PDP Convention: Road to destruction or road to rejuvenation

– The crisis rocking the party is capable of ruining it
– Party chieftains are however making efforts to rescue the party before it explodes

It is no longer news that the PDP is no more in power at the federal level. But the party has been in the news frequently in recent times, as if it is still in control at the center.
Perharps, this is a true reflection of the party as the biggest in Nigeria in terms of its spread and membership across Nigeria as some of its chieftains have continued to boast.
The party however risks a major implosion as the activities of some its members in recent times are capable of weakening it as a viable opposition party.
The Genesis
PDP’s problems started immediately after the 2015 general elections when the party was humbled by the All Progressives Congress (APC) in most parts of the country and most importantly winning the presidency.
After the elections, the blame game started, the chieftains of the party started pointing fingers at each other for the party’s woes. The biggest hit being the chairman of the party at the time, Alhaji Adamu Mu’azu.
Alhaji Adamu Mu’azu was kicked out of the PDP after the party’s woeful performance in the 2015 general elections
The PDP crisis continued to soar as a result of Mu’azu’s failure to deliver victory at the elections. Several bigwigs of the party blamed Mu’azu for the defeat and asked him to resign.
Mu’azu  repeatedly fired back at his critics that he would not resign despite the pressure being mounted on him to do so. However, the pressure continued to aggravate and he finally let go the position due to persistent pressure from different organs of the party.
Mu’azu, 60, a two-term governor of Bauchi State (1999-2007),  was the chairman of the the board of the Pension Commission, PENCOM; before emerging as the then PDP chairman.
Uche Secondus steps in
A key member of the party’s National Working Committee (NWC) and vice chairman, Prince Uche Secondus stepped up to be the acting PDP chairman after the exit of Mu’azu.
 nowing that the image of the party had been battered following its defeat at the general elections, Secondus resuscitated the e-registration of its members nationwide, even as he urged Nigerians to join the party.
Under Secondus, the party breathed a new life, as it became an active opposition party. The national publicity secretary of the party, Chief Olisa Metuh became a thorn in the flesh of the Muhammadu Buhari administration, constantly criticizing some its policies and actions.
 But the government will have none of that according to PDP chieftains, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on Tuesday, January 5, stormed the Abuja home of the PDP spokesman and whisked him away for allegations bordering on corruption.
The PDP cried blue murder, accusing the government of intimidating Metuh for his criticisms and also described President Buhari as dictatorial.
To make matters worse, Metuh was brought to court in handcuffs, a move that was widely condemned by chieftains of the party across board.
First to fire the salvo was the PDP governors forum. The forum said: “The cuffing of the National Publicity Secretary of the PDP exemplifies a terrible decay of power by the APC regime which sees itself bigger than the democratic state, Nigeria, which brought it to power.
“The only reasonable conclusion we have reached is that the anti-corruption agencies and other institutions of state have allowed themselves to be dictated to by a single vindictive authority which takes pleasure in using power anyhow and in anyway in gross abuse of the constitution, African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights and human liberty.”
On his part, the PDP director on new media, Deji Adeyanju, described the arrest of Metuh as an attempt by the APC to silent opposition parties in Nigeria.
According to him, the war against corruption by the Buhari-led government is only aimed at distracting Nigerians from the real issues.
Not done, the EFCC swooped on Secondus, on the allegations that he received some money from one Jide Omokore, an oil mogul linked to former minister of petroleum, Diezani Alison-Madueke.
Both Metuh and Secondus have since regained their freedom but are still battling to save their name in court.
Enters Ali Modu Sheriff

Two months ago, the appointment of a former governor of Borno state, Alhaji Ali Modu Sheriff, as the new chairman of the PDP was officially confirmed by its National Executive Committee.

Sheriff’s emergence as the PDP chairman came to many as a surprise as his name never sprang up during the search for the party’s new chairman.
This was because there were strong rumours that there were moves by the party’s governors and top chieftains  to name erstwhile chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Nuhu Ribadu, as the chairman of the party.
Sheriff’s emergence might be due to his chummy relationship with many of the party’s northern chieftains, and also the fact that he has a deep pocket owing to the party’s need for financial stability.
The PDP governors and chieftains also saw the need to chose a politician from the north, given the party’s poor performance in the region in the last general elections.
Media reports had suggested Rivers state governor, Nyesom Wike and his Ekiti state counterpart, Ayo Fayose were the masterminds of the emergence of  Sherrif as the new chairman of the PDP.

Sherrif’s emergence however had so many opposition as some chieftains of the party described him as an “outsider” in the party.
The term was used based on Sheriff’s key roles in the merger of the political parties that formed the ruling APC and his political antecedents in the north which viewed him as an unstable politician capable of staying in one party fr a long time.
The South west protests
Since the formation of the PDP in 1998, the South west region has never produced a chairman for the party.
Chieftains of the party form the region hoped that when Sheriff’s short tenure ends, the party would zone the chairmanship to the South west.
But the zoning committee for the PDP’s convention, zoned the chairmanship to the North east, the region where Sheriff hails from.
The position of the zoning committee fueled protests from the South west as many accuse the party leadership of sidelining the region.
”Yorubas are not slaves, we deserve the PDP chairmanship seat,” was the submission of two-time presidential spokesman, Dr Doyin Okupe.
Also speaking on the issue, the former minister of state for the Federal Capital Territory, Ms Jumoke Akinjide said the South west won’t sell its birthright.
According to her, no one has the audacity to say the South west does not want or deserve the chairmanship of the PDP.
She called on party leaders in the South west to ”stand firm and tall and resolve, that we in the South west will take the Chairmanship of the PDP.”
Other chieftains of the PDP in the South west that has made their stand known on the issue include former minister of transport; Chief Ebenezer Babatope, former works minister; Chief Adeseye Ogunlewe, former board chairman of the Nigeria Ports Authority; Chief Olabode George and former House of Representatives member, Honourable Wole Oke.
At a recent meeting of the Southwest PDP Elders’ Summit in Lagos convened by Bode George, party leaders, vowed to resist the zoning arrangement, saying that it was in bad faith.
But another meeting in Akure convened by Ondo state governor, Dr Olusegun Mimiko seem to have resolved the issue, as some media reports claimed that the party leaders have finally agreed to the zoning formula of the PDP.