…Atiku, govs, senators differ on coalition
…Wike withdraws from peace deal
…We’re consulting, asking tough questions – Saraki
The lingering crisis within the main opposition party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), has posed serious concerns to stakeholders with different factions maintaining extreme views. To resolve the crisis, the party recently set up a reconciliation committee headed by a former President of the Senate, Bukola Saraki, whose actions have so far been received with reservations. In this report, KEHINDE OSASONA wonders whether or not aggrieved members can trust Saraki as an unbiased peace-maker and unifier.
The many wars within
The clash of inordinate ambition is the albatross posing an existential threat to the People Democratic Party (PDP), the leading opposition party in the country. As the party prepares for the 2027 general elections, how can it pull the strings, reconcile its factions, achieve unity and focus on a winning strategy?
A political and public affairs analyst, Mojeed Dahiru, while responding to a question on a television programme described the PDP as a “dying party.” He said the PDP has committed a sacrilege by jettisoning zoning in 2023.
“The wages of sin is death. So, the PDP is dying because in the build up to the 2023 election, it was supposed to zone its ticket to the South, its most consistent support base; however, by opting to give a northerner in the person of Atiku Abubakar, the party had committed a mortal sin and for this reason, I don’t see them surviving beyond 2027. In fact, its final rites of passage have been done,” he said.
But amidst the moves for reconciliation, the party’s major gladiators caused another stir as they snubbed the party’s NEC which eventually held a few days ago after series of postponement.
Atiku, the party’s presidential candidate in the 2023 election, was not in attendance and never attended any of the meetings prior to the day NEC was held. Of course, it is no longer news that the Wazirin Adamawa, who appears occupied with the coalition drive, has a plan B and may have moved on. This development is seen as a pointer to his readiness to forge ahead with the coalition irrespective of whose ox is gored.
The embattled party scribe, Senator Samuel Anyanwu, who is also aggrieved, was not at the NEC either; instead, Arc Setonji Kosheodo was sighted playing his role. Notably, despite the ruling by the Supreme Court, both of them are still laying claims to the position. Anyanwu, who was said to be visibly angry, accused party leaders and some governors of being behind his travails, arguing that his only sin was being close to the Minister of the FCT, Nyesom Wike, who, he said, is his boss and friend.
Anyanwu, who described the NEC as “mere” meeting without him insisted that, “There is no vacancy in the office of the National Secretary of the PDP. I remain the substantive National Secretary whose tenure runs until December 2025,” he said.
Wike’s camp
Wike, one of the party’s heavy weights and leader of the G5 governors, recently opted out of the peace deal with the governors of the party vowing to fight on until justice is served, a development some analysts said put the party on fragile peace.
Worried by the development, a chieftain of the party, who asked not to be named in print, expressed concerns to Blueprint Weekend about the “ugly developments,” saying “this is a setback for the party and a slap on the just-concluded NEC.”
“A NEC where people that are supposed to be present failed to honour it alongside their associates is not a success and every loyal member must be worried. Now, tell me, where is the peace here? Look at everybody pretending about peace, yet, escalating the crisis. Why? This is so sad,” he said.
Wike, findings by our correspondent revealed, pulled out of the much-needed peace deal when he sensed that some governors had already obstructed the peace process. The minister, according to another report, is insisting that even before the Bukola Saraki reconciliation committee began its work, the gentleman’s agreement that was reached was already being “crudely violated.”
Atiku’s camp
Atiku, while defending the coalition project, said it was just a political strategy and necessity to challenge the ruling All Progressives Party (APC) and rebuild the country. According to him, the National Party of Nigeria (NPN), the ruling party in the Second Republic, had formed an alliance with the Nigeria Peoples Party (NPN) and it was called NPN- NPP accord, saying when the coalition was achieved, the name of PDP would not be affected.
Govs, senators reject coalition
The PDP Governors Forum led by the Bauchi state governor, Bala Mohammed, said it won’t join any alliance ahead of the 2027 presidential election. According to the Forum, instead, other parties and groups should join them.
The Forum’s statement at the Ibadan meeting in Oyo state, which had the Ag National Chairman, Ambassador Umar Damagum, in attendance, according to an informed source, may have heightened the already tensed situation when they bluntly attacked Atiku and his ‘co-travellers’ thereby knocking off any form of coalition or merger talks.
The source further told Blueprint Weekend that the governors would have keyed in, but were afraid that their party could be swallowed by the coalition plan and might go into extinction, a situation they are avoiding like a plague.
But unfazed by the governors’ position, Atiku’s camp; a former APC Chieftain, Malam Nasir el-Rufai; a former SGF, Babachir Lawal; the presidential candidate of the Labour Party, Mr. Peter Obi, and a handful of aggrieved politicians are pushing on with the plan. This is just as the PDP senators pushed back Atiku’s call for a coalition.
Sixteen PDP senators led by the Senate Minority Leader, Abba Moro, while addressing a press conference at the National Assembly (N^ASS) recently, also dismissed concerns that “the party is in crisis,” asserting that the “PDP remains intact and poised for a resurgence.”
