New Thinking In PDP Crisis

The rebellion within the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) is passing through several facets that the final resting place has truly become unpredictable. The revolting members appear to be reviewing their strategies along the battle lines while both the Presidency and the Alhaji  Bamanga Tukur-led leadership of the party seems to be having the upper so far in the months’ old revolt.

Checks by The Friday Edition showed that the new PDP under Alhaji Kawu Baraje has metamorphosed from a rampaging combative machine determined to pull down or supplant the main house to a now increasingly cautious, conciliatory and discerning clique now believing in common destiny for the party as a family. From the high grade hurricane witnessed at the Yar’Adua Centre during the announcement of the faction, the New PDP has become a downgraded sand storms. From a fight to finish composure, the group has either willingly or forcefully adjusted to the possibility of horse-trading resolution.

Aside the several meetings being held among the warring leaders and the many contradictory statements after each meetings, a best indicator of the new thinking within the new PDP was its several press statements. A review of those statements from the speech read by Alhaji Baraje during the break away to the last release on the education minister showed a gradual shift from direct attacks on the president to a pro- Jonathan tone combined with direct anti- Tukur rhetoric.

In the maiden address of Baraje, the strategy was an all out  onslaught as can be seen from the following excerpts : “it is obvious that that they get encouragement from the presidency whose old calculations are geared towards shutting out any real or imagined opposition ahead of the party’s presidential primaries for the 2015 elections. We consider it a sacred responsibility to save the PDP from the antics of a few desperadoes who have no democratic temperament and are therefore bent on hijacking the party  for selfish ends. We are not, and have never been, a political party where one man would be taking decisions for all members and where once you do not kowtow before the presidency, you are  deemed a rebel that must be crushed”

Then followed a direct hit at the Number One Citizen over alleged threat of  some ijaw leaders over 2015.

According to one of those releases, the New PDP stated as follows: “ We  wish to advise those trivializing President Jonathan contesting or not contesting the 2015 election with threats and acting in such a manner as if only the Ijaw are capable of voting him or another person as the President of Nigeria in a country of over 300 tribes, to think wisely. In this regard, we commend and congratulate the thousands of Bayelsa people”
The release on likely defection of some PDP members in the National Assembly was the height of propaganda gains of the faction. That gain was however shot down by quick intervention of PDP leaders which succeeded in driving the rebellion within the two chambers underground. An attempt to regain the momentum failed when the faction issued a statement on alleged directive  by the presidency to withdraw diplomatic passports of David Mark, Aminu Tambuwal and other leaders of the legislature.

In less than one hour after the original statement was issued ,a retraction came from the faction admitting that its allegation of passport withdrawal by the presidency was false. The faction had to regret what amounted to misinformation. The same scenario played out when another statement accused the presidency of plotting to remove from office the sitting presiding officers of the National Assembly. It must have been embarrassing for the faction to hear even one of the presiding officers denying existence of such plot.

The retraction goes as follows : “ Pls note that following the new revelations from both the Presidency and the National Assembly through our National Chairman, Alh. Abubakar Kawu Baraje that there is no iota of truth on the report that the Presidency has directed the withdrawal of the diplomatic passports of the leadership and members of the National Assembly as reported in most of the national dailies today; we are herby withdrawing the release on this subject matter pending further investigation of the facts.

“Though our release was an attempt to alert Mr President of the implication if such an unholy move was found to be true but now that it has been confirmed that there is no such a move, we thank God as that would have been an unwise policy that will work against the Presidency of Dr Jonathan,” Chief Eze Chukwuemeka Eze said.

That blunder was followed by another big one which many analysts believed was responsible for  the new thinking within the party. The faction had issued a statement on the state of the economy in which from all intent and purpose, the writer could as well have passed for Alhaji Lai Mohammed, the National Publicity Secretary of the All Progressive Congress. The tone and content of the statement raised eyebrow even among some members of the New PDP as the impression was created that the faction is acting like an opposition party while still claiming to be members of PDP.

The statement on the economy questioning the competency of the president was then followed by what many regarded as the worst show for the faction- the Independence Day Message of  Alhaji Baraje. The rambling lengthy statement appraised the state of the nation in a way that condemned its own chieftains including many former leaders who are alleged to be sympathetic to its cause. Its  sweeping generalizations and self indictment covering even when Alhaji Baraje was in government as party chairman and state official in Kwara shocked many observers.

In its bid to tackle the president, the faction inadvertently indicted its own leaders and officials as well as its secret and public backers among which are former presidents or Head of State of the Republic whose tenure and others the statement blamed for Nigerian woes. Checks showed thar the independence message and its negative shadow over the new PDP probably accounted for a new tone in recent statements from the faction.

Findings showed that there is a return to diplomatic niceties as different from the battle-like rhetoric that generated those avoidable errors. For example, the handling of the recent talks confirmed a new thinking.

