“There comes a time when you have to choose between turning the page and closing the book.” – Josh Jameson
The main opposition Peoples Democratic Party has boxed itself into a corner. Now, it is in dire need of a turnaround and a divine second chance to wriggle free from today’s quagmire.
In every sense of the word, the party is at a crossroads. Faced with such a sticky situation, it has to make a critical decision…to either open a new page or close the book [apologies to Jameson quoted above].
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The party shares striking similarities with Nigeria. Incidentally, the proverbial rain has beaten–is beating them both–but they appear ignorant of where and when the rainfall started.
That’s what happens to those with a perpetually short memory. PDP shares a lot more in common with the Nigerian state: no good sense of history and uncomfortable loads of ingratitude in their kitty.
The duo inadvertently creates an underdog and watches it die of hunger and frustration. Nigeria and PDP are both allergic to merits and sincerity. They habit sycophants and manure corruption. Inevitably, the failure of the PDP has become the failure of democracy in Nigeria because the party had the wherewithal to grow and deepen democracy but blew the chances.
Perhaps, the PDP’s greatest misdemeanour and impiousness have brought on us a woeful attitude leading to the regrettable entry of the monster a.k.a. All Progressives Congress. PDP operatives are also among those berating and describing the APC and President Muhammedu Buhari’s era as the worst in history, forgetting that the transgression is more on the man who paved the way for the bogeyman that found their way to the house to bully and frighten the children. The janitor whose lackadaisical attitude led to the thieves breaking in, remains answerable for the actions of the brigands.
Before continuing this narrative, we should keep readers abreast of where we are coming from, to give us insight into where the umbrella stopped providing shelter and turned into a canopy for looters.
In 2010, political analysts believed that the then-ruling PDP was drifting dangerously and needed to be halted before it hit a dyke. Then President Goodluck Jonathan was worried because he needed a strong platform to win his election in 2011 after completing the tenure started by Umaru Yar’Adua. His search for who will help him activate the party led to his tapping on the former Governor of Enugu State and pioneer National Secretary of the PDP, Dr Okwesilieze Nwodo, for the national chair.
Dr Nwodo arrived at the Wadata Plaza headquarters whose eventual purchase he had facilitated as the National Secretary. Wadata turned out to be the PDP’s only asset after a 16-year rule with 28 states under its control at some point. He quickly rolled out his reform policy package that was designed to return the party to the people, the true owners. The reform package that was aimed at weakening the overbearing influence of the power blocs holding the party hostage, however, got vehement resistance from the forum of governors led by the then Rivers State Governor, Rotimi Amaechi. The principal thing in the reform was to make the party self-financing through an e-membership drive that would have raised enough money and empowered the party leadership to instil discipline and whittle down the untoward influence of governors. The PDP then was under the stranglehold of the governors who funded the party.
President Jonathan who brought Nwodo for a defined mission could not even stand by him to push the much-needed reform. When the anti-Nwodo gang-up blossomed, Nwodo became the scapegoat, nobody was by his side except the wife of the President, Patience Jonathan who saw tomorrow but the president didn’t listen.
A special National Executive Committee of the party was convened ostensibly to announce the resignation/sack of Nwodo which Jonathan had requested to meet the demands of the forum of governors, Mrs. Jonathan insisted it won’t happen…if Nwodo had to go, they would lose the election. The President would rather listen to Amaechi and the financier-governors rather than the first lady whom a succeeding president would rather consign to the room.
As the media aide to Nwodo, the columnist took on the painful role of submitting his resignation letter very late at the NEC meeting. [Late because Dr Nwodo tarried in the hope that the stance of the first lady would prevail.] Nwodo’s deputy, Mohammad Bello, was presiding over the NEC and President Jonathan and the governors were all seated. As Mrs Jonathan feared, that was the day Jonathan and PDP lost the power of incumbency. Even though he won in 2011, the instability in the party after Nwodo continued until he and the party were thrown out in 2015 with the same Amaechi and Bukola Sataki who led the anti-Nwodo revolt at the forefront against Jonathan. Atiku Abubakar who later returned to hijack the party was in that group.
