From Ndubuisi Orji, Abuja
These are not the best of times for the Peoples Democratic Party ( PDP). A lot of challenges are confronting the party ahead of next year’s general election. As it appears, the opposition party is daily being buffeted by internal wrangling. From the national to some state chapters of the opposition party, the leaders are squared up against one another in a battle for supremacy.
At the national level, a group of five governors led by Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers State is locked in a titanic battle with the PDP national leadership and the presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar. Other governors in the Wike camp are Samuel Ortom, Benue; Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi, Enugu; Okezie Ikpeazu, Abia and Seyi Makinde, Oyo.
The G-5 governors, as the Wike group is called, is supported by former PDP deputy national chairman, Olabode George, former Minister of Information Jerry Gana, as well as some former governors, including Ayo Fayose, Donald Duke, Jonah Jang, Ibrahim Dakwanmbo, serving and former members of the National Assembly amongst others. The Rivers State governor’s group and its supporters are insisting the PDP national chairman, Iyorchia Ayu or no deal with Atiku.
Last month, the Wike camp withdrew from the PDP Presidential Campaign Council (PCC) pending Ayu’s replacement, and has stayed from the party’s various presidential campaign rallies.
So far, all efforts to resolve the crisis, including peace talks between Atiku and the aggrieved governors and the mediation of the PDP Board of Trustees (BoT) have failed.
Last week, the Rivers governor stirred a fresh controversy, with the endorsement of the 2023 Lagos State governorship candidate on the platform of the APC, Babajide Sanwo-olu for a second time. Expectedly, the endorsement did not go down well with the PDP leadership both at the national and the Lagos State chapter.
Last Monday, Wike launched the PDP campaign in Rivers State, with the picture of Atiku missing from the campaign vehicles and in the venue of the event. The governor while speaking at the event stated that Atiku chose members of his campaign team from Rivers, without his input, adding that, that was an indication that the presidential candidate does not need him for the campaigns.
According to him, “the presidential candidate entered Rivers State and picked those he wants to pick without my contribution. So, they said they don’t need me to campaign for them, that they don’t need Rivers people to campaign for them. Will you force yourself?”
Ortom, apparently taking a cue from the Rivers State governor, about 24 hours later, also publicly said he would not be part of the Atiku campaign in Benue State. The Benue governor who expressed reservations over the former vice president’s comments on the recent killings in the state, said he has no input into that PDP presidential campaign council.
“I am not in his campaign team. All the people there are not with my consent. But I am waiting, when the election comes, we shall hold the election according to the election,” he told journalists, in Makurdi.
Analysts say the public declarations by Wike and Ortom is an indication that the aggrieved governors may have resolved not to support Atiku’s presidential bid.
Like what obtains at the national level, party leaders in at least 10 chapters of the PDP are working at cross purposes. Party leaders, in the affected states, which include Abia, Anambra, Ebonyi, Enugu, Imo, Edo, Delta, Cross River, Ogun and Kano, are at daggers drawn over the outcome of nomination of gubernatorial and state and national assembly candidates for the 2023 polls.
Pundits say the internal wrangling in the PDP at both the national and some state chapters, is likely to affect the fortunes of the opposition party in the 2023 general elections. Ironically, the PDP is fighting one of its fiercest political battles since its inception in 1999. Unlike in the past, the 2023 general elections is a three-horse race, with the PDP, All Progressives Congress ( APC) and Labour Party fighting for dominance in the political sphere.
Apart from the APC, which displaced the PDP as the ruling party in 2015, the Labour Party is posing a portent challenge to the major opposition party, especially in the South East, which until recently was a fortress of the party. The entrance of Peter Obi into the presidential contest has also changed the political dynamics.
Consequently, analysts say the opposition party needs to put its house in order to be able to win the major battle, with other political parties. This is especially as the 2023 general election is not going to be a walk in the park for the PDP.
Nevertheless, the PDP National Publicity Secretary, Debo Ologunagba, said the opposition party is not giving up in its quest to reconcile the differences with Wike and other aggrieved governors and members of the party.
“There are multiple channels of discussion in a reconciliation. We have internal conflict resolution mechanism. We can’t give up on hope; because this party is Peoples Democratic Party, not an individual. We don’t give command, we don’t give instructions, we negotiate.
“As a party, we are very confident that Governor Wike and other governors and anybody who are members of our party who have issues to deal with, will be reconciled. Of course, what is important, irrespective of misunderstanding or differences, we are all united in one point. And that is critical. That there is need and the urgency is now, for us to rescue our country from the rudderless APC government.
“And I am sure that in all public and private statements that you have referred to, there is nowhere anybody has said I am not a member of the PDP.
So, if you are a member of the PDP, you believe in the process that at some point or the other, we will have a resolution.”
The crisis rocking the PDP at the national level is traceable to the politics of who would be the party’s vice presidential candidate. In the aftermath of the nomination of Atiku as the opposition party’s presidential candidate, the party had set up a high powered committee to shop for a vice presidential candidate.
Daily Sun gathered that that 13 members of the panel had favoured Wike as Atiku’s running mate, while three voted in favour of the Delta State governor , Ifeanyi Okowa. Nevertheless, the panel shortlisted the Rivers State governor; Delta governor, Okowa and the Akwa Ibom State governor, Udom Emmanuel. However, Atiku settled for the Delta governor as his running mate.
The PDP chairman, Iyorchia Ayu, while speaking at the unveiling of Okowa as the party’s vice presidential candidate, noted that the party arrived at the choice of the Delta governor through consensus. Ayu stated that contrary to media report, there was no voting at the panel.
Expectedly, the decision did not go down well with supporters of the Rivers State governor, who believed that he ought to have been the vice presidential candidate, especially as majority of the panel allegedly voted in his favour.
In the days that followed, the Wike camp launched a campaign for the replacement of the PDP National chairman with a Southerner, so as to strike a North/South balance. Since then, peace took flight from the opposition party.
The Wike group, which accused Ayu of alleged bias in the process leading to the emergence of the PDP presidential and vice presidential candidates, has continued to insist that the party chairman must be replaced, as a condition for peace in the party. According to them, the PDP chairman must honour his promise to quit if a Northerner emerges the presidential candidate of the opposition party.
Regardless, Ayu, who enjoys the support of Atiku and some party leaders in the North, have continued to maintain that he would not resign as he was elected for a term of four years.
The PDP candidate, on his part , had noted that “the decision for Dr. Iyorchia Ayu to resign from office is personal to Dr. Ayu and, neither I nor anyone else can make that decision for him. As to the calls for the removal of Dr. Ayu from office, however, I will state that, as a committed democrat and firm believer in the rule of law and democratic tenets, and our party being one set up, organized and regulated by law and our constitution, it is my absolute belief that every thing that we do in our party must be done in accordance with, and conformity to, the law and our constitution.”