THIS is certainly not the best of times for the ruling Peoples Democratic Party, PDP. Assailed by fractious and bitter parallel primaries and struck by a gale of defection of notable stakeholders, across the states, to rival political parties, the PDP hierarchy has an onerous task at hand. It must mend fences, patch cracks and fissures on its walls, if it hoped to regain its apex height as the dominant political party.

In the beginning…
At the end of the 2007 general elections, the PDP upped its status as the country’s dominant party. Aside cornering the presidency and securing outright two- third majority of seats in the Senate and House of Representatives, the PDP also had 28 of the country’s 36 states governors,  leaving only eight states for the multitude of opposition parties. The All Nigeria Peoples Party, ANPP had five (Bauchi, Zamfara, Kano, Borno and Yobe); the Progressive Peoples Alliance, PPA won two  (Imo and Abia) while the Action Congress, AC had one (Lagos).

Led by the late President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua and later by Goodluck Jonathan with Prince Vincent Ogbulafor as chairman, the party throttled efforts to enlarge its size by poaching on the opposition. PDP appeared to have the magic wand. Its political  honey pot attracted politicians from all divides – progressives, conservatives and even those without any ideological leaning.

Yar’Adua’s offer of Government of National Unity (GNU) attracted representations from the ANPP and PPA, a move that later weakened and decimated these parties. Before long, opposition governors such as Isa Yuguda (Bauchi), Mohammed Aliyu Shinkafi (Zamfara), Ikedi Ohakim (Imo) and Theodore Orji (Abia) were on the march into PDP with a host of their supporters.

From left, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, Sarah Jubril, Vice President Namadi Sambo with his wife, Mariam, and President Goodluck Jonathan with his wife, Dame Patience at PDP presidential primary in Abuja.

The party was fast becoming a greener pasture of sorts for appointment and political office-hungry politicians. Even former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, who quit the party in 2006 for the AC now Action Congress of Nigeria, ACN, over a bitter feud with former President Olusegun Obasanjo, retraced his steps back to the PDP At a stage, the opposition parties were left with only four state governors. Ogbulafor boasted at a point that the PDP would rule the country for 60 years because of dearth of virile opposition. Obviously, the PDP was at its peak.
When the umbrella started leaking
However, without warning, the PDP’s electoral fortunes started dwindling. First, Governor Peter Obi of the All Progressives Grand Alliance, APGA recovered his mandate as Anambra Governor from PDP’s Andy Uba, who had held sway for 10 days via a Supreme Court ruling that the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC should not have conducted the 2007 polls that produced Uba because Obi’s tenure had not elapsed.

As if taking a cue from the Anambra judgement, the courts overturned the PDP’s victories in Ondo, Edo, Ekiti and Osun states and awarded the governorship mandates to the Labour Party (Ondo) and ACN in the other three.

The courts ordered re-run polls in Kogi, Sokoto, Bayelsa and Delta states, which the PDP, nevertheless, won. However, it had become obvious that the ruling party is not impregnable or its umbrella leak-proof. It lost a number of National and state legislative seats to the opposition across the states.

Eruption of dormant volcanoes
As posturing and angling for positions intensified as the 2011 polls drew nearer, dormant political volcanoes started erupting. The party became factionalised in virtually all the states of the country. Its incumbent governors bickered with their predecessors. A series of committees raised to trash the issues recorded little or no results. Incumbent office holders, amid arguably poor performance, insisted on retaining their positions against an army of fresh and ambitious aspirants.

With the party unable and unwilling to give them the platform to pursue their ambitions, the exit door was inadvertently thrown open for a host of aggrieved members.

When it became obvious that they would be denied re-election tickets, some PDP Federal and State lawmakers and governorship aspirants decamped to rival parties.

Gale of defections
PDP leaders, who defected under this scenario include former Benue State Governor, Senator George Akume and Senator Joseph Akaagerger. The duo have secured the tickets of the ACN to re-contest their seats.

Immediate past Information Minister, Prof. Dora Akunyili, did not want to go through the hassles and intrigues of picking a senatorial ticket in the PDP. She simply resigned her post, defected to APGA and has been handed a ticket to vye for a senatorial seat in Anambra State.

Other PDP senators, who have decamped to other parties or preparing to do so to secure their return tickets include Sen. Chris Anyanwu (Imo), Sylvester Anyanwu (Imo), Osita Izunaso (Imo), Ayogu Eze (Enugu), Hosea Ehinlanwo (Ondo), Edobor Uzamere (Edo), Garba Lado (Katsina), Joel Nkenya (Taraba), and  Chimaroke Nnamani (Enugu) among others.

Former Special Adviser to President Jonathan on Niger Delta Affairs, Mr. Timi Alaibe recently resigned his appointment and decamped to the Labour Party to pursue his governorship ambition in Bayelsa State. He has been given the ticket to confront Governor Timipre Sylva at the polls.

Those who left the PDP with him include former Deputy Governor, Chief Peremobowei Ebebi and former Campaign Manager of the Yar’Adua/Jonathan Campaign organisation in Bayelsa State, Chief Fineman Wilson.

In Adamawa State, former High Commissioner to South Africa, Brig. Gen. Mohammed Marwa (rtd) left the PDP for the Congress for Change (CPC) with his faithful, to realise his governorship ambition. He too has secured a guber ticket.

Pushed to the precipice on the Plateau, Deputy Governor, Pauline Tallen, former Sports Minister, Damishi Sango and Sen. John Shagaya among others had to abandon the PDP for Governor Jonah Jang.

In Ogun State, former President Obasanjo, recently threatened to leave the party over alleged poor handling of the lingering face-off between his faction of the PDP and that led by Governor Gbenga Daniel. Both camps produced rival candidates for the governorship and legislative positions.

Indeed, a chieftain of the party in Ogun State, Chief Olajide Awosedo, last Thursday, defected to LP where he picked the guber ticket.

Hard nuts to crack in Kwara, Enugu
Unarguably, the PDP may contend with stiffer challenges in Kwara and Enugu states, where the crises have taken unusual dimensions.

In Kwara, the strongman of Kwara politics and Second Republic Senate Leader, Dr. Olusdola Saraki has been caught in a battle with his son – Governor Bukola Saraki. The point of departure is whether or not Governor Saraki’s sister, Sen Gbemisola Saraki should succeed the governor. While older Saraki wants Gbemi on the saddle, the governor is saying no.

Consequently, Olusola has left the PDP with his army of supporters for the Allied Congress Party of Nigeria, ACPN where Gbemi was made the governorship candidate. She is now going to face the PDP candidate being backed by the governor, in a contest that might alter political equations in Kwara.

In Enugu, the battle of wits between Governor Sullivan Chime and National Chairman of the PDP, Dr. Okwesilieze Nwodo over the control of Enugu PDP almost marred the party’s national convention and presidential primaries on Thursday.

Following a suit by a member of the PDP in Enugu, Amalu, an Enugu High Court presided over by Justice Reuben Onuorah on the eve of the presidential primaries granted an interim injunction restraining Nwodo from parading himself as a member and as an officer of the party until the determination of a substantive suit on January 31.

Based on the order, Nwodo had to step aside at the convention and handed over to his deputy. But this was after making his speech.
Can a ruling party desirous of retaining its political dominance approach general elections with a divided front and an avalanche of intra-party litigation?

Aware of the challenges, President Jonathan, shortly after winning the PDP presidential ticket urged his opponents – Atiku Abubakar and Sarah Jubril to cast aside the bitter campaigns that hallmarked the primaries and join him on board in the task of transforming Nigeria.
Whether or not the party will iron out these issues before the polls is a question of time.