BY MIKE ODIAKOSE
The conduct of the national convention of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, at the weekend was the culmination of political intrigues, betrayals and trade-offs that characterises political contests in every democratic nation. Prior to the national convention, beginning from the conduct of the Ward and Local Government congresses, the presidential aspirants did everything possible to position themselves to clinch the trophy.
Those that went into the race for the party ticket include: former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar; former Senate Presidents, Bukola Saraki and Pius Anyim; former Governor of Anambra State, Peter Obi; Bauchi and Sokoto State Governors, Bala Mohammed and Aminu Tambuwal.
Others are Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike; OVATION Publisher, Dele Momodu; former banker, Mohammed Hayatu-Deen; pharmacist, Sam Ohabunwa, Akwa Ibom State Governor, Emmanuel Udom; and the only female presidential aspirant, Olivia Tariela.
During Ward and local government congresses most of the presidential aspirants sponsored the election of the delegates with the hope of securing their votes during the convention. Apart from sponsoring the election of delegates, they also moved around the country to woo statutory delegates that outnumber the elected delegates.
There were initial assumptions that the party would allow statutory delegates to participate in the primary election to pick the party’s candidates based on the assumption that President Buhari will assent to the amended Electoral Act.
When it became apparent that President Buhari is not in a hurry to sign the amended Electoral Act to allow statutory delegates to vote at party conventions the PDP issued a statement that only elected local government delegates will be allowed to participate in the national convention. This drastically reduced the number of delegates from over 3, 400 to only 774.
Controversy trailed the conduct of the local government congresses as there were allegations that the process was manipulated in favour of some presidential aspirants. For instance, it is believed that Peter Obi’s major grouse against PDP was that Chief Chris Uba was allowed to pick all the delegates from Anambra state on behalf of Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers state who was a frontline contender. Leaders of Anambra PDP petitioned the national leaders of the party to address the issue but nothing was done until the national convention took place. Feeling betrayed, Peter Obi dumped that PDP a few days before the convention, precisely on May 24, and joined the Labour Party.
Angered by the treatment meted out to Obi, a former National Publicity Secretary of PDP, Chief Olisah Metuh warned that the resignation of a prominent Peter Obi would hurt the party.
He described Obi as an ‘electoral machine’ that the PDP could only ignore at its own peril.
According to Metuh, it is inevitable that Obi’s shocking resignation from the party on Wednesday, May 25, 2022, will cost it so much goodwill.
He wondered why the party elders and leaders would pretend not to know the extent of the damage being done to their ‘beloved’ PDP by this development.
Going further, he warned that it was erroneous for people to dismiss Obi as a politician whose popularity is merely on social media.
Metuh said: “A lot of people have opined that Peter Obi is just a Facebook fad and that he has buried his political future by leaving our great party, the Peoples Democratic Party. I have a short story to tell them.
“Sometime in 2001, Mr Peter Obi romanced the APF, then a big force within the Anambra PDP. In one of the meetings in Ikoyi Hotel hosted by Sir Emeka Offor, Peter was not allowed to talk and the bulk of the politicians actually made fun of him then. Peter left the PDP and subsequently joined APGA where he sold himself directly to the people. The rest is history.
“Today, the new Electoral Act has afforded Peter Obi the opportunity to campaign for almost 9 months. He is not just a social media fave, he is actually an electoral machine and indeed a phenomenon. PDP can only ignore him at its own peril.”
Barely two days after Peter Obi resigned from the PDP, another presidential aspirant, Hayatu-Deen Mohammed also dumped the party over allegation that the process leading to the convention was “obscenely monitized.”
The foremost Economist and Banker, in a letter addressed to the PDP National Chairman, Iyorchia Ayu, said “My exposure locally and internationally and contributions to the nation’s economic and political well being positioned me to take up the challenges facing our dear nation and the courage to participate in this gruelling exercise which most of our elites have shunned away from. Regrettably, the political system has proved to be acrimonious, corrupt and self-serving.
“I joined the contest as a democrat, with an open mind to keenly contest and accept the result of a process that is fair, credible and transparent
“We have endeavoured to forge a consensus which would have facilitated a seamless emergence of a candidate which unfortunately could not be achieved.
“I wish to reiterate that I did not join party politics and to contest for the presidency because of personal gains and inordinate ambition, but to serve our country.
“It is, therefore, based on personal principles and with great humility that I have decided after wide consultations to withdraw from this contest which has been obscenely monetized”.
The withdrawal from the PDP race by former Anambra State Governor, Peter Obi; and businessman Mohammed Hayatu-Deen; who both said the PDP had monetised the process suffices that the presidential primary was nothing but corruption fiesta.
As alleged by Hayatu-Deen, there were reports that some of the presidential aspirants have been doling out Dollars to delegates ahead of the convention. Apart from allegations of monetization of the process, attempts were made prior to the convention to edge out some out some aspirants from the north in a very disingenuous way.
On April 22 some northern leaders led by General Ibrahim Babangida and Prof Ango Abdullahi, who is not known to be a current card-carrying member of PDP, announced in Minna, Niger state that that have picked Governor Bala Mohammed and former Senate President Bukola Saraki as their consensus aspirants. This decision did not go down well with other aspirants from the north who felt short-changed by the ambiguous process used in arriving at the decision.
Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar was very emphatic that he was never a party to Northern consensus arrangement. Reacting to the announcement, The Technical Committee for the actualization of Atiku Abubakar’s Presidency in 2023, TEECOM, stressed that the aspirants who presented themselves for the exercise are: Gov Aminu Tambuwwal; Gov Bala Mohammed, Dr Bukola Saraki and Mohammed Hayatu-Deen.
“Waziri Atiku Abubakar Vice President Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999-2007 was never a part of this purported consensus arrangement and did not subject himself to this process. Therefore, he is not bound by any of the recommendations and conclusions of the purported report.
“Waziri Atiku Abubakar as a nationalist strongly believes that Nigeria has never been so divided as it is today, and any regional, zonal, ethno-religious gang up or consensus driven in this manner will further deepen and widen the wounds that urgently require to be healed. He is anxious to implement plans, policies and programmes that will rescue and rebuild Nigeria”
TEECOM urged supporters of Atiku to continue with consultations and town hall meetings with delegates across the country as the party prepares for the presidential primaries scheduled for Saturday/ Sunday May 28 and 29, 2022.
In a related reaction, the Tambuwal Campaign Organization, TCO, said the consensus drive failed, and their principal is not part of any agreement. The TCO went ahead to narrate how the process was manipulated by Dr Bukola Saraki.
A statement by Director Organization and Mobilization for TCO, Nicholas Msheliza, reads: “The attention of Tambuwal Campaign Organization (TCO) has been drawn to a news item that former Senate President, Bukola Saraki and Gov. Bala Muhammad of Bauchi state have emerged as consensus candidates from amongst the four of us announced at a meeting in Minna, Niger state. This is, to be candid and forthright, not correct.
“The correct situation is that the team met on Wednesday 20th April, 2022, at Bauchi Governor’s lodge in Abuja and had a review meeting; and unanimously agreed that the consensus arrangement was not working.
“The team further agreed that Sen. Saraki should come up with a draft statement on how to communicate this decision to the Nigerian public. This was the last time that members of the team sat and mutually agreed on anything. The proposed meeting to review and vet the statement scheduled for 10 pm of the same day was aborted unilaterally by Sen. Saraki via a WhatsApp message.
“However, on Thursday, 21st, 2022, same Sen Saraki circulated yet another WhatsApp message suggesting that members of the team should head to Minna for a meeting on Friday, Gov. Tambuwal reached other members of the team and informed them that he stands by the decision of the team that the initiative is not working. This is the reason Gov. Tambuwal was absent at today’s (Friday) meeting in Minna. As a result therefore, the outcome of the Minna meeting has no consequence or any implication on the aspiration of Gov. Tambuwal, who had earlier on informed his colleagues of maintaining their agreed position that the initiative has collapsed.
“Members of the public should be reminded that what was canvassed for was a consensus candidate and not consensus candidates. For the avoidance of doubt, Gov Tambuwal has submitted his Presidential nomination forms and now that the quest for a consensus candidate out of the four has clearly collapsed, will go ahead and face screening and indeed contest the PDP presidential primaries.
“This is in consonance with his acclaimed outlook as a pan-Nigerian candidate, with pedigree of national service as the Speaker of the Federal House of Representatives, life member of the Body of Benchers and now in his second and final term as Governor of Sokoto state.”
Mohammed Hayatu-Deen, who eventually abandoned the presidential race, also distanced himself from alleged consensus candidacy arrangement on the PDP platform and rejected the endorsement of Governor Bala Mohammad and Senator Bukola Saraki as the preferred Northern consensus candidates for the Peoples Democratic Party.
About two weeks to the convention the chairman of the PDP Board of Trustees, BoT, Senator Walid Jibrin, also came out to say the party is still working to produce a consensus candidate. Apparently, they did not make any headway and the aspirants took the option of talking to themselves to see who will step down for the other.
In the midst of these there were allegations that a very influential aspirant was actually the one that paid the N40 million for the nomination forms of some of the pretenders in the race for the PDP ticket. This allegation is reinforced by the presence of some aspirants in the campaign train of one of the aspirants they are supposed to contend with in the race for the PDP ticket. From the result of the convention it is intriguing to discover that some aspirants, despite their popularity in their states, did not even secure votes that equals the number of delegates that votes from their states of origin, it is widely believed that these aspirants lobbied aspirants from their states to cast their votes for the co-contestants that sponsored their entry into the race for the PDP ticket.
As the date for the PDP convention inches closer, it became glaring that the contest for the PDP ticket is between Governor Wike and Atiku Abubakar. The two leading contenders had all the resources they needed to get the delegates cast their votes for them. Governor Wike was reported to have deeply infiltrated the North with a number of states pledging support for him, especially in states that are under the control of APC governors.
Worried by this development, some PDP Leaders and Elders from the North were reported to have intervened to stop Governor Wike from clinching the PDP. The meeting where the final strategy to stop Governor Wike took place on the night of last Friday in Abuja, a few hours to the national convention. The meeting, which sources said was presided over by former National Security Adviser, Aliyu Gusau, had some aspirants from the North in attendance. At the end of the nocturnal meeting Governor Aminu Tambuwal agreed to step down for Atiku Abubakar to enable the former vice president to harvest the huge votes from Sokoto State and the NorthWest.
It is now history that at the end of the voting at the convention Atiku secured the votes of 371 delegates to win the primary election. His closest rival was Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike, who polled 237 votes while Saraki got 70 votes, Mohammed polled 20 votes and Akwa Ibom State Governor, Udom Emmanuel secured 38 votes.
QUOTE:
“In the midst of these there were allegations that a very influential aspirant was actually the one that paid the N40 million for the nomination forms of some of the pretenders in the race for the PDP ticket.”