He said, “Creating harmony for a coalition should be driven by political parties, not individuals”, the Caucus emphasized that while they are open to coalition talks such engagements must originate from party structures.”
Damagum and the gale of defections
For a party that had earlier boasted of being positioned to rule the country for sixty years, not had many thought that the current wave of defections could affect the main opposition party as it is currently. The party was, therefore, shocked when Governor Sheriff Obovrevwori defected to the APC.
While justifying his stance, the Chairman of the Delta state PDP, Senator James Manager, admitted that the decision was difficult, but necessary.
“You cannot remain in a boat that is clearly capsising. As a liberal-minded person, I’ve tried to view the situation objectively, and the current realities have made it clear, it’s time to chart a new course,” he said.
After his defection, it was predicted that others would follow. For instance, in April, Governor Umo Eno of Akwa Ibom state sparked a speculation over a potential political realignment when he openly questioned the viability of the PDP as a platform for his political aspirations beyond 2027.
The governor, who was speaking at Ikot Akpankuk, Ukanafun local government area of the state, likened the PDP to a faulty aircraft, suggesting he might consider boarding a “different plane” to reach his political destination, a sarcasm many have interpreted as a hint at defection to the APC.
An unconfirmed report also has it that Governor Caleb Muftang of Plateau state and Governor Ademola Adeleke of Osun state, having fallen out with the former governor, Rauf Aregbesola, may also be tinkering with the idea of porting to the APC to avoid Aregbesola and Olugboyega Oyetola, as he eyes second term in office.
Davido, a popular singer and nephew of Adekleke, who was also instrumental to his emergence, was seen a few days ago romancing the APC’s stalwarts. While what he termed a friendly visit lasted, OBO – as he’s fondly called by fans, alongside his 30GB gang – his friends, Ubi Franklin and Paschal Okechukwu, popularly known as Cubana Chief Priest, visited the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Tajudeen Abbas, the President of the Senate, Godswill Obot Akpabio, and President Bola Tinubu, a move viewed as paving the way for Adeleke’s defection in no distant future.
But amidst fears and apprehension, a former chairman of the party, Alhaji Abubakar Baraje, has declared the party’s readiness to reclaim power in the 2027 general elections.
He said, “As far as I’m concerned, whether there are defections or not, the PDP remains a formidable opposition party. Concerning the recent defection of the Delta state governor and his team, we’ve put that behind us and are looking ahead. The ruling party is entitled to its views, but the opposition is far from complacent.”
Without recourse to the on-going efforts towards peace and stability, some party members, it was learnt, were quick to lay the blame at the doorsteps of Damagum who, they alleged, is working against the party’s interest in favour of specific vested interests and the ruling APC.
Despite repeated denials by the party, Damagum, who himself got a dose of the in-fighting within the party when he was almost removed by a faction within the party, is still believed to be a part of the party’s problems.
On the other hand, the plot against Damagum, findings by this medium indicated, did not sit well with Wike who is a key factor in PDP. Wike, a party financier, who fought to get the PDP’s ticket for the 2023 presidential election, castigated the party’s leadership for zoning its presidential ticket to the North.
The failure of the party to yield to pressure, it would be recalled, resulted in the formation of the G-5 governors, who fell out with Atiku and his camp ahead of the election and what transpired thereafter, as they say, has become history.
The trust issues
As the party intensified its search for a lasting peace, the former President of the Senate, Abubakar Bukola Saraki, was asked to chair a newly constituted reconciliation committee.
By their estimation, with Saraki’s clout and a stand-alone personality who does not belong to any faction, his youthfulness, experience, connection and ability to blend with all stratum of party hierarchy, can restore lasting peace.
However, at the inception, and despite the move by the Saraki-led seven-man committee to heal wounds and broker a lasting peace, he has come under attacks and now, there is a renewed agitation over the way Saraki and his team handled the issue of the embattled secretary, Anyanwu.
The aggrieved governors and other actors were not happy that the former Kwara governor met with just a few NWC members and decided that Anyanwu should resume office as the national secretary without consulting the full panel, the entire NWC, or even the governors who assigned him the task.
It was further gathered that Governor Seyi Makinde and the governors of Zamfara and Bayelsa states saw the move as a deliberate plan to undermine them and portray them as being weak. Some NWC members, it was learnt, are also not comfortable with the decision as they expected the Saraki-led panel to meet with them before arriving at such a conclusion.
They cited the fact that things had been relatively calm since the governors nominated and the NWC approved Koshoedo as the national secretary, insisting that Saraki’s meeting with a few NWC members had reignited the ‘fire.’
However, unperturbed by the knocks and grievances, Saraki, a few days ago, expressed confidence in the ability of the PDP to reclaim its leadership position in the country, despite the internal challenges currently facing it.
Re-affirming his loyalty and belief in the PDP, Saraki said, “I believe in the PDP. I believe in what it has stood for and what it can still become, if we’re willing to do the hard, unglamorous work of rebuilding from the inside out.”
With all these knotty issues, does Saraki have the antidote to the PDP’s divisions and cracks? And do stakeholders believe him?