When the PDP lost power, it didn’t know what to do…the ringleaders ran away into hiding from the fear of the past. The then National Publicity Secretary, Olisa Metuh, assembled a team of journalists under me with him coordinating. This team launched a massive strategic awakening and rebranding that resurrected the PDP. It was this team that ensured that Buhari did not make her cousin, Mrs Amina Zakari, the substantive Chair of INEC, a battle Metuh later paid dearly for as the powers-that-be insisted on sending him to jail.
By the way, coming alive eventually, did PDP learn any lessons from its past? Even with a beautiful report on the way forward prepared by some eggheads led by the former Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu, the party still returned to the old, corrupt, and ignoble ways that pushed it into the hands of two tormentors who were to deal the PDP fatal blows. The tormentors were the former Borno State Governor, Ali-Modu Sheriff, and Nyesom Wike of Rivers State. Sheriff was the National Chair brought by Wike and he was to stretch the party crisis to the limits with the Supreme Court coming to the rescue. The other obvious bully, Wike, was a governor until May 29, 2023. Wike, an impatient and difficult godfather, was generous to the party, but insisted on his terms or nothing at all. Wike ensured that the PDP gasped for breath as his rebellion brought the party to its knees.
While Wike ran riot with the party, leaders including the founding fathers of this great organisation, watched helplessly as the ambitious man lavished the Rivers State resources on the self-serving agenda of taking over the structure of the party. The despicable acts continued because Wike’s money became irresistible and virtually every soul in the party, including staff members, got entangled.
All side talks at the party headquarters were about Wike’s largesse and endowments. Those who already collected looked forward to receiving more. The have-nots struggled to collect, and gossip and blackmail were the best requirements to qualify for collection. Even fellow governors who should have checked him instead joined in the scramble. The soul of the party was being auctioned with only one strong bidder. As they collected the dollars, they unwittingly mortgaged the party and consequently abandoned the just move to regain political power.
As in the well-worn saying about he who pays the piper, Wike naturally started calling the tunes for the National Working Committee, the National Executive Committee, and the PDP Governors Forum. The only morally standing person within the party hierarchy while the mess went on was the National Chair, Prince Uche Secondus. But when “the godfather” came for him, not even his NWC was there for him. Some NWC members who thought that Secondus was blocking their way to Port Harcourt even became violent, asking him to his face to give way.
It was therefore laughable that the party leadership, including Atiku Abubakar who compromised to remove Secondus, were later hoping to have their cake after eating it. Nemesis is a she-devil but PDP didn’t know this fact.
So, what happened at the general election, what just occurred at the election of principal officers of the 10th National Assembly and what will happen when the APC government forms a cabinet, will send the message very glaring that PDP is either comatose, insentient or at the crossroads, clearly somnolent and confused on which direction to go. The health status of the PDP today meets all the requirements of an organisation at the crossroads. The party is lost, confused, or stuck, like being in limbo. It is feeling uncertain about the way to go. There’s a clear loss of interest, nothing in the polity excites the PDP anymore. It is stuck in a hole and digging further is no option. PDP is now in a transitional phase, craving a new experience, but doesn’t know how to go about it. All the faithful are yearning for something new, but are in a state of wanderlust. Everybody is looking towards Wike as the problem, not knowing that he is just a variable created by the greed and injustice in the system.
Now, here’s a leeway, a pro bono offer to help save the sinking ship. If anybody is willing to read, let’s put all the elders whose electoral values are expiring behind as an elders’ council just for institutional memory, hand the party over to the youths at every level and begin a rebranding to show a new beginning where justice and fairness can prevail. Explore new grounds and new realignments. Stop blaming Peter Obi for the PDP’s woes; instead, look out for him and apologise to him, and throw jettison egotism. The PDP has squandered all its potential and needs help. The real challenge is how to get the party out of Wike and his lifeless NWC.
Today, PDP is not strong among Christians, neither is strong among Muslims. It has no base in the North or South. Whenever the Enugu governor goes as it looks certain, there will be no PDP in the South East, an erstwhile bastion for 24 years. Inconsiderate and tactless leadership pays no dividends. Who says injustice and voraciousness have no repercussions? The party is now in a visual field, testing its vision and needs the will to be able to stand at the crossroads. It’s very obvious that the party needs to make critical decisions that require more strength than it possesses, especially when grace lavished on it by God and the Nigerian people has been squandered and has expired. God help PDP.