By Omoniyi Salaudeen
POLITICS of power sharing remained the major stuff of the news for the past few weeks. There had been a renewed frenzy over the 2019 elections. While the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) worked itself into a fresh controversy over an alleged move by the stakeholders to replace the Board of Trustees (BoT) of the party with the Council of Elders (CECs), the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) was also busy with the new zoning formula that would allow it to wrest power from the incumbent government in 2019
Before the new development, former Vice President Atiku Abubakar and National Leader of the APC, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu had been touted as the leading contenders to the Chairmanship of the BoT. Former governor Murtala Nyako of Adamawa State is also believed to be interested in the position. But according to speculations milling around, the move by the party’s leadership to scrap the BoT is to forestall bad blood among the party bigwigs.
For this change to take place there is a need for the amendment of the party’s constitution. Stakeholders are still robbing minds on how to effect a smooth change over. If the plan scales through, the NEC will have to ratify the abrogation of the BoT and approve the constitution of a council of elders at national, zonal and state levels.
A close source who spoke with Sunday Sun said the economic predicament of the country under the leadership of President Muhammadu Buhari coupled with the loud disquiet among different interest groups in the party made it imperative for the stakeholders to consider an alternative option to direct election. “This is an unusual time which calls for coercion and party discipline.
When we came on board, the party was fluid; there was no discipline. But now we are trying to coagulate and ensure discipline among our members. Again, because of the present economic predicament of the country which the president in trying to fix, we are yet to build the confident of the electorate. The necessary socio-capital is still lacking. Therefore, we need to tread softly so that the opposition will not take advantage of the situation to undermine the party. These are parts of the reasons why we are considering alternative option to direct election of BoT Chairman.”
Sunday Sun gathered that moves were being made to persuade the two formidable leaders to shelve their ambition in the interest of survival of the party. If the move succeeds, then the party may likely toy with the idea of choosing a neutral person who has a national appeal to head the new Council of Elders. “All of us know that the party cannot wish the two powerful bigwigs away. Both of them have formidable following. So, the best we can do is to appeal to them to shelve their ambition in the interest of survival of the party; otherwise, we will not be able to manage the situation.”
However, a chieftain of the APC, Senator Joseph Waku, who spoke with Sunday Sun, dismissed the speculation untrue. According to him, whichever name it goes, there will still be election into the position of chairmanship of the Council of Elders. He said: “Council of Elders and BoT are more or less the same except by nomenclature. The BoT is also a composition of elder statesmen. As the term applies, the party will look for among the elders who could chair the council. So, there is really no difference. Whichever way it goes, there will still be election because there has to be a chairman of the Council of Elders to put an end to the squabbles. This time, it is not going to be a matter of moneybag. None of the names mentioned is older than me even in the game. When you talk about elders, you will be talking of elders who have a wider spectrum of political pedigree, which I know among all of them I stand tall.”
For the PDP which had a fretful resistance of its supporters to the emergence of former governor Ali Modu Sherrif as National Chairman of the PDP, May 21 has been fixed for the national convention. Ahead of the D-Day, a zoning arrangement skewed heavily in favour of the North has been allegedly sealed by the stakeholders. According to the agreement, the positions of president and vice President are to go to the North and Southeast respectively, while the South- South is to produce the National Chairman and the Speaker of the House of Representatives. The party has equally zoned the position of deputy Senate President, deputy National Secretary and National Organising Secretary to the South West.
In addition to the presidency, the North is also to retain the seat of the Senate President, produce the Deputy Speaker, Deputy National Chairman and the party’s National Secretary, National Financial Secretary, National Publicity Secretary, National Auditor and National Women Leader.
To give the party a new lease of life, members of the outgoing National Working Committee (NWC), including the current Chairman, Ali Modu Sherrif, are said to have been barred from contesting for any office in the coming national convention. Sunday Sun findings revealed that former governors Peter Odili of Rivers State, his counterpart in Cross River, Donald Duke, and Emmanuel Uduaghan of Delta State are being considered as possible consensus candidate for the position.
In this arrangement, the party leadership is banking on the power and numeral strength of the PDP governors to work out the consensus arrangement to achieve a seamless convention. A former minister of works, Senator Adeseye Ogunlewe, in an interview with Sunday Sun said: “My appeal is to all the governors. They should not abandon their responsibility to this party now. If they all sit down together and pick a candidate, nobody can defeat all our twelve governors.”
But despite the resolution of the party, Sherrif is still pushing ahead his ambition to take another shot at the position of national chairman. When he was propped up to complete the tenure of the Northeast, the Forum of former PDP ministers raised a serious opposition against his emergence. Having been persuaded to give peace a chance, they are now doing everything possible to bar any of the outgoing executive members from contesting any of the positions. But report says Sherrif is already oiling his political machinery to actualize his ambition.
Speaking to Sunday Sun on the matter, Ogunlewe warned that there would be turbulence in the party, if Sherrif insists on contesting the chairmanship position. “I pray the national convention goes smoothly. If it goes smoothly, then we have a future. My appeal is to the present national chairman not to re-contest because there will be turbulence in the party”, he said.
As part of the scheming for the 2019, the PDP stakeholders are said to have agreed on picking a Muslim candidate from the North to confront the ruling APC in next general election. This, according to sources, is to avoid the mistake of presenting Christian South against a Muslim North presidential candidate.
“We made a wrong calculation in 2015. Muslim/Christian ticket should not happen again in Nigeria. North/South ticket should not happen again in Nigeria. It could lead to war. Next time, we are picking from the North and the person is going to be a Muslim so that the tension of North/South ticket will be reduced. It now depends on the candidate of the APC,” Ogunlewe said.
Stakeholders in the Southwest are yet to come out with a position on this matter. Apparently, indifferent to the scheming for the position of national chairman, there is speculation that the zone may be eyeing the Speaker of the House of Representatives or Presidency of the senate.
These are issues that would dominate political arena in the weeks ahead. The game is already one. And no interest group is leaving any stone unturned in a bid to remain relevant in the scheme of things.