FOR a political party that prides itself as the largest in Africa, the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, has not provided the  exemplary track record of internal democracy and strict adherence to its own rules and regulations, which is  at the root of its intractable crisis.

Barely one week after an Enugu High Court restrained its former Chairman, Dr. Okwesilieze Nwodo,  from parading himself as the bona fide occupant of the office, the one-time Governor of Enugu State, was made to eat a humble pie on Tuesday, when the party leadership forced him to resign, instead of being expelled.

The contrived resignation came as a soft landing for Dr. Nwodo who staged a high drama last Thursday  when he tried to preside over the National Convention of the Party on January 13, 2011 in utter disregard of the High Court injunction stopping him from functioning in that capacity.

Dr. Nwodo therefore incurred the wrath of Party members including that of his kiths and kin in the South East chapter of PDP who passed a vote of no confidence on him for bringing the party to disrepute. Dr. Nwodo’s attempt to publicly disobey the Court order is a trade mark of Nigerians in high office who believe that they are above the law and treat the judiciary with contempt. He was probably setting the stage for litigations that would have put the outcome of the convention in jeopardy.

The action of Dr. Nwodo was seen by the Party National Working Committee as offending Article 21 (Section A and G), which deals with punishment for members who were deemed to have violated the constitution of the Party.

The section states that “the party shall have the power to discipline any member who says or does anything, likely to bring the party into disrepute, hatred, contempt; or engages in a disorderly conduct at meetings, rallies or at any party’s function.”

Dr. Nwodo offended this provision last Thursady  when he forcefully tried to take control of the proceedings of the convention before he  was stopped by a motion that empowered the Deputy Chairman Dr. Bello Haliru Mohammed to take charge.

Forcing Dr. Nwodo out of office is just one of the symptomatic manifestations of a deep seated malaise of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party where adherence to law and order is a luxury.

Within his brief stay as the National Chairman of the Party, Dr. Nwodo jettisoned the modest effort by the Pro-Reform groups led by Alhaji Aminu Bello Masari and Chief Ken Nnamani,  to return the party to the original vision and philosophy of the founding fathers.

Right from his Enugu home base, Dr. Nwodo waged a war of attrition to take control of the Party, a situation that pitched him against the governor of the State, Dr. Sullivan Chime. Dr. Nwodo’s alleged high handedness led several prominent members of the party to defect to other parties especially in Adamawa, Anambra, Delta, Oyo, Osun, Plateau, among others.

For all his advertised pledge to enthrone internal democracy in the party, Dr. Nwodo assiduously worked to subvert the tenets of democracy which is about people and good governance and derives from allowing the will of the people to prevail.

The former Chairman was not perturbed that he was leading a deeply factionalised Party in a crucial election year. Without doubt, the crisis in PDP has been a major gain for the opposition parties which welcomed the aggrieved PDP members with open arms.

Nwodo’s disregard for the Party’s constitution and imposition of candidates and double standards are traditions that he met but failed to change, rather, his tenure has accentuated the division.

The South East which has seen the tenure of Prince Vincent Ogbulafor and Dr. Nwodo make their stay very brief may  have to wait till the end of election before coming close to having one of their own occupy the high office as it will be ill advised to bring a new person on board before the April elections. The Jonathan camp that did everything to get Dr. Nwodo the waiver he needed to climb to his former office five months ago,  will now face the reality that the hood does not make the monk.