There can be no better way to interpret or situate the position of PDP Governors’ Forum on the ongoing discussions about political mergers or coalitions other than to conclude that the governors have something up their sleeves. Rising from a meeting in Ibadan, the governors declared that the party will not be involved in any coalition or merger for the 2027 presidential elections. The governors want the party to go it alone. They said however that they are ready to welcome individuals, groups or political parties willing to join their party, the Peoples Democratic Party.
This volte face is remarkable. There must be something sinister about it. For a group that has been critical of the present administration and its anti-people policies to suddenly look away from the rot and embrace the discredited regime is indicative of an ulterior motive. Why did the PDP governors decide to jump unto the APC victory bandwagon? The answer to this question may not be obvious
to many right now, but time will certainly tell the true and full story. But analysts are not unmindful of the muted and declared presidential ambitions of some of the governors, both of northern and southern extractions. The concerned governors are suspicious of and uncomfortable with Atiku Abubakar’s perennial presidential ambition. They do not think that
a coalition that is tailored towards an Atiku presidency will serve their interest. For such governors therefore, it is better to sabotage such an Atiku-centred coalition than to work for it.
Whatever may be the case, it will not be out of place to say, at moment, that the governors have finally washed their dirty linens in the public. Their thoughtless stance has betrayed wha they have been keeping away from us. Now we know who they are – agents of the APC government of President Bola Tinubu. This is the sad reality before us. If people and institutions that should lead the charge for better Nigeria decide to serve their narrow, selfish interests, then it goes to show that the country is light years away from redemption. With their
position, the governors have left no one in doubt that they are neither interested in the rebirth of Nigeria nor in the enthronement of a new democratic order. For them, the country can remain in its present state of anomie or even plunge deeper into complete state failure.
This strange position of the governors would not have rankled if they had not been propagating an agenda that is at variance with their present stance. The chairman of the forum, and governor of Bauchi State, Bala Mohammed, has, for instance, been one of the most virulent critics of the Bola Tinubu administration. Most times, he has had occasion to lampoon the Tinubu order on his own and on behalf of the governors forum. He never pretended about it. He has always sounded emphatic about his conviction, to wit, that Tinubu has mismanaged the country and should therefore be shown
the way out. So, what suddenly changed? Why did Bala and his crew who have earnestly been clamoring for a change develop a cold feet? Something must have given way. What could this be?
As we continue to ponder these nagging questions, what the new development has achieved is that it has let the cat out of the bag. It has brought us face to face with reality. We will no longer be carried away by ghost words that, at best, generate pious lies. Indeed, the choreographed and theatrical outpourings of the governors have finally thinned out. They have been unmasked for what they truly are- undercover supporters of Tinubu and his APC. That was what their latest message to the country betrays.
It is significant to note that the position of the PDP governors runs against that of Atiku Abubakar, the national leader of the party. Atiku has been at the forefront of the coalition talks. He wants to see a formidable arrangement that will dethrone the bad order that has destroyed lives and livelihoods in Nigeria. What Atiku and other like minds are trying to do is desirable. Nigeria is in urgent need of rescue. One of the handy ways in which this can be achieved is through the ongoing merger talks. Curiously and strangely, the governors of the PDP who should be leading the charge are now speaking in tongues.
The governors, certainly, do not mean well. If they do, their position would have reflected that of the entire party. In this instance, no organ of the PDP is at one with the Governors’ Forum. The forum neither consulted nor carried along critical organs of the party such as the Board of Trustees, National Executive Committee, and the National Working Committee, among others. With this unilateral posturing, the forum is igniting the more the embers of disunity that has left the party in its present sorry state.
Untidy developments such as this have been the bane of the party. In fact, sabotage has been, and remains, the trademark of the PDP. We witnessed it in 2014 when kingpins of the party jumped ship, just to ensure that their party’s candidate in the 2015 presidential election was voted out. They had their way.
We experienced it again in 2023 when Nyesom Wike, who was denied vice presidential slot by Atiku, pitched tent with the APC just to ensure as well that Atiku Abubakar, his party’s presidential flag bearer, did not win in that election. Wike did not just have his way, he has been working tirelessly since then to ensure that the PDP continues to grovel on its belly.
If the PDP were a living and stable political party, one would have made some sense out of the position of the governors. But we are talking about a political party that is in tatters. The party is bedeviled by internal crises largely orchestrated and promoted by external forces, using members of the party to achieve their nefarious objective. The governors, from what we know, have not done much to reposition the party. Even the crisis over who occupies the office of the party’s national secretary remains unresolved. The party has collapsed across many states of the Federation, with its members leaving in droves. This is the party that the governors say they want to prepare for the 2027 presidential election. How do they start? Where will they begin from? From the look of things, no one needs to be told that the PDP governors want their party to stand alone so that it will not be a threat to the plan by President Tinubu to remain in office beyond his present tenure.
In other words, the governors are shunning a coalition so that the ruling APC can easily work its way back to power without a formidable competitor. This makes the PDP governors Tinubu’s recruits. They have effectively been coopted into Tinubu’s 2027 presidential project. This is another monumental betrayal that the PDP has had to face since its travail began in 2015 when it lost power by default.