In this piece, EMEKA NZE raises the issue of allowing only professionals to man the position of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) National Publicity Secretary, especially with the lull in the race for the position is deafening.
Importance of Publicity Secretary
Apart from the highly contentious national chairmanship position of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), another critical position, also highly contested and possibly cynosure at the December 9 national convention is the National Publicity Secretary (NPS) otherwise known as party spokesman.
As already noted by the former President, Dr Goodluck Jonathan, the “PDP must do the right thing at its December convention by electing a courageous chairman that would run the party democratically.”
Jonathan said qualities required of the PDP chairman include competence, reliability, courageous, ability to build bridges across the country. Above all the next chairman should be able to correct and tell a sitting president the truth.
Without equivocation, these qualities are also applicable to the would-be occupant of the position of the NPS, who is the official spokesman of the party. If the chairman should be a courageous person, the next NPS must not just be courageous, he must go a step further to demonstrate that his is not Dutch courage.
However, beyond the functions of issuing press releases, organising press conferences and speaking for the party in the media, he is the official image maker of the party; the man or woman to respond to issues affecting the party and promptly too.
The next NPS of the PDP should be all round knowledgeable, especially, about the country and beyond to evoke relevant reaction to issues. He should able to monitor and keep ruling party on its toes when the ruling party is acting ultra vires. Thus he must be abreast with the economy and the general activities of the government of the day.
To underscore the critical importance of the position of the NPS, if not more important than the national chairman, former Minister of National Planning, Prof Abubakar Sulaiman during his declaration to run for the position said, “the task ahead of the next NPS of the PDP as a party in opposition, is not for an apprentice or an underdog.
“Engaging on issues of governance with a party like the APC which is characterized by political intimidation, despotism and a shallow respect for the rule of law can be very daunting.”
“Our party deserves a Publicity Secretary that exudes great personality, a person well known by the media and the general public, one whose activity has the capacity to command media attention and win the hearts of Nigerians, a cerebral, a courageous and experienced person with good oratory skills. To be lacking in these will mean to derail the party once more.”
Poor interest
However, while there is an array of aspirants gunning for the chairmanship position of the PDP, there is a paucity of aspirants to the NPS post.
At the last count, Prof Abubakar Sulaiman, an indigene of Kwara state and the last Minister of National Planning in the Jonathan’s administration and Barrister Kabir Usman from Kogi state were the only two to have expressed public declarations of their ambitions to occupy the position.
Also, in the race by share indication of interest is a journalist and the former Special Adviser to former Senate President, David Mark, Mr Kola Ologbondiyan, also from Kogi state. Another experienced journalist, who seeks to occupy the office, is Hon Farouk Adejoh, a former chairman of Olamboro Local Government in Kogi state who just entered the race.
There is also a reluctant entrant, ostensibly due to zoning, Hon Emmanuel Bello, a former Commissioner for Information and Tourism from Taraba state.
While Sulaiman and Usman have formerly declared their ambition, Kola, Adejoh and Bello understandably seem not to be too keen except for last week’s public endorsement of Kola by his former boss, David Mark and Tuesday’s picking of nomination form by Adejoh.
Zoning headache again
The supposed reason for the lull in joining the race for the NPS is the zoning principle which ceded the position to the North and the purported further micro zoning to the North Central.
More so, party stakeholders have also bandied that the position has been re-micro zoned to Kogi state. To effect this, the former PDP governors namely, Gabriel Suswam, Ibrahim Idris, Captain Ibrahim Wada, Babangida Muazu, were said to have cornered the position and have endorsed Barr. Kabir Usman for the position.
Suswam and Muazu are trading their endorsement of Usman with the position of Financial Secretary and Deputy National Secretaries purportedly going to Niger and Benue states respectively.
This zoning and micro zoning seems to favour Barr Usman and has caused other aspirants to foot-drag.
However, the declaration by chairman of the National Caretaker Committee, Senator Ahmed Makarfi has re-kindled interest thus improvement in the number aspirants is being recorded.
Professional training necessary?
Nonetheless, the ongoing debate on who clinches the position seems to have further narrowed the boundaries. The argument that only a professional journalist should occupy the position does not favour Usman, who as a lawyer may not have the profound skills required to function well as the next spokesman of PDP.
Those who attended his declaration for the position claimed he lacked the panache and finesse for the office. His appearance in the media has not shown him as a man who possesses the oratorical skills necessary for the job.
Many argue that his law profession may be his greatest undoing as the PDP propaganda machinery manned by previous NPSs who were mostly lawyers did not fare so well.
The holders of this opinion hinged the defeat of PDP in 2015 general election on the shoddy performances of the various unprofessional spokesmen in the PDP who manned the position in a long time of the party’s occupation of power.
Proponents of this view attributed the APC victory mostly to the unmatchable and sophisticated propaganda network of the All Progressives Congress spearheaded by a professional, a veteran journalist, Alhaji Laid Mohammed.
This view supports that the position of national publicity secretary should be an exclusive reserve for people in the journalist profession who did not only get classroom tutorials but also cut their teeth in the field and who would maintain similar cordial relationship with the media as did Layi Mohammed when worked as APC’s spokesman.
Among the previous holders of the office, only Senator Anietie Okon is a journalist who cut his teeth in the profession. The likes of Emmanuel Ibeshi, Venatus Ikem and Chief Olisa Metuh who occupied the office were lawyers who merely did their best as their law profession could carry them.
John Odeh who succeeded Ikem had a stint in journalism as a manager at the Cross River Broadcast station and Prof Rufai Alkali tried their best in discharging the duties of the office but their performance were limited by own knowledge and skills as professionals in their own field.
The other germane argument which seems to have precluded the non- journalists in the race is that it will be unimaginable for any party to make a journalist or any other professional other than a lawyer the party’s legal adviser. This view makes a case for putting the round pegs in round holes.
This argument does not favour Prof Sulaiman’s candidature, nor does it favour Usman no matter their other credentials as a as persons who on their own have often confronted the ruling party.
But with his constituency of former PDP Ministers Forum which has thrown its weight behind him, Sulaiman may be a candidate to beat at the December 9 convention.
Some think otherwise
Like many PDP faithful, Sulaiman, however, believes and understands that the next PDP NPS should rise to salvage the country as vibrant opposition party through the needed advocacy.
He believes he possesses “the relevant managerial skill to become the National Publicity Secretary and to promote the image of our great party (PDP).”
He further spoke on his competencies, “As one who was a former Minister of National Planning, a lecturer of political science with over two decades of experience and resource person to major media outlets, it is well within my habitat to combine theoretical and practical knowledge of politics in shaping the image of the PDP and positioning it for electoral victories.
I will draw from my over 20 years of relationship with the media to reposition our party in the consciousness of Nigerians. I shall defend the achievements of the PDP and query the policies and abysmal performance of the APC government.
Under my leadership as the National Publicity Secretary of the PDP, we shall encourage weekly interface with different media platforms to further promote the ideals of our party.
While Sulaiman as well as his Forum of ex Ministers may sound optimistic by marshalling out his capabilities, he does not command the support of the party in his state, factor which is likely to work against him on December 9.
The political science lecturer is being seen in his home state as one who usurped the leadership of the party in Kwara state and in the process allegedly misappropriated the campaign funds of the party during the 2015 election.
His ongoing case with the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) which is an offshoot of the alleged misappropriation of the 2015 election campaign funds worsens his chances and the party would certainly not want to elect officers who would be distracted by EFCC while in offices.
