By Soni Daniel, Regional Editor, North

No fewer than two states governors and a minister have been suspended from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in what many believe is the ruling party’s baring of its fangs.

It was August Bebel (1840-1913) who dismissed politics as a dirty game best suited for the powerful and the mighty in society. In summing up his feelings about politics, Bebel wrote: “All political questions, all matters or right, are at bottom only matters of might”. The assertion by the writer, though made some decades ago, appears to have been written about the unfolding political drama in Nigeria, which has all the indices of power play at the forefront.

Those who are familiar with current political developments in the country will not fail to concede that, indeed, a conscious attempt is being pushed by those at the helm of affairs to enthrone the politics of power and might at the expense of the majority. In a way, what has already befallen the Nigerian Governors’ Forum, NGF, arising from the re-election of Governor Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi as Chairman, his subsequent suspension from the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, and the ripples  effect of the poll on the Northern States Governors’ Forum, NSGF, lend
credence to Bebel’s postulation.

The political imbroglio in the country so far and the on-going attempt by some aggrieved members of the NSGF to decimate the Forum and the grave political danger that it portends for the region, fit into Mikhail Aleksandrovich Bakunin’s submission that “even in the purest democracies, such as the United States and Switzerland, a privileged minority stands against the vast majority”.

SENATE PRESIDENT DAVID MARK; PRESIDENT GOODLUCK JONATHAN AND THE PDP NATIONAL CHAIRMAN, ALHAJI BAMANGA TUKUR AT THE PDP FAMILY DINNER IN ABUJA

But not many would have fathomed that the outcome of the election  of the Chairman of  the hitherto innocuous group like the NGF would throw up unimaginable headache for both members and non-members and effectively threaten the political landscape of Nigeria like a volcanic eruption.

Perhaps,  Amaechi, who is now seen as the arrowhead of a revolt against President Jonathan for standing up to defend his choice as the leader of the NGF and those who are trying to paint him with a tar brush, never envisioned that things could get to this awful level.

Now, the grave danger is that both the master and the servant are being threatened with the same bug that may bring down the very foundation upon which the duo stands. Even with the suspension of Amaechi from the biggest party in black Africa and the threat to impeach  him, and the open recognition of Governor Jonah Jang by the powers-that-be in the ruling party, there is no indication that such discriminatory and selfish action has in any way boosted the fortunes of the party.

It has also not been established that throwing out Amaechi and his sympathisers from the protection of the ‘big umbrella’ will likely enhance the fortunes of the party, as it prepares for the contentious 2015 polls, which have the tinge of a do-or-die politics.

As events unfold by the day, it is becoming clearer that if those who are encouraging the suspension of PDP governors suspected to be working against the party’s guidelines had known that their action would backfire in ways they did not envisage, they would have retraced their steps before the fire that is threatening to raze the house was ignited.

Still seething with anger over the defeat of the Presidency-anointed candidate (Jang ) in the NGF poll and take a pound of flesh from Amaechi for trying to disgrace the party, its handlers wielded the big stick against the Rivers governor, but hid under the flimsy excuse that he flouted the order of its factional chairman in Rivers State, Felix Onuah, alias Go Round, to reinstate the sacked Chairman and members of the Obio Akpor Local Government Area.

The predication of Amaechi’s reprimand on the disobedience of Onuah’s directive appeared as a laughing stock, given the fact that if PDP governors were to be penalised for ignoring factional party decisions, all its governors, presidents and NWC members would have been removed from the party by now. In the main, the action belies the justification of the sanction but goes ahead to show the deep-seated anger and crack that has set into the leading party on the African continent.

As if the Amaechi saga shifted from the Wadatta Plaza to the courts to prove who is right and wrong, the party, like a wounded lion, also moved against Governor Aliyu Wamakko of Sokoto State, another resolute politician from the Caliphate, believed to have thrown his weight behind the re-election of Amaechi on May 24, damning the consequences of his party’s threat.

