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Chibuzo Ukaibe x-rays the tussle between the leadership of the PDP and the powerful governors of the party. For the national chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Dr. Adamu Mu’azu, these are perilous times
He is up against the most powerful force within the party-PDP governors-who are calling for his sack on account of the abysmal performance of the party at the recent polls. For the governors, who are majorly from the south south and south east, Mu’azu did not do enough to ensure the party wins votes. They outrightly accused him of working against the party, it was gathered.
The tenure of the current leadership of the PDP expires next year.
Nevertheless, even before the governors came out openly to demand for Mu’azu’s exit, other aggrieved members of the party cutting across the zones had also called for his resignation.
The campaign for Mu’azu’s exit is hinged on the loss of President Goodluck Jonathan and the resultant losses at the governorship, state and federal legislatures.
For PDP chieftains like former national vice chairman of the PDP, Mr Edet Nkpubre, former senior special adviser to President Goodluck Jonathan on Political Affairs, Mr Ahmed Gulak, governorship aspirant in Adamawa State, Umar Ardo and Dr Katch Ononuju, the current leadership just has to go.
Also, governorship aspirant in Ogun State, Mr Kayode Amusan, one of the founders and PDP chieftain in Oro federal constituency, Akwa Ibom State, Sylvester Akaiso and former governorship aspirant of the party in Kwara State, Mr John Dara, also passed a vote of no confidence on the party’s leadership.
They aver that there is no moral justification for the national chairman to remain in office.
However, there has also been a resistance to calls for his resignation. Some party stalwarts and even state party chairmen have expressed support for his leadership.
After their meeting two weeks ago, the party chairmen resolved “to give all necessary support to the national leadership of the party under the chairmanship of Ahmadu Adamu Mu’azu, to enable them re-engineer and rebrand the party for the task of regaining power by 2019.
“In view of the above, the meeting charges all members of the party to continue to work harmoniously with their leaders at all levels, especially at this critical time, while channeling any grievances to the appropriate organs in line with the provisions of the party’s constitution.”
But even with the backing of the state chairmen, can Mu’azu weather this storm as blown by the governors?
Interestingly, barely a year ago, Mu’azu was the toast of the party, famously and proudly showcased as the game changer and answer to the deft political machinery of the All Progressives Congress (APC).
In fact, his emergence was a product of consensus by the same set of governors and the president.
Mu’azu emerged at a time the fortunes of the party was dwindling fast and hard under the former chairman, Alhaji Bamanga Tukur, as five influential governors including Rivers, Kano, Sokoto, Adamawa and Kwara defected to the APC. Other party stalwarts like former vice president, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, influential senators, house of representative members also left the party in droves.
Worse still, the relationship between President Goodluck Jonathan and his estranged godfather and former president, Olusegun Obasanjo, degenerated.
The governors however succeeded in pushing out Bamanga and played a major role in installing Mu’azu.
He came on and slowed the defections, became a self acclaimed master poacher as he saw to the defection into PDP of some aggrieved APC chieftains, including the former governor of Kano State, Ibrahim Shekarau.
Yet, with just one, albeit huge, electoral loss, he is battling to retain his job. Miffed over the way the party lost at the polls, the governors at a meeting last Tuesday at the Akwa Ibom State Governor’s Lodge, Asokoro, stepped up their charge against Mu’azu.
The meeting was summoned by Governor Godswill Akpabio, (who is the chairman of the PDP Governors’ Forum) and attended by Mu’azu, the PDP deputy national chairman, Uche Secondus; and the national legal adviser, Victor Kwon.
The governors laid bare their grouse against Mu’azu and his leadership and demanded he resigned from office.
A party source told LEADERSHIP Weekend that the governors were displeased with the performance of the current leadership of the party under Mu’azu and tinkered with the prospect of having one of them head a caretaker committee if he is removed.
It was gathered that the governors are angling for either a south west governor or a governor from the south south to head the caretaker committee after May 29, pending the conduct of fresh elections for NWC positions next year.
It was also gathered that the decision to move the position to the southern part of the country was predicated on the likelihood that the party’s presidential candidate would emerge from the north in 2019.
But it does appear that Mu’azu won’t back down easily, pointing to a possible feisty battle ahead.
Indications that the meeting between Mu’azu and the governors was anything but rosy surfaced when reports leaked that the national chairman was allegedly bundled out of the meeting.
Mu’azu however debunked the reports and his spokesperson, Tony Amadi, who admitted he (Amadi) was not present at the meeting, told LEADERSHIP Weekend that if such a scenario had played out at the meeting there would have been an altercation between the security aides of the chairman and the governors.
While he refused to state whether the meeting with the governors was rancour free, Amadi said “He was not bundled out of the meeting. Nothing like that happened. How can you bundle out a party chairman?”
“If they said he was bundled out of the meeting, where was his security detail? If they attempt to bundle out the chairman there would have been a shoot out between the security detail of Mu’azu and the governors and nobody wants that. Don’t forget you are talking about a former governor and a national chairman of a political party.”
“What we are doing in the party now is how to restrategise and bounce back.”
He further lambasted those calling for Mu’azu to resign, noting that most of them failed to deliver their states at the polls.
“How many of those calling for his resignation won in their states? The issue is that because the party lost they need to blame somebody. They tried to hijack the party in their states and could not deliver as they should.”
He added that the national chairman will not resign his position, noting that the party under Mu’azu’s leadership intends to stop a trend where national party chairmen are removed on a whim.
“This party is not changing national chairman. A bane of this party has been the way it changes its chairmen. In the last six years, the party has not had chairmen who served for more than two years.”
But there is more. Party sources confided in LEADERSHIP Weekend that the PDP NWC appears set to hold a public hearing over Jonathan’s loss, in a bid to situate the problem of the party as to where it truly stands.
The source noted that the NWC “is angry that the outgoing governors want to hijack the party before new governors come in.”
As such NWC “is prepared to fight back by not resigning, insisting on a public hearing on who caused the collapse of PDP, whether it is the governors or NWC. Don’t forget that NWC tenure ends next year. The best option is to allow a smooth transition.”
The source added the party leadership also insisted that governors arm twisted them to get whatever they wanted, creating the problems in the party and he noted that except for Ebonyi State, all the PDP governors got the candidates they wanted as they pushed unpopular candidates.
“The fight will open the way for elected ones to leave for the APC and that is the agenda of the governors,” the source asserted.
With President Jonathan seemingly uninterested in the affairs of the party since his loss at the polls, it is yet to be seen whether the governors can fight alone, considering that they are at a transition period and loyalty is shifting towards the new governors already.
Also, with majority of the governors having barely days to serve in office, it is yet to be seen whether Mu’azu can fight them to retain the post.
How much influence the older governors, like Olusegun Mimiko of Ondo, Idris Wada of Kogi, Ibrahim Dankwambo of Gombe, can wield over the bulk of new governors would also play a role in steering the party through this phase.
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