his strange bedfellows in the PDP will no doubt lay the blame at the feet of the President, as they are already doing.

But what is President Bola Tinubu’s business with the PDP when his All Progressives Congress, which he helped establish, is getting stronger each day? Is it a crime for Tinubu, who found an uncompromising ally with an impressive track record in Wike, to appoint him as Minister of the Federal Capital Territory? Is Tinubu the one compelling both two term and one term governors in the PDP to switch to the APC?

The answers are there for all to see: they are seeking refuge in a party that now offers the juice, just as the dying PDP once did. What is more, they consider President Tinubu as a genuine leader setting the country on a path of progress that the PDP couldn’t in 16 years.

Deal with this: “We looked at how we can continue to serve our people optimally. We felt that the All Progressives Congress, APC, provides us with that platform to serve our people. There is also something.

“We have also had this symbiotic relationship with the PDP where the South-East, over the same period, I think with the exception of the last general elections, has always given over 75 per cent of the votes from the South-East to the PDP. It also got to a point where we felt that our voices were being disregarded, even when it mattered most. So we had to make the tough choice to stand for accountability.”
Those were the words of Governor Peter Mbah of Enugu State after joining the APC. Like him, others have figured the PDP out, and have decided to pitch their tent with Tinubu’s APC for their survival, political relevance and a legitimate course.

Oyatomi, Former Editor, (Sunday Vanguard), Author (FINGERPRINTS 2008) and a Lawyer, is a member of the Board of Independent Media and Policy Initiative (IMPI), a Think Tank based in Abuja.