Wamakko’s sins did not stop with the tacit support he allegedly gave to Amaechi or the other  PDP governors who  reportedly ‘revolted’ against the party’s decision to dump Amaechi and enthrone a Da Jang as the anointed or consensus leader of the NGF. Wamakko is said to have boxed himself into the bad book of the PDP when he reportedly scorned the selection of Governor Godswill Akpabio of Akwa Ibom State as the Chairman of the PDP Governors’ Forum, insisting that the ‘Uncommon Transformer’ should not parade himself as such as he was not validly elected by all the governors.

The Caliphate governor was immediately marked down for appropriate disciplinary sanction once his indiscretion was brought to the attention of the NWC of the PDP.  He was queried and asked to give reasons why disciplinary actions should not be taken against him for daring to tarnish the image of the party with a contemptuous remark against Akpabio, a favoured and adopted ‘son’ of Mr. President and the PDP.

Wamakko is reported to have instructed the Sokoto Chairman of the PDP to respond to the query on his behaf, apparently, to pooh-pooh the very reason he was being sanctioned. His infraction, it was learnt, infuriated the powers behind Aso Rock Presidential Villa and Wadatta Plaza, who vowed to deal the Sokoto governor  a devastating blow.

But in teaching Wamakko a lesson, the NWC, as in the case of Amaechi, tended to embellish the real reason for whipping him with a scorpion but meandered around ‘serial disobedience and contempt for the party’.

“The NWC notes that on several occasions, Governor Aliyu Wamakko had ignored invitations and lawful directives of the NWC in this regard and has continued to show complete apathy to the affairs of the party and contempt to an organ of the party,” Olisa Metuh, the spokesman for the PDP, said while announcing the governor’s  suspension.

“This is in furtherance of the determination of the leadership of the party to enforce discipline at all levels within the party,” Metuh added.

As things stand now, the re-election of Amaechi as the NGF Chairman against the wish of the Presidency and the PDP, which triggered his suspension from the party and the suspension of Wamakko, have merely helped,  like catalyst, to widen the gulf within its ranks and poisoned the minds of those who believe that the PDP has taken its luck to the extreme.

These are men and women within the party, who hold that the party has been engaging in favouritism over the years, allowing those favoured by their leaders to get away with anything without raising a finger only to use a sledgehammer to crush  those they don’t like for a minor offence. They cited how the National Chairman of the party, Bamanga Tukur, ignored several decisions taken by the NWC over the Adamawa crises but was not reprimanded by the same organ simply because the Presidency sided with the former Adamawa governor.

They also pointed to the various infractions in the state chapters of the PDP, which the party leadership has overlooked depending on which side those in the conflicts stand.

But one major setback that is likely to bend the hands of the party as it prepares for the next elections, is the fragmentation of the once powerful Northern States Governors’ Forum, NSGF, as a result of the fallout of the NGF poll.

The crack in the ranks of the NSGF hit the nation like a thunderbolt, last week, when  Bauchi State governor, and a strong supporter of President Goodluck Jonathan, voiced out strong concerns about the group, saying that its Chairman, Governor Babangida Aliyu, of Niger State, made a mockery of their decisions to field Da Jang of Plateau as their consensus candidate. Yuguda, whose disclosure jolted many,  as he does not have a pedigree in controversies, vowed never to return to the NSGF fold until Aliyu makes open statement on their decision before the NGF election.

”I don’t see any reason why I should attend the NSGF meeting again. For the remaining two years of my tenure, I will never be part of that Forum again,” an angry Yuguda vowed.

His anger is that the election that produced Amaechi should not have  held in the first place since the 19 northern governors had already adopted Jang as a consensus candidate for the post.

“My only request is for Babangida Aliyu to address the nation on what was agreed by all the northern governors at their meeting after which we proceeded to present Jang as our candidate to the PDP GF Chairman, Governor Akpabio before heading for the venue of the NGF meeting at the Rivers Governor’s Lodge in Asokoro.

“If Aliyu tells the world that we decided on presenting Jang for adoption and not election, then I would return to the NSGF. But if that is not done, I will never be part of that group again because I am not into politics to deceive or betray people so that I will not end up in hell,” Yuguda  said.

