I SAT in a popular fast-food joint the other day and listened to two friends argue over “office” matters. It was obvious that the two were close friends, and from the nicknames they shared, it was also apparent that they knew each other well, long before they came to settle in Abuja and work in the same office.

THE ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) according to its then leader, President Olusegun Obasanjo had a garrison commander in Ibadan, Lamidi Adedibu who must be obeyed by the party members and leaders in the state without question. Last week, one of the party’s ideological gurus and current Governor of Jigawa State, Sule Lamido, made similar reference and justification for the military-style antecedents, culture and ideological foundations of the party

WHEN during the run-up to the 2007 general elections former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar, left the Peoples Democratic Party he must have been convinced of the rightness of his action. For someone who had nursed the ambition to be president for as long as when he first announced his entry into party politics in the early 1990s, perhaps the only path left for him after the rebuff from his party was the one that led out of it.

BUT somehow, after the victory, the people you vanquished, the opponents we demolished, whom we conquered and who should be, ideally, our booty have today found a life-wire whereby they make so much noise to the point that, apparently, we, the PDP, we who won the elections, who should be defending the interests of the PDP, defending our victory and our fortunes have been blackmailed into silence.

THESE election series deal with eight issues two of which have already been addressed. Issue No.3 is how to constitutionalise and democratise election party competition over control of government.