Political Notes
By Emmanuel Aziken, Political Editor

Sowing and reaping in PDP

The political configuration cum conspiracy that forced Admiral Murtala Nyako from office as governor of Adamawa State was one that many predicted would not last long. So, it was not surprising that once Nyako was eased out of the way that the many political stakeholders who conspired against him took up battle, one against another.

Now, the ensuing battle of wits has led to the healthy debate on the issue of political fidelity. Some leaders of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP in Abuja, allegedly led by a venerated leader of the party from the South-South are against the demand by some gubernatorial aspirants for a waiver from the requirement that aspirants for public office should have been members of the party for a minimum of two years.

The argument of the leader as it was learnt is that allowing waivers would weaken morale of party members who took the risk and sacrifice of staying in the party to fight against Nyako.

The logic is in line with the biblical saying that whatsoever a man sows, that shall he reap. So why should Nuhu Ribadu, Buba Marwa and Markus Gundiri come to reap where they did not sow, those pushing that argument ask?

Many would remember a dozen years ago when the now late Chief Sunday Afolabi took the now deceased Chief Bola Ige to task telling him that he was a guest in the PDP administration who had only been invited to come and eat!

Mimiko reshapes Southwest PDP

After much dithering procrastination, Governor Segun Mimiko is set to defect from the Labour Party to his first love, the PDP. Governor Mimiko’s defection associates say, is based on the political realities the governor has found himself in.

Though the fact that he is in the second term would not mean any much personal political gain for him, Mimiko’s movement, it was learnt, is to safeguard his political legacy with the approach of the 2015 elections.

Mimiko who is an unabashed supporter of the 2015 Jonathan project is said to have considered the political implication of asking supporters to vote for Jonathan for president and Labour for the National Assembly elections. The confusion was said to have cost Labour much votes in 2011 and the governor is said not to want to take the risk again. The governor, it was learnt, is also tired of political alienation, being the fact that he is the only Labour governor and bearer of the cost of running the party.

The impact of the defection may be of little import in Abuja where the governor’s support for Jonathan has largely been taken for granted, but it is bound to resonate loudly on the political landscape in Ondo State.

For the PDP in Ondo State which itself had largely been split between supporters of Governor Mimiko (PDP –Gbesibe) and his foes in the party who have recently inched towards Asiwaju Bola Tinubu (PDP, Jagban), the coming weeks and months are bound to be interesting.

It would also give more fibre to the PDP Southwest in the continuing battle to reshape the political configuration of the zone.

No morality in politics

The impeachment of Mr. Sunday Onyebuchi as deputy governor of Enugu State has notably raised the question of morality in the political arena. Given what some allege to be the slavish attitude of the former deputy governor to Governor Sullivan Chime, especially at the peak of the illness of the governor, many were shocked at the unpretentious hostility meted out to Onyebuchi. That was despite the reported intervention of high level PDP big wigs who sought to intervene. Onyebuchi, it seemed, touched the raw nerves of the governor for him to forget the fidelity of the former deputy at the height of his own personal crisis just over a year ago.