According to the statement,” The fact remains that we are not only committed to restore peace to our party but resolute about it. We enjoin our teeming supporters to be steadfast in their support for our struggle to enthrone genuine democracy devoid of abuse of the rule of law.

“ On our part, we as leaders are committed to ensuring that our current struggle does not end as an exercise in futility but would achieve the set objectives of restoring our party to the path of honour and greatness  We sincerely regret the inconvenience(s) in any form this may cause our beloved President, party faithfuls and Nigerians’ as praying to our God should be the utmost part from us particularly now knowing very well that with God the elusive peace in our party and country can be achieved” , the statement said.

For a long time, the faction has not described the President as beloved. What is more, sign of a shift from militancy to conciliation surfaced in the countdown to the last peace meeting. A sign emerged that the new  PDP is probably now in two factions namely the hard liner and the liberals. Checks showed that the governors of Niger State, Babangida Aliyu and the Kwara  State governor belong to the liberal wing, while the governors of Sokoto, Kano, Jigawa, Adamawa and Rivers states belonged to the hard line caucus.

An indication of this was what a source called division over the last meeting with the president. The hard-line wing was said to have called for cancellation of the last Monday meeting, citing the holy pilgrimage. This decision was changed abruptly with only the liberals attending. The decision to attend the meeting  was reportedly taken a closed door meeting at the Niger State Governor’s Lodge in  Abuja a day to the meeting with the President.

Many leaders of the new PDP were caught unaware about the fact that the meeting was still going to hold.

The spokesman of the faction, Chief Eze had earlier denied knowledge  of the meeting when  contacted on Sunday. According to him,”I was not told that there is a change in the earlier position that we are seeking a new date for the reconciliation talks. If our governors are meeting as you said, I will say  I have not been told to withdraw our earlier statement.

“I think  our governors are receiving reports of how our members are been arrested across the States. Our members are been harassed. Our senators have also had their police orderlies withdrawn. This are the issues we are facing”, he said.

A few minutes after a statement signed by Chief Eze confirmed that the meeting would hold. The statement read as follows: “Abaubakar Kawu Baraje the National Chairman of PDP just called from Saudi Arabia around 9pm on October 6, 2013 to direct that the governors and stakeholders of PDP under his administration that include Rotimi Amaechi of Rivers State, Alh. Babangida Aliyu of Niger State,  Alhaji  Musa Kwankwaso, of Kano State who are yet to travel to Mecca should meet with the National Leader of our party and President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, His Excellency Dr Goodluck Jonathan by 9am on October 7, 2013 at the seat of power in Abuja to formally obtain permission from Mr President to shift the meeting date to a more convenient date when all our leaders may have come back from performing the hajj operation.

“Shifting the meeting to morning period is to allow the mentioned governors apart from Governor Amaechi to travel to Mecca later in the day of 7th October, 2013 for the Hajj operation. This step is borne out of the plea by President Jonathan and respect we have for his office,” the statement said.

Investigations showed that many reasons account for the change of approach of the new PDP. The first it was learnt was that the several court cases instituted by the faction are not making headway. Two, the faction appears to have reached a conclusion that quitting the PDP is not an option. Three, the sudden confirmation of Professor Wale Oladipo, as the national secretary of the party, presented a fair accompli. Four, the president himself seems to have commenced offensive to assert his authority as Commander-In-Chief.

The last point about presidential offensive is reported to be the most potent. First is the reshuffling of the cabinet which may saw many fiercely loyal nominees emerging as ministers from the affected states. Second is the populist national dialogue which many observers believed is both a patriotic tool and a political response to persistent attacks on the presidency. Three is also the gradual realignment of federal influence to service loyalists and weaken the rebels.

Other reason may not be unconnected  with the line toed by the presidency since the beginning of the conflict.

After the initial first peace meeting ,loyalists of the president were quick to list the demands of the G7 as including that the president should not run in 2015, that national chairman of the party should be removed,that anti- graft agencies should not investigate the G7 and that party structures should be returned to the governors wherever it has been taken from them.

This demands may earned the faction low mark among the public. Unfortunately, the faction has also failed to redirect and repudiate those leakages from the presidency. The Baraje faction failed to stick to the seven-point demands it listed while declaring the take-over of the party. The original demands border mostly on infringement of the party constitution. The insistence on the president not running for second term  or that anti- graft agencies should not do their work were widely faulted even by those who truly felt bitter over some breaches of the party constitution.

The new thinking is however not indicative of final resolution of the crisis. Rather, the new development has now allowed the faction to directly court the presidency while isolating Tukur who the faction probably hoped will be sacrificed  in the near future. Some observers believe the  new approach of full deference to the office of the president  was meant to redress relationship with president while demonising some of his ministers and mainstream leadership of the party . What the new PDP may get in return is not clear.

