After losing its bid for the presidency in two consecutive election cycles, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has so much to worry about as the next election year approaches. Its 16-year reign is the greatest burden it faces. During those years, the party was something of a behemoth. So much rested on its political prowess. Regardless of that larger-than-life image of the party, after four election seasons, it fell from Olympian heights to an abysmal chasm.
Today, it is facing the challenge of resurrection and resurgence. Will it rise from the ashes of defeat or will it continue to wallow in self-pity?
But if you thought that issues surrounding its declining fortunes ought to be its major preoccupation, you were utterly mistaken. Some elements within the party who cannot see beyond their nose are more interested in self-aggrandizing pursuits. They are not interested in having a party with an enduring institutional framework. That was why some hawks within its rank almost plunged the party into crisis recently. Fortunately, the party was able to pull back. It saved itself from the rampaging overreach of the overly ambitious elements. Having averted what would have been a free fall, the party now owes itself a duty to look inwards with a view to reinventing itself.
It must be noted that the PDP Governors’ Forum, led by the governor of Sokoto State, Aminu Tambuwal, played a stabilizing role here. It was able to clip the flapping wings of the hawks who wanted to prey recklessly on the party. The party would have been sentenced to the gallows had the governors’ forum not shunned cheap sentiments and remained on the side of the party. A slip here would have worsened the unsavoury state of the party. Here was a party whose presidency was emasculated by those who were supposed to save it. The conspiracy led to a situation where the leadership of the party looked on morosely until the rug was pulled from under its feet. Since this ignominious dislodgment from power, the PDP has been squirming in discomfort. You could say that the party was yet to understand the seriousness of being an opposition party. Nigerians generally agree that the inadequacies of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) are too telling for anyone not to see. In that case, the failings of the ruling party are supposed to be the oxygen that should give the opposition party the much needed energy and verve. But it has failed to convert it to advantage.
It is bad enough that the PDP has not done well as an opposition party, but it is worse that the party is distracting itself further with avoidable internal skirmishes. The braggadocio that almost saw to the disbandment of the National Working Committee (NWC) led by Uche Secondus was an unnecessary one. Secondus and his team may not have lived up to the expectations of a sizable majority of the party’s bigwigs, but I did not see any sense in the disbandment of an NWC whose tenure was almost over.
Certainly, those who were pushing for the radical displacement of the existing order bothered less about what would have been a fractious outcome. Their overriding interest appeared to reside in a situation in which the PDP would be reduced to a pocket-size political party that would fit conveniently into their private pockets. They wanted a party whose instruments would be at their beck and call. Happily, reason triumphed this time.
In no time, the much-expected change will come. The national convention is just a few weeks away. But the change of guard that the convention is expected to usher in will not be an end in itself. It should be the ultimate armour that the PDP needs to tackle the challenges ahead. As things stand, the two main opposition parties are clearly embattled. The APC, like the PDP, has its drawbacks. Each has a responsibility to manage its efforts in a dexterous manner. Failure on the part of one would be an advantage to the other. At moment, the litmus test facing the two parties is that of zoning of the presidency. Who gets it right? Who fumbles? This dicey scenario should be of concern to the parties involved.
Recently, the PDP had cause to accuse the APC of plotting to manipulate the 2023 general election to its advantage. The opposition party believes that the decision of the National Assembly to jettison electronic transmission of election results is a pointer to the fact that the APC has an ulterior motive. But beyond pointing the finger at the ruling party, the PDP has to try its hands at some re-engineering, if it must compete effectively in the forthcoming elections.
One of the issues it must concern itself with is the gale of defections ravaging the party. Why is it so? What is the party not doing right? This state of affairs should be of concern to a party that aspires to seize the reins of governance. The PDP must remind itself that what is happening to it is strange. It smacks of internal disconnect on its part. That is why a crassly incompetent ruling party is depleting the rank of the party that ought to reap from its inadequacies.
As a matter of fact, the defection should have been in the opposite direction. When PDP was in power in 2014, it lost many of its governors to the newly registered APC. The new party took itself seriously and suffused the political space with propaganda. It created the impression that it possessed the magic wand. Unlike the APC of 2014, the PDP cannot claim to be a new creation. But it must have a compelling comeback story to tell. It is this story that will feather the nest for it. Unfortunately, this story is not being told. That is why the APC is poaching from its camp with reckless abandon. Why is the PDP still at the receiving end even as an opposition party? The party should find a reasoned answer to this question, if it must face the future with assured steps.
The party must recognize that it is involved in a crucial endgame. In situations such as the one it finds itself, excuses will not do. After its fall in 2015, the PDP tried to rise again in 2019. But it was outmaneuvered by the ruling party. Another opportunity beckons. Will the PDP surmount the odds or will it remain clay-footed? The table is set and it is only those who are sufficiently prepared that will partake in this national delicacy.