PDP: A body without a head?
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April 14, 2013 | 12:08 am
Nigeria Today
By Tonnie Iredia

The question re-echoed in my sub-consciousness, a few
days ago when my friend, Yemi, informed me, that a
premature end to the tenure of Dr Bamanga Tukur, the
current chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP)
appears imminent.
Yemi imagined that the recent adverse criticism by the
Independent Electoral Commission (INEC) of the party’s
convention which brought Tukur to office would instigate
some members of the PDP to increase the tempo of their
bashing of their chairman. How come it took INEC about
one year to make public its reported negative observation
of the convention?
This is a poser for another day. For today, it is instructive
that it was reportedly made at the height of anti-Tukur
campaigns within the PDP. Oh yes, no other executive
officer of the party has been subjected to the type of
sustained attacks which Tukur has faced since the last one
year that he took office.
Interestingly, it is not quite easy for any political analyst to
comprehend the issues at stake. For instance, what type of
chairman do PDP members want? Would they prefer a
robot, that is, a person who lacks discretion and initiative?
I ask this because the first complaint against Bamanga was
that he was doing things differently from how others did it
befo
re. For this reason, the party’s National Working Committee
(NWC) rejected a memorandum from the chairman to
reform the party.
In fact, despite the widely held belief that corruption in the
party secretariat was being perpetrated by some directors
who had spent over eight years in office, a proposal by the
chairman to move such directors around was rejected by
the NWC.
Again, a purely advisory body led by a distinguished
second republic Vice President, Dr. Alex Ekwueme to help
the chairman generate ideas and strategies on how to
move the party forward was similarly opposed by the
members. The argument of the latter was that such a
committee was unknown to their party’s constitution. At
another point in time, the party’s national secretary
allegedly sent a memo to all chairmen of state branches of
the party not to relate directly with the national chairman
without passing through the national secretary.
One analyst attributes the rumpus to what he described as
how Tukur was elected. Whatever is the case, the reality is
that PDP members usually treat the chairmanship of their
party as if it is a part time or temporary position. In fact,
the case of Bamanga Tukur looks like that of a new
appointee on probation, but for how long it is to last may
be hard to know.
This is because it is not about Tukur; rather, it is in the
character of PDP to put its chairman in the position of a
refuse bin before he is booted out. And it has been so
since 1999. As in the case of our electoral commission of
old which always brutalized its successive chairmen, PDP
without being uncharitable, appears to relish being a
headless body. With what then does it think?
Some say the founding chairman-Chief Solomon Lar was
not disgraced out of office but not many agree with the
assertion. What about his successors? Barnabas Gemade,
Audu Ogbeh, Okwesilieze Nwodo, Vincent Ogbulafor,
together with the indomitable Ahmadu Ali who was
nicknamed the Garrison Commander were all virtually
rubbished.
Our democracy cannot take root, if party management is
weak. There is indeed danger when the chairman of the
ruling party in a state finds his way to the position of
Deputy Governor of that state as PDP did in Kaduna the
other day. Also, party activities ought to be chaired by the
chairman and they ought to hold in party offices and not
at the Presidential Villa or Government Houses in the
States.
In other words, party leaders should not be subordinated
to their members who are elevated to the executive arm of
government. PDP should borrow a leaf from the posture
of older politicians. During the second republic for
instance, Alhaji Shehu Shagari won election as President
under the banner of the National Party of Nigeria (NPN).
Thereafter, he faced the task of governance while Chief
Adisa Akinloye, National Chairman of the party continued
to call the shots on party matters. In addition, Shagari
deferred to him at all times and refused to be interviewed
by journalists on an issue upon which, in the words of
Shagari, ‘the boss’ had spoken.
It is a posture which puts a political party over its
members –a stance which is no doubt more significant
today because unlike the past when we had independent
candidates, the law now provides that elections can only
be won by political parties and not by individuals. This
creates party supremacy.
This legal environment of party supremacy is therefore not
the time to place party members who win elections over
the legal platform which enabled their victory. Elected
party members like Governors should not be the only
group to nominate members to the different party
committees; otherwise they will hold the party to ransom
as it frequently happens now in the PDP.
In the last few months for example, PDP Governors have
been calling for a meeting of their party’s National
Executive Committee simply because they want to use their
cronies there to dislodge the national chairman. But when
will any of such Governors allow a meeting of his own
State Executive Committee?

http://www.vanguardngr.com/2013/04/pdp-a-body-without-a-head/

Over to you Sickcere 9gerian

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