The Peoples Democratic Party, PDP … one of the least effective major Opposition parties on the planet

WHY is the PDP so useless? How can a once-powerful party that confidently ran the Giant Of Africa for 16 consecutive years have become such a tiny, pathetic shadow of its former self?

OK, so losing the 2015 election to Buhari’s APC was a huge shock and humiliating psychological blow for the PDP’s leadership, Dr Goodluck Jonathan in particular, not least because no incumbent had ever been trounced in a presidential poll in this country before.

But this defeat was, if you think about it, no big deal. It is healthy for ruling parties that aren’t performing adequately to be tossed out of office. It happens all over the world. And the appropriate response to any type of defeat is to go back to the drawing board, humbly acknowledge the weaknesses that caused your failure, then dust yourself down and plunge back into the fray stronger.

But instead of learning from mistakes made and doggedly focussing on reclaiming lost ground, the PDP descended into half-heartedness.

Buhari and most of his cohorts turned out to be monumental disappointments and millions started to regret the fact that they had voted APC; but the APC got very little consistent and aggressive pushback from the PDP.

The same thing is happening now. President Tinubu, who was declared winner of this year’s election, has been a monumental disappointment so far. But the PDP’s complaints are feeble, to put it politely.

The PDP has haemorrhaged high-profile support. Its onetime flagbearer, Jonathan, has coolly distanced himself and openly flirts with APC mandarins. The iconic Peter Obi walked out of the PDP last year. Ditto Kwankwanso, Kano’s grassroots hero.

Meanwhile, Nyesom Wike, the former Rivers State governor and current FCT Minister, has made himself the PDP’s mightiest problem, having spent the past few months maliciously punishing the PDP for not giving him its presidential or vice-presidential tickets.

He and his allies (four governors included) have flatly refused to leave the PDP but have simultaneously disgraced the PDP on a regular basis and worked closely with Tinubu, the PDP’s mortal enemy. And for reasons best known to itself, the PDP isn’t retaliating.

The PDP must surely go down in history as one of the least effective and least self-respecting major Opposition parties on the planet! And I totally agree with the contents of an article that was recently written by my cousin, Comfort Obi, editor in chief of The Source.

EXCERPTS:

“Wike is right in the middle of PDP’s throat. He is comfortable there. But hurting its liverless leadership. And hurting the Party which can neither swallow it, nor cough it out.  He is spitting on their faces. He is their nemesis.

The questions are: How does Wike do it? How did one man destabilise a major political party? How did he push everybody under the bus? How did he cause so much havoc and still walks with a swagger, his shoulders high?

Just imagine the number of big men, “juggernauts, men of timber and calibre” in the PDP, yet, Wike crushed them all, almost effortlessly. He promised to show them pepper. And he showed them more than pepper. He made them look very ordinary.  Powerless. Helpless.  Hopeless. Wike, just one man, threw them into the gutter, and marched on them. He buried them and spat on their graves.

He cost PDP the 2023 Presidency. Until Wike started his destruction of the party, the 2023 Presidency was PDP’s to lose.  

What surprises is how Wike was able to reduce PDP to nothing. How was he able to defeat the party and all its big men and women? He simply used them as pawns on a political chess board. And they were looking. Did nothing. They could neither expel him, nor suspend him.

As they watched as if somebody swore for them, he tied them down with court judgements. The courts, surprisingly, forced them to live and sleep with their enemy.

When people say Wike succeeded because he had a lot of money to throw about, my answer is: perish the thought. Rivers State does not have more money than Akwa Ibom State. Even if it does, a combination of the treasuries of Akwa Ibom and Delta State, both huge oil producing States like Rivers, would have given Wike a run for his money. He was just more calculating. Courageous. And cold. And fighting spirit

In Rivers State, when I think of  the big names, I marvel at how he subdued all of them, not just in PDP, but in APC. In Rivers, both parties are under him. Wike has set a record by being the leader of two major political parties in Rivers State – PDP and APC.

During the 2023 General Elections, Wike did the unprecedented. He gave the APC a controversial victory during the presidential polls, gave PDP National Assembly members victory in an election that was held same day as the presidential election, then, he went ahead to install a PDP governor and PDP House of Assembly Members! Unprecedented. Both parties, in Rivers State, are in his palms.

As a final slap on the face of PDP and the APC founders in Rivers State, Wike, still mouthing membership of PDP, took the Ministerial slot of the State. What surprises most is the helplessness of the PDP. In the face of all Wike’s insults, they still pander to him. This other day, even when President Bola Tinubu had nominated him a Minister, the PDP, in one shameless decision, nominated Wike a member of the PDP Bayelsa  Governorship Election Campaign. This is a man who had, for months, stopped associating with them, cut off all relationships with them, and reduced them to nothing.

And he is still insulting them. For PDP, the bad news continues. Your lord and master, your nemesis is in Abuja…And, until he completely wipes you off the political face of Nigeria, he will not rest – unless a miracle happens. Unfortunately, miracles don’t come easy.”

RESPONSES TO  [email protected]  

or to 0805 404 6887. PLEASE KINDLY NOTE THAT UNLESS YOU REQUEST ANONYMITY, YOUR EMAIL OR TEXT MAY BE PUBLISHED WITH YOUR NAME AND CONTACT DETAILS ATTACHED.