The historic defeat of Nigeria’s ruling party has generated a blame game that could worsen the prospects of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP in the immediate future.

By Emmanuel Aziken, Political Editor

It was an unparalleled admission of the post-defeat trauma that has suddenly put members of the once self-proclaimed biggest political party in Africa on edge.

Apparently in reference to President Goodluck Jonathan’s Monday night intervention, national party scribe, Chief Olisa Metuh yesterday offered the olive branch to warring aides and associates of the president.

“We are aware that this unfortunate development is a consequence of post-election trauma arising from our first ever defeat. We, however, note with relief that we have now overcome this challenge,” Metuh said in a communiqué yesterday.

The assertion followed days of vicious bickering among very senior party officials that in some cases involved direct innuendoes at the person of the president, his wife and senior officials.

At the heart of the crisis was the move by aides and close associates of the president to ensure the removal of the Adamu Mu‘azu led National Working Committee, NWC on the charge that having failed led the party to its worst election outing that members should go.

That move was first passed as a gentleman message from the governors to the NWC members. According to Vanguard sources, individual governors seen to be close to the NWC members were urged to pass on the message to the party officials to quietly resign from office. That suggestion was, however, stubbornly dismissed by nearly all members of the NWC who for once put aside their individual grievances against one another to stand up in defence of their mandate.

Open warfare

Jonathan and Muazu

The NWC members insisted that their tenure does not end until March 2016. Given the helplessness of the governors to push them aside, a number of the governors it was learnt, quietly returned to the party officials to confess that the campaign to remove them came from the villa.

The realisation of that fact further worsened relations between the party officials and the presidency leading to the open warfare that broke out a week ago.

The party officials had before the election grieved quietly as they saw how they were seemingly put aside by the presidency in the campaign.

Seemingly as a way of piling pressure on the NWC members, aides of the president who felt most pained by the loss of the presidential elections were said to have leaked vouchers which showed that members of the NWC got a minimum of N30 million each from party funds in early April. The presidency officials who leaked the vouchers accused them of stealing the money a week after the party lost the presidential elections as they accused the party officials of being more concerned about their interests than those of the party.

It was a charge that finally got the NWC members fighting. Last Saturday, the national chairman, Mu‘azu and the national publicity secretary, Metuh released two different statements in which they accused the presidency officials of seeking to destroy the party.

Metuh in his release said the NWC was “aware of the clandestine activities of such aides and associates of the President including their unholy alliance with some elements in other parties to undermine and weaken the PDP by attacking its leadership.

“The NWC is aware that these same individuals who mismanaged the presidential campaigns are now desperately seeking to cause crisis in the PDP with a view not only to divert attention from their misdeeds but also to ensure that they remained politically relevant by hijacking the party structure for their selfish purposes.”

The charge as to the mismanagement of the campaign fund by Metuh flowed from complaints by NWC members that the party secretariat was denied of resources by the president who they alleged poured all resources to his campaign organisation and anyone that sought to project his election with the notable exception of the NWC.

Pointers were made to the fact that the president bought almost a thousand vehicles, and just only the National Youth Leader got and that was because he was also a member of the Presidential Campaign Council, PCC.

Party sources asked why the presidency seemingly put the NWC at a distant during the campaigns said it was a matter of vendetta as it was claimed that some members of NWC were blamed for being too soft on the All Progressives Congress, APC presidential candidate, Muhammadu Buhari.

While the war lasted, party officials almost always accused presidency aides of fuelling the crisis with a threat that they would be exposed. However, beneath the veneer of such bluster was a direct threat to the outgoing president himself who many party leaders complain was directly stoking the crisis but out of respect shied away from dragging into the ring.

Remarkably, senior party officials including prominent officials of the BoT kept mute all the while the brickbat lasted mainly because they were either compromised in the distribution of campaign funds or put off by the lacklustre campaign.

Fuelling of the crisis

Remarkably, as the war seemed like degenerating last weekend, Mu‘azu reportedly jetted out of the country inevitably putting off prospects of a national executive committee, NEC meeting, the only body that can remove an erring national officer.

Seemingly put on the spot, the president called for a meeting with the members of the NWC on Monday night where those present were said to have called for peace. He was also quoted as promising to discipline his aides fuelling the crisis.

Mu‘azu who was not present and had on Tuesday morning put out a statement attacking his traducers from the presidency was forced to recall the statement late on Tuesday apparently after fellow NWC members had contacted him on the developments.

However, not so for Governor Ayodele Fayose and Chief Bode George, who have marshalled the attack against the NWC members from the Southwest zone.

Fayose was unrepentant in his demand for the resignation of Mu‘azu, saying on Tuesday: “How do we explain the PDP losing so scandalously in Bauchi State, despite the presence of the National Chairman, Federal Capital Territory Minister and the state governor? I want to say it again that I have no apology for calling for the resignation of the NWC members, especially the National Chairman.”

A member of the NWC, however, expressed serious pain at the assertion. According to him the NWC was the body that stood up for the governor when every other person in the party wanted him out of the governorship contest in Ekiti State.

“It really hurts, I mean it hurts for Ayo Fayose to ask us to resign, considering the risks we took to ensure that we gave him a level playing ground to contest even when some members thought that he had no right being in the race,” the NWC official said late on Tuesday.