But checks confirmed that the President is amenable to the courtship provided the G7 accepts that he has every constitutional rights to re-contest the presidency come 2015 and that it will amount to illegality and criminality to gaga the anti- graft agencies in the discharge of their responsibilities. The president is also said to be supportive of redressing breaches of party constitution even though the return of party structures to the governor especially in the case of Rivers state is deemed to be a judicial matter.

Tukur versus New PDP
If the new PDP is courting the President, there is no sign that it is ready or willing to spare the party chairman, Tukur. As put by an insider, “The G7 wants heads to roll. They want peace but with a scapegoat. Tukur is that scapegoat they are targeting”, said the source.

Recently ,the new PDP fired another salvo at the chairman. According to the faction, “Alhaji Tukur was expelled from the PDP in 2006 with nine others as a result following disciplinary action taken against them for anti-party activities. Since then, he has not officially returned to the party. All the records at our disposal show that Alhaji Tukur has not followed due process for his readmission into the party. He neither apply for, nor obtained the requisite waiver by the National Executive Committee of the party before offering himself for election into the office of National Chairman in 2012. This makes his membership incurably defective and his emergence as PDP’s National Chairman null and void and of no effect whatsoever since he is the product of a flawed process.

“Consequently, all the actions he has taken as the chairman of PDP since his purported election in March 2012 including the illegal, contentious convention of August 2013, are null and void and of no effect. We hereby urge Alhaji Tukur to tow the path of honour and throw in the towel. This is the best option open to him.

However, since one man cannot hold the party and the entire nation hostage, should he fail to heed our advice, we would have no other option than to appeal to both the Presidency and the PDP leadership to ease him of the party in the most diplomatic way to avoid hurting him so much considering his age, zeal and commitment to serve the party by offering a Ministerial post to him”, the statement from the Baraje faction noted.

In a dramatic twist ,the faction again expanded his hands of political romance to the president in the same text in which it was attacking Tukur. According to the faction, “We hereby formally suggest the immediate recall of Alhaji Abubakar Kawu, who erroneously handed over to Alhaji Bamanga Tukur as the National Chairman of PDP, thinking he was a member of the party. This will enable Alhaji Kawu to organise a proper, unified convention that will usher in a duly elected National Working Committee of the party as early as possible to enable us face the business of positioning PDP as the ruling party come 2015”, the faction suggested.

In a swift reaction,the main PDP on behalf of its chairman took some chieftains of the new PDP to the cleaners,accusing them of caking institutional memories for not knowing that the Ekwueme committee report adopted by the party executive council granted general amnesty to Tukur and others
According to the National Publicity Secretary of the party,Olisa Metuh, “ In  2007 we set up an Ekweme reconciliation committee, the committee gave a blanket amnesty, a blanket waver for all people, who have left the party or offended the party or the party sacked but free to come back and we wipe away every single thing and start on a clean slate as if it has never happened.

“So what that meant is that even if it is true that the National Chairman or some other people have been suspended or expelled by the party that Ekwueme’s report gave a blanket amnesty to them and brought them back and restore them to their original position. We have looked at the G7 or we have looked at this our aggrieved brothers, minus the governor of Jigawa, we don’t think of any other person that has institutional memory to remember things that happened in this our party from inception. There is nobody there that has ever been a party administration except our former National Chairman. And again only in 2008. So he would not know what has happened in this party before then”, he said.

He explained that before Baraje came to the PDP headquarters, he was not associated with party administration, declaring that “ there  is no need to be throwing batters on people who do not have institutional memories and people who do not have records and people who never participated in any decision making during that period”

But Tukur appears to be fully aware of the actual target of the new PDP. He must have gotten full detail of the push by the G7 that sacrificing him is the least for peace to return to the party. Hence, Tukur is said to have launched a repackaging agenda involving new approach to administration of the party, sounding and acting like a father of all even when he is attacked and reaching out to party chiefs who detest him most.

This was reported to behind the recent statements credited to the party chairman. According to him, “Yes we seem to be at crossroads in PDP and that is normal in democracy. However, what is not normal is if we resolved to permanently stand apart with little regards to our memorable starting line, past efforts in building the party as well as our common aspirations in raising PDP to be the most formidable among all.

He added, “Let me reiterate that I am not the cause of the crises in our party as the national chairman. From the moment I came in, my desire and focus has been on reconciliation and party reformation. Some entrenched interests opposed that. They, therefore, left us with an impression that PDP does not need a reform. Why must we keep on operating without reforms?,” he questioned.

As the peace talks stand adjourned sine dine, many analysts believe Tukur may have to work harder to convince his critics and backers that the reform is in the best interest of the party .For now, the business mogul occupying Legacy  House has the backing of the President.

Source: Tribune