But the Chairman of the NSGF, Aliyu, has refused to join issues with Yuguda, insisting, however, that the NGF election was validly held and someone won. Apparently fearing that he could be the next on the PDP firing line, the Niger  governor has opted to tread carefully while maintaining his stance that President Jonathan does not deserve a second term having signed a deal with them to do only a term. Whether that document exists in the minds of the governor or in the archives, remains to be seen in the months ahead.

However, while those who booted out Wamakko did not take into consideration the aftermath of that action, the seven states that make up the North-West under the party have slammed the leadership of the PDP for moving against the governor. Describing Wamakko’s suspension as hasty and unfortunate, the Chairman of the party in the region, Amb Ibrahim Kazaure, said the action should have been preceded by wide consultations.

Kazaure also faulted the clamour by the Board of Trustees Chairman of the PDP, Chief Tony Anehih, that President Jonathan and ‘first term governors who are doing well’ should be given automatic tickets for 2015, as the party’s  Constitution did not make room for that. Sokoto State chapter of the party also spoke, saying they had been betrayed by Abuja given the fact that Wamakko was lured into the PDP in 2007 and had been winning election for the party since then.

“Before Wamakko came to PDP, it was losing election in Sokoto as a trademark,” an aide of the governor told Sunday Vanguard  yesterday. “Wamakko cannot leave the PDP, which he resuscitated for onlookers, the aide vowed, saying that those who instigated the PDP leadership to suspend the governor did not have the interest of the party at heart.

Whatever is happening in the ruling party now and what shape it will take prior to the next elections, will determine whether it can march into the polls as a united entity capable of winning in the way  it has been doing previously or not. But as the opposition parties attempt to forge a strong alliance under the aegis of APC, many are watching with keen interest to see whether the leaders of the parties coalescing can, for once, overcome the  problems that often upset  their  applecart and send the ruling party packing after 14  years in the saddle.

But as if all these were not embarrassing enough, the Delta State chapter of the PDP ratified the suspension of the Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Elder Godsday Orubebe, who was suspended alongside nine other persons by the Burutu Local Government Area chapter of the party over alleged conducts capable of breeding hatred and disunity in the party, as well as anti-party activities.

The state Chairman of the party, Chief Peter Nwaoboshi, told journalists in Asaba, on Thursday, that his office had received the suspension order, saying, “Discipline must be enforced in a political party.”

The Minister, who hails from the Delta South Senatorial zone as the current governor of the state, Dr. Emmanuel Uduaghan, a few weeks ago, openly declared his intention to contest the Delta State governorship election in 2015.

Orubebe, who has also fallen out with his political mentor, Chief E.K. Clark, had earlier described his suspension as by the Burutu PDP as illegal and non-binding.

But Nwaoboshi maintained that if governors could be suspended, there was no reason why the party could not discipline an  “errant minister”.

“If two governors could be suspended, why not a minister! The law is not a respecter of anybody. Nobody is above the law or the Constitution of the party.

If the Minister is found wanting, he has the right to appeal his suspension.

The party provides for that. His appeal would be heart on merit,” the Chairman added.

The Burutu chapter of the party had, in a statement  by its Chairman, Pastor Ogeibiri, Secretary and three others, after a meeting at the council headquarters of the party, on Tuesday, said, “After a hearing, preliminary to Section 21.4 of the Constitution as amended, and, by the virtue of the powers conferred on us, the working committee of the party via Section 21.4 of the same Constitution, hereby place Elder Godsday Orubebe and nine cohorts on suspension”.

While all the calculations are being done, a new twist is settling on the political horizon like a thief in the night: six-year tenure for President and governors, which is being debated with gusto by the National Assembly. If that sails through, it is certain that neither President Jonathan nor any of the 13 first-term governors would have any nerve to come looking for ballot papers with their names on them in 2015.

Whichever way the country goes in the next few months, will be shaped by the political currents emanating from those within and without the political corridors of the PDP and its traducers, who are watching and praying for more slips from the ruling party to capitalise on.