*Warring parties mobilise for crucial Thursday meeting

By HENRY UMORU

It was Alexander Herzen (1812-1870) who postulated  that “the men who proclaimed the Republic became the assassins of freedom”. In reality, the assertion by Herzen, noted for his myriad of essays that shaped the Russian revolution, is  that those who claimed to be architects of the struggle were the same who turned it to the advantage of the few people in their circle. He claimed that the so-called democrats merely succeeded in breaking the chains that held the prisoners but left the prison walls standing.

The assertion by Herzon, though made many centuries ago, bears the mark of the ‘struggle’, which our current political players in the ruling Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, often claim they are playing. The party leaders at the federal, state and local government levels claim rightly that they are the custodians of the democratic principles, having founded the PDP in 1998 via the formation of the G34.

The key officials of the party are often quick to boast that the founding fathers of the PDP set the stage for the current democratic atmosphere in Nigeria and should be so understood and appreciated by all Nigerians. No doubt, they founded the party as a prelude to the emerging fourth republic, but they have also largely destroyed the very foundation, which they laid with the absence of internal democracy, which has shaken the party to its very foundation.

Of all the issues that have threatened to sink the PDP, the struggle by governors to control its levers at all levels appears as the single most disturbing element, which is giving its leaders sleepless nights.

Governors, who nominate members of the National Working Committee, NWC, and  the National Executive Committee, NEC, are also the ones who decide who gets what at the state chapters of the party and play a crucial role in its influencing the Presidency on who should pilot the affairs of the party at the national level.

Now, the attempt by the Presidency to control certain states under the PDP has forced five governors to defect to the  opposition All Progressive Congress, APC, leaving the PDP with sour taste in its mouth. The remaining  aggrieved  two, Governors Babangida Aliyu of Niger and Sule Lamido of Jigawa, appear undecided on where to go, given their decision at the last minute to stay back in  the PDP. Can the party leadership still trust them and be willing to do business with them? Aliyu, for instance, is the one who broached the controversy that Jonathan signed a single term tenure with them as a condition for getting their support for the 2011 presidential election. Lamido  is having a running battle with the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission,  EFCC,  which says he and his sons diverted Jigawa funds into their business accounts.

Moving train
Even with the appointment of Akwa Ibom Governor  Godswill Akpabio as the PDP Govs Forum Chairman, the man has not been able to unify the party. In fact,  the party has been more divided than it was before  Akpabio was appointed as a peacemaker in April last year.

Akpabio seems to have lost the confidence and support of the other PDP governors because of the way he emerged as their ‘ leader’ in the first place coupled with  what many have come to see as his arrogance and uncouth speech, when he declared in his inaugural speech that he would drive out all the ‘Judases’ from the party. He further boasted that the PDP was like a moving train and that any governor that stands on its way would be crushed. Rather than unite the governors, the speech by Akpabio drove them  apart resulting in the re-election of Governor  Rotimi Amaechi of Rivers State as the NGF Chairman, contrary to the position of President Jonathan that Governor  Jonah Jang of Plateau State should be elected as the new NGF leader. That set the tone for the current division in the PDP and there seems to be no end in sight even as the 2015 general elections draw nearer. Things have not been helped with Jonathan’s inability to make a categorical statement about his political future.

Alhaji Bamanga Tukur and President Goodluck Jonathan

Right now, many  PDP  federal lawmakers have defected to the APC giving the ruling party a slim margin in the   House of Representatives while the same scenario appears to be playing out in the Senate, with threats that their seats would be declared vacant should they follow their Reps counterpart to defect to the opposition.

Isolation
Jonathan appears  isolated by the day because even those who surround him as loyalists may simply be pursuing their selfish political agenda unknown to him. Akpabio, a frequent visitor to the Presidential Villa, is said to be angling for a northern presidential candidate that he can pair with as a running mate in the 2015 election which the President is also said be preparing for. Those in the mind-frame  cited last week’s visit of  the House of Reps Speaker Aminu Tambuwal, who is alienated by the PDP leadership and is seen as an alternate presidential candidate to Major General Muhammadu  Buhari, to Akwa Ibom State  as a case in point. They also say that the governor is opposed to Tukur since he knows that removing the PDP National Chairman  would pave the way for Jonathan to be defeated at the primary and  for him to have a shot at the presidency. Akpabio is said to have assured Tambuwal of a month-watering amount  if he secures the presidential ticket of the APC. He is also said to be  looking at installing Uche Secondus as the Acting National Chairman of the PDP, so as to help him secure a  senatorial seat if the move for the vice presidency fails. Secondus, according to PDP sources,  was invited to  Uyo, the Akwa Ibom State capital, by the governor on January 1, 2014 to preside over the PDP Caucus meeting in  the state and, when the stakeholders queried why the Deputy National Chairman was brought to Uyo for a state meeting, Akpabio reportedly  said  he  (secondus) was simply passing by. But the Presidency is said to have taken note of  the antics of the governor and might soon move against him, including stripping him of the PDP GF chairmanship and his visit to  the Villa restricted.

Senatorial bid
Other second term governors angling to go to the Senate in 2015 include Emmanuel Uduaghan of Delta State as he declared his aspiration  in Asaba, his state capital, stressing that an unwritten understanding gives the opportunity to the Itsekiri  in the senatorial district. If he succeeds, he will  replace  the Chairman, Senate Committee on Niger Delta and  ranking Senator James Manager, Delta South.

Governor Theodore Orji  is also touted to be working to replace the Senate Committee Chairman on Gas, Senator Nkechi Nwaogu, Abia Central; just as Governor Sullivan Chime of Enugu  allegedly seeks  to displace the Deputy President of the Senate, Ike Ekweremadu; Governor Gabriel Suswam  of Benue also may replace the Chairman, Senate Committee on National Planning and former Chairman of PDP, Senator Barnabas Gemade, if his suspected senatorial bid succeeds while Governor  Muazu Babangida Aliyu of Niger is allegedly bidding to upstage Senator Dahiru Awaisu Kuta, Niger East, in the 2015 polls but Kuta has said severally that he cannot be intimidated.

Many believe Tukur may have put himself on the path of confrontation with these governors when he announced that serving senators and members of the House of Representatives would get automatic tickets to contest the 2015 polls as part of his moves to stop the gale of  lawmakers defection rocking the PDP.

This explains why if  there is no agreement on this crucial issue before the Thursday PDP NEC meeting, these  governors may move against the National Chairman,  but Tukur is also not resting on his oars especially as he has the support of the Presidency and some other governors.

The PDP leadership initially fixed  January 8  for the NEC meeting, but Tukur, in collaboration with  President  Jonathan, had to postpone the meeting  to enable them put their  house in order by reaching out to aggrieved leaders before the Wadata Plaza, National Secretariat of the party, explodes and the National Chairman’s  head cut by those plotting to remove him from office. The BoT meeting comes before the NEC meeting on Wednesdays while the National Caucus meeting is scheduled for Wednesday.

Meanwhile, some governors of the party are said to be on a nation wide tour to plead with stakeholders on behalf of  the embattled National Chairman.

The governors, a source told Sunday Vanguard, are tired of the  crisis in the party and want a united PDP ahead of 2015 presidential election as well as stop further defection of members to the APC. Sunday Vanguard gathered that the governors first port of call was Tukur’s residence where they  pledged their loyalty while vowing to save him at the proposed NEC meeting, just as they were said to have taken the step in the interest of President  Jonathan come 2015.

Governor Henry Seriake Dickson of Bayelsa State is the rally point of  the  pro- Tukur  governors. Other governors who visited Tukur and out to save him are Isa Yuguda (Bauchi State); Jonah Jang  (Plateau); Ramallan Yero (Kaduna); and Garba Umar  (Taraba); among others.

The PDP crisis is a self-inflicted one brought upon its leaders and party by selfish elements, who see the party as their fiefdom and an avenue to wield power at the expense of  others. The leaders must however be reminded of the words of Winston Churchill, who said that “an appeaser is one who feeds a crocodile, hoping it will eat him last” The raging crisis in the PDP has the potential to consume all of them all at once, leaving them with wounds that would be difficult to heal. Will they listen to the words of wisdom or read the handwriting on the wall?