Towards realising his ambition to continue as president in 2015, President Goodluck Jonathan consolidates his hold on the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) with the support of new power blocs in the party.
President Goodluck Jonathan is gradually proving he is not the politically callow chap that many rate him. Last Thursday, June 20, the president used the occasion of the National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to practically demonstrate he can adroitly play the advantage game, especially as leading members intensify schemings for the party’s presidential ticket in the 2015 elections.
Proceeding from rumblings from member state governors that the party chairman, Alhaji Bamanga Tukur, must resign, the meeting was expected to be a rowdy session of non-compromise between the president’s camp and the anti-Bamanga elements, led by the speaker, House of Representatives, Alhaji Aminu Tambuwal and the  Sokoto State governor, Aliyu Wamakko. But there wasn’t a whimper of opposition at the meeting as Tukur smoothly retained his seat.
That Tukur, the main target of the dissenting governors and arrowhead of Jonathan’s reelection ambition, was the only survivor from the old National Working Committee (NWC) underlined the president’s control of the party. Although a document issued by a 12-member monitoring team of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) which annulled the elections of the working committee officers spared Tukur, the governors were calling for his resignation to, according to them, allow for peace in the party. Some members had accused Tukur of high-handedness following the suspension of Wamakko and the Rivers State governor, Rotimi Amaechi from the party. Also, a committee headed by Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Anyim Pius Anyim berated him for running the PDP the wrong way and responsible for the raging crisis bedeviling it.
Weeding out ‘enemy governors’ agents in NWC:
Though INEC’s report on the PDP’s election in 2012 was referred to as the reason why all the National Working Committee (NWC) members were compelled to resign last week, Sunday Trust gathered that the motive behind that ‘obedience’ was to weed out members of the executive whose loyalty to President Goodluck Jonathan’s 2015 agenda was in doubt.  For instance, Chief Sam Sam Jaja, who was the Deputy National Chairman was nominated by Governor Rotimi Amaechi in 2012, and was seen as a die-hard apostle of ‘governors are the leaders of the party in the states.’ This idea runs contrary to the new spirit canvassed by Alhaji Tukur, who insists that the party is supreme and governors should take instructions from Wadata Plaza. In the last one year, Jaja could not play his role as the chairman of the PDP Disciplinary Committee, first, because the committee was never inaugurated, and, secondly, because some of the acts of indiscipline were blamed on the party’s leadership. Until he was sent packing last Thursday, the Deputy National Chairman didn’t have the opportunity to do his job at the secretariat.
Also, elements associated with former President Olusegun Obasanjo were effectively shown the door. Before the NEC meeting, Chief Olagunsoye Oyinlola and Chief Bode Mostapha, two known Obasanjo apologists, had been sent out of the secretariat in controversial circumstances. But a remnant of those brought in by Obasanjo, like Mrs Kema Chikwe, a former Woman Leader, also had to go. The interim members of the NWC were nominated by those who belong to the emerging power blocs in the six geopolitical zones which are loyal to President Jonathan. For instance, Professor Jerry Gana, who is now seen as the leader of the pro-Jonathan elements in Niger State, nominated Acting National Youth Leader, Barrister Tanko Beji.
The Niger State Governor Babangida Aliyu is seen as one of the opposition governors within the fold, whose influence in the PDP needs to be whittled down. Also, in the South-West, Chief Olabode George, has bounced back as the new lord. He nominated the Acting National Secretary, Dr