Who becomes the 9th national chairman of the ruling Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP)? Is there any likelihood of the emergence of a consensus candidate? Why is the party’s top apparatchik reluctant in accepting election for its offices? What becomes the fate of zoning in the party after now? These are some of the questions the processes leading to today’s national convention and its outcome would likely answer, as thousands of delegates converge on the Eagle square, Abuja for the party’s national convention. CHUKS OHUEGBE writes.
The tension and controversies generated in the run up to today’s national convention of the party is legendary. It was almost similar to what happened during the 2008 national convention, where the two frontline candidates were Senator Anyim Pius Anyim, who is presently the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF) and former governor of Ebonyi state, Dr. Sam Egwu.
The only difference is that while the then President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua’s administration distanced itself from the aspirants, the reverse appears the case now. However, Yar’Adua’s non-interference was manipulated to the full by governors elected on the platform of the party who foisted their preferred candidates at will on the party.
In this instance, the National Executive Committee (NEC) of the party had zoned the different national offices for equity and fairness. In its wisdom, the office of the national chairman was zoned to the North-East geo-political zone.
The implication of this is that the position of national chairman of the party in this dispensation is the exclusive preserve of party members from that zone. In an ideal situation, whoever the party caucus in that zone presents to the national delegates automatically assumes the office. Unfortunately, that has been tinkered with which has put the powers that be in the party at logger-head.
Face-off between the president and the Vee-Pee?
Though neither President Goodluck Jonathan nor Vice President Namadi Sambo has formally? indicated interest in vying for the presidency in 2015, the control of the party’s National Working Committee (NWC), the engine room of the party, is a major plus in winning the party’s presidential ticket.
There are strong indications that Dr. Musa Babayo, who had emerged as the consensus candidate of the North-East enjoys the support of Vice-President Sambo and the governors elected on the platform of the party from the zone. This explains why the zonal caucus voted for him in Bauchi.
As for Bamanga Tukur, being an integral part of President Jonathan’s presidential campaign organization coupled with his reach in the government circles, have put him poles ahead of? other contestants. Though the Senior Special Adviser to the president on Political Matters, Alhaji Gulak had distanced his principal from supporting any of the aspirants, the last minute interventions by the presidency for Bamanga Tukur suggest otherwise.
A senior member of the party, Umaru Abdullahi after x-raying the political chess game submitted thus: ‘This election into the National Working Committee of the party is not about money. It’s about the future of the country. The North is seeing beyond the national convention and how it will impact on them now and in the future, especially in 2015’.
This position may not suffice, by virtue of the fact that President Jonathan is the leader of the party and the members of the NWC will always defer to him given the enormous power and influence he welds.
The Gang Up Against Babayo
In the aftermath of the emergence of Dr. Musa Babayo as the consensus candidate of the Nort-East some other aspirants from the zone dismissed the process that threw him up, describing it as a ‘charade and undemocratic’. The aspirants that rejected Babayo’s emergence includes; Bamanga Tukur, Ibrahim Bunu, Abba Aji, Ibrahim Birma, Gambo Lawan, Adamu Muazu, Shettima Mustapha and Adamu Bello.
Bamanga Tukur maintained that the Bauchi zonal congress there was no election. According to him, what the governors did was to allocate figures. “In our meeting on Tuesday night before the zonal congress, all the national chairmanship aspirants said there should be election and voting.
By this decision, we wanted to ensure that any aspirant that wins in a free, fair and transparent exercise will enjoy the respect and support of all’.
In his further reaction, Tukur who looks forward to a pan Nigerian endorsement rather than a zone said; ‘I was not looking for a zonal endorsement. What I am seeking is a national endorsement because the PDP is not a zonal or sectional political party. My aspiration is to become the national chairman of PDP’.
Adamu Bello in his view described the endorsement of Babayo by the governors as ‘the height of desperation’. “The entire exercise was unconstitutional because the PDP Constitution clearly states that there should be an election and that voting would take place.
The purported voting by the North-East delegates is patently undemocratic. Some 22 so-called delegates allegedly voted in a zone where we have over 1,000 delegates. Nobody has been picked as the consensus candidate’, he insists.
However, a notable politician from the zone, Mr. Daniel Richards described what happened in Bauchi as ‘a revolution through the ballot box’. ‘The North -East is 100 percent behind Babayo. We have made up our mind and he has addressed us.
We voted, we agreed, the National Vice chairman of our party, Senator Paul Wampana took the census of all the votes that were cast and the candidates for whom the votes were cast in Bauchi and we all agreed that we? would be going to Abuja with just one candidate. We will definitely queue behind him’, Mr. Richards maintained.
Governors’ Endorsement
The Governors Forum of the PDP is a major power broker in the party. By virtue of the party’s constitution, they control the delegates from their respective states and decide who wins which position.
During the 2008 national convention of the party, when it became obvious that the party was headed for crisis over who would be its national chairman, it was the governors forum that intervened, disqualified the two leading aspirants and endorsed the candidature of Prince Vincent Ogbulafor as the national chairman.
It was the same governors that replaced Ogbulafor with Dr. Okwesilieze Nwodo. In PDP the delegates do the bidding of the governors, whether at the national or state level.
However, for reasons better left to the imagination, the PDP governors in the North-East zone prefer playing behind the scene.
Though the endorsement of Babayo have their full backing, they rather, want The Presidency to believe that the delegates defied their instructions. They give the presidency the impression that whoever it endorses they would adopt.
But in the real sense, they are in cahoots with other stakeholders from the zone to do otherwise. Political party watchers believe that the action of the North-East governors is an indication that our democracy is maturing.
The tricky thing about the Bamanga Tukur’s aspiration vis-à-vis his none endorsement by the governors from his zone is that he does not enjoy the support and confidence of the governor of Adamawa state, Admiral Murtala Nyako. More important is the fact that former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar also hails from Adamawa state. Atiku still nurses presidential ambition in 2015.
The emergence of Bamanga Tukur as the national chairman of the party may constitute a snag to Atiku’s ambition as both are from Adamawa state. But the real threat is that the PDP governors from the zone are convinced that Bamanga Tukur’s national chairmanship of the party will be counter-productive to their quest and by extension, the whole of the North for the presidency in 2015.
Conclusion
With similar problem of alleged imposition of candidates in all the zones of the country, it will be quite difficult for the party’s Governors Forum to take a decision on who becomes the national chairman. There are strong indications that the delegates will for the first time in the history of the party cast their votes for the aspirants for the respective positions.
The only option that would be left for both the governors and the leadership of the respective caucuses would be to trade the various positions zoned to them.
This however, will only happen if the presidency fails in its bid to reach a consensus with the various stakeholders on a ‘unity list’. Whichever method or formula that will be adopted, one thing is obvious: the battle line for 2015 has been drawn.