The resolve by the ruling Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, to embark on fresh party registration exercise has been hailed as a step in the right direction. How strategic is this and would it be devoid of the encumbrance of the past? STANLEY NKWOCHA writes.
Last week, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) announced that it was targeting to register 40 million Nigerians in its current registration and revalidation of membership exercise. The registration and revalidation exercise was expected to end by December 7, with some days set aside for corrections and addressing of grievances.
Making this open in Abuja, the acting National Chairman, Alhaji Abubakar Kawu Baraje, said the party would welcome back members who dumped the PDP to run elections in other political parties in the last general elections and also open its doors to new members who wish to pitch their tents with the ruling party.
‘Let me use this opportunity to clarify the purpose of this exercise. The ongoing membership exercise is open to all Nigerians from 18 years and above who fulfill the criteria for membership of our party.
‘It is also an opportunity for current members to revalidate and renew their membership of our great party. It is not intended to witch-hunt or to exclude anybody from our party. For the avoidance of doubt, our executives at all levels must be informed in clear terms that this is not a de-registration exercise, nor is it an opportunity for anyone to whimsically deny any Nigerian who is willing and ready to join our Party,’ Baraje stated.
The acting national chairman warned that the registration exercise was conceived to be an all-inclusive philosophy of the PDP and hence must be insulated from selfish interests and unwarranted controversies by overzealous party stalwarts who may want to create unnecessary obstacles to those who wish to return to the party.
‘Let me warn very strongly that the National Working Committee shall take decisive actions against any member of the Executive Committees or group of individual at any level found to be engaged in unwholesome activities during this registration and membership revalidation exercise.
‘All current members are required to update their membership dues. Members who have outstanding dues to pay must do so during this registration window if they are to remain bona fide members of the Party.
‘In states where, for whatever reasons, disputes exist as to who the authentic executives are at the ward, local government and state levels, specific instructions have been given to the National Vice Chairmen of the six geo-political zones and members of the National Working Committee from the National Secretariat who will be overseeing the smooth conduct of the exercise in the zones to ensure that the various ‘factions’ are brought together and encouraged to partake in this exercise with the view to arriving at a common register for our party in the states. This is what we refer to as ‘consolidation of registers,’ the party’s helmsman stated.
Since the announcement, a fresh wind seems to be blowing across the political party. While some welcome the development, needless to say, that to some, it is an unnecessary exercise that may yet end up in futility.
This is not the first time the PDP would be attempting to embark on fresh membership registration exercise. As a matter of fact, in the past, no sooner had the exercise commenced, that the whole idea fell like a pack of cards. No thanks to power blocs in the party who hijacked the process in a bid to deregister certain members. The ridiculous nature of the exercise made a mockery of the party’s exercise then, more so as the ruling party.
The last attempt of the party to conduct fresh party registration was during the chairmanship of the former chairman, Dr. Okwesilieze Nwodo. The multi-million naira project was to be done through the on-line process, a strategy that was adopted to checkmate interference.
President Goodluck Jonathan made the first attempt as a member to register then at the Presidential Villa. Speaking shortly afterwards, Jonathan hailed the party for its creativity. The exercise was witnessed by the Senate President, David Mark, PDP National Chairman, Okwesilieze Nwodo, the party’s National Organising Secretary, Uche Secondus, and Presidential aides.
Intended members were expected to pay the membership fees at a designated bank and thereafter proceed to the party’s website to supply personal details and then register. Jonathan pointed out the significance of the online membership scheme in harmonizing the membership database of the party at all levels, adding that it will also eliminate controversies that could sometimes trail membership status within the party.
The President extolled the PDP leadership for the initiative which he described as “the best thing to have happened to party membership registration in Nigeria, in the 21st Century,” while emphasizing its accessibility and relevance to existing and prospective party members even in the Diaspora.
The President, however, called on party officials and banks that were to facilitate the registration exercise to ensure that they penetrate the rural areas where he said the PDP had most of its membership, so that all party members in all nooks and crannies of the country will be duly registered. He also urged party members at all levels to take advantage of the online registration to properly document their membership of the party.
Then PDP chairman, Nwodo, had said the online membership registration drive will give the party an electronic database of its members which can be accessed on the party’s website, just as he talked on the funds generation prospects of the party.
No sooner had the seeming ‘tea-party exercise’ begun that it crashed. Chieftains of the party, especially the governors of the party, drew the battle lines with the chairman, accusing him of deliberately trying to cut their powers. Such was the controversy that trailed the exercise that it crumbled. For some chieftains, the Nwodo idea simply wanted to debase them, a fight they fought with cruelty – bringing the exercise to a halt.
Before then, the last membership drive exercise, embarked by the party was nothing but an obviously orchestrated manhunt. The impunity with which the exercise was placed on the hands of certain individuals across the states and their modu operandi in carrying out the exercise, left no one in doubt that perhaps deregistration ought to have been the term and not party registration.
In Adamawa State for instance, Senator Jubril Aminu and Comrade Paschal Bafyau, who were given the responsibility of registering members in the state, embarked on what could better be termed as membership cleansing. All persons known to affiliate with former Vice President Atiku Abubakar were told in point blank languages to take a hike or even take to the skies to register their membership, while those supposedly loyal to their camp, had no problemsregistering.
As it was in Adamawa, so was it in Anambra, where the Uba brothers literally turned lords as they systematically ensured total removal of all political enemies from the PDP register. Ditto for the exercise in Plateau State where slaps had to be exchanged for the registration to take place. Needless to say that the trend became the fashion in the party at the time that at the end of the exercise, it was clear that selfish agenda rather than party interest was the intent of the exercise. This is the home truth.
Therefore, as the Baraje-led NWC begins a new drive to once more bring confidence into the system, the question on the lips of stalwarts is ‘ how transparent will this exercise be?’.
Already, former President Olusegun Obasanjo, known for his knack for ruthlessness is already challenging Baraje’s insistence that all past members are free to stage a come back. Obasanjo is insisting that folks like Otunba Gbenga Daniel and Ayo Fayose, two former governors of Ogun and Ekiti states respectively should not be allowed to return for what he terms their past antecedents and anti-party activities. Perhaps, if juxtaposed with his position as the chairman of the PDP’s Board of Trustees, the controversy that the current exercise may be headed for will be better appreciated.
Though, the party insists that the exercise will be open, it is left to be seen as to whether its overzealous governors who are in charge of about 24 states, do not bring the exercise to a halt in their domains. For now, all eyes are on Baraje and how he succeeds in this simple task but now turned ‘Mountain Kilmanjaro climbing’ by the party and its power drunk and self serving chieftains. Will the PDP get it right this time?
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