IT may not be wrong to say that the current crisis bedeviling the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), if unchecked, may hurt its fortunes in 2015 elections.
Incidentally, the 2015 elections, among other factors, seem to be responsible for the power fights and crisis in the party.
With more than a dozen governors in their second and last tenure, and some declaring interest in the Presidency in 2015, one can understand why they are not in a hurry to back President Goodluck Jonathan’s ambition for a second term.
“That is the crux of the matter; it is all about who takes charge of the machinery,” a PDP insider said.
The current crisis in the PDP started last October after the National Working Committee (NWC), citing “repeated breaches of the constitution by the Adamawa State Chapter,” dissolved the executive committee of the state chapter, led by Alhaji Mijinyawa Kugama, a strong ally of Governor Murtala Nyako.
Immediately after the dissolution, the national leadership of the party, led by its national Chairman, Alhaji Bamanga Tukur, himself from Adamawa, appointed a 9-member caretaker committee, headed by Ambassador Umar Damagun from Yobe State.
The committee swung into action by appointing caretaker committees in the 21 Councils and set in motion the machinery for the revalidation of the membership register, while slating December for state and local government congress to elect officials for the next four years.
These actions, obviously annoyed Nyako, who later went public to announced that he recognises only the dissolved executive as the authentic party leaders in the state.
As each of the gladiators flexed their muscles to out-do each one another, the governor used his office as the leader of the party in the state to ban all forms of political activities, a decision that was ratified by a State High Court.
But the committee went ahead to hold congresses in the state, following the order of the NWC, despite the exparte motion for the state chapter of the party to stay action.
The dissolution of the Kugama executive backed by Nyako was seen by PDP governors as a deliberate act by Tukur to weaken the influence of the governor, which they saw as an affront and a move that could also be used against them in future.
Although there was crisis within the party before Nyako’s emergence as governor in 2007, his assumption of office escalated the tension, particularly after the exit of Joel Madaki, the then chairman of the party, who later resigned to contest the governorship election of the state.
That paved the way for the emergence of Kugama, seen as a strong Nyako apologist and kinsmen, which did not go down well with other party stalwarts, including Tukur, who rejected the decision on the ground that it contravened the zoning principle of the party, as the governor and the party chairman hail from the same council.
Therefore, the Adamawa PDP crisis is seen as a continuation of the supremacy battle between the Tukur and Nyako.
Nyako was one of the PDP governors who did not support Tukur’s ambition to become the party’s national chairman.
Furthermore, analysts said the renewed crisis is geared towards the capturing of the soul of Adamawa in 2015, as it is believed that whoever wins the war would be able to put his surrogates in strategic positions in the state.
Interestingly, Tukur’s son, Awal, is speculated to be interested in succeeding Nyako in 2015; hence it is believed that Tukur might be using his position to railroad his son into a favourable position towards the governorship, a development that must have irked the governors.
One of the PDP governors seemed to bare the mind of his colleagues when he said: “Today, it is Nyako, tomorrow it could be me.”
As a result, the governors seemed to have resolved to mobilise and confront the national leadership by lobbying, or rather, influencing other members of the National Executive Committee (NEC) to instigate the dissolution of the NWC directly or through a forced national convention.
In this project, they appear to have found an ally in former President Olusegun Obasanjo, who has lately been visiting the country, reaching out to many governors, allegedly to frustrate the second term ambition of Jonathan, by first getting at Tukur, who is seen to be working for the interest of Jonathan.
It is no longer news that the same 2015 power struggle between Jonathan and Obasanjo is holding PDP back from electing its Board of Trustees (BoT) chairman.
While Obasanjo is rooting for former National Chairman of the party, Dr. Ahmadu Ali, Jonathan is known to be supporting ‘Mr. Fix It,’ Chief Tony Anenih, who occupied the position between 2003 and 2007.
The BoT is the highest advisory body of the party charged with the responsibility of ensuring the highest standard of morality and discipline among members.
It is believed that whoever has the BoT chairman on his side ultimately would have his way in the 2015 primary, and probably the elections.
That has made the jostle for the chairmanship of the 97-member board more intense that the party has failed on two different occasions failed to elect someone among the 12 contestants for the position.
But Senate President David Mark may have broken the jinx and steered victory away from Obasanjo and Ali, when he engineered the ratification of the election of the Board’s secretary, Senator Walid Jibrin from Nasarawa State for a term of five years.
That singular act meant that the North Central zone, where Mark and Ali (who is from Kogi State) hail from cannot produce the BoT chairman and secretary, as provided by the PDP constitution.
That scenario has also automatically made Mark leader of the party in the zone.
The power politics over the party’s BoT may have, however, forced the two opposing camps to a retreat, as there were indications during the week that the party may have settled for former Vice President, Dr. Alex Ekwueme, himself a former occupant of the post, as compromised in its next election.
Other aspirants include Dr. Ken Nnamani, Dr. Okwesilieze Nwodo, Chief Emmanuel Iwuayanwu, Chief Don Etiebet and Senator Bode Olayinka.
Others are Chief Yekeen Adeojo, Senator Onyeabor Obi, Chief Harry Akande and Chief Shuaibu Oyedokun.
But Jibrin said that 20 candidates had earlier signified interest for BOT chairmanship.
The crisis rocking the party took a new dimension during the week when Tukur named the party’s Deputy National Secretary, Solomon Onwe, to replace the National Secretary and former governor of Osun State, Prince Olagunsoye Oyinlola, who was removed from office by a court on Friday, January 11, this year.
Chief Adebayo Dayo and Alhaji Semiu Sodipo (for and on behalf of the Ogun State Executive Committee of the PDP), backed by businessman and leader of a the Dayo-led faction of the Ogun State chapter of the PDP, Prince Buruji Kashamu, had approached the court seeking the sack of Oyinlola, based on the earlier pronouncement of another Federal High Court sitting in Lagos that the congress that produced Oyinlola was invalid.
Justice Abdul Kafarati said the former governor was not fit to hold the position following the faulting of the process that threw him up.
Justice Kafarati agreed with the argument of the Counsel to the Plaintiffs, Amaechi Nwaiwu (SAN), that with the cancelation of the Southwest Zonal congress of the party, there was no basis for the election of Oyinlola.
The immediate replacement of Oyinlola, who had since appealled the judgment, by Tukur is seen by many as a payback for the former national scribe, who, as Obasanjo’s loyalist, along with the support of PDP governors, had overruled Tukur’s dissolution of the Adamawa executive.
In a press release during the week, Tukur said: “Pursuant to the powers conferred on the National Chairman by Chapter V Section 35 (1), 35 (1)(b) as well as section 36(2) of the constitution of the Peoples Democratic Party, (as amended), the Deputy National Secretary of the PDP, Solomon Onwe, is hereby directed to assume duties as the Acting National Secretary of the PDP.”
He added: “Onwe shall, by this directive, conduct all correspondences of the party, issue notices of meetings of the National Convention, National Executive Committee, National Caucus and the National Working Committee, as stipulated in the constitution of our great Party.
“This directive takes immediate effect and is hereby communicated to all levels and offices of the Party.”
For a party that is not known prompt obedience of court orders or observance of the principles of constitutionalism and rule of law, analysts believe power politics is actually responsible for the immediate replacement of Oyinlola.
But the party on Wednesday, through a press release, denied that it was out to witch-hunt Oyinlola, as widely speculated in the media.
Though it is difficult to accurately predict how the current crisis may affect the party in 2015, but it is sure weighing on the party at a time the opposition is trying to package a common front to challenge its hold on power in 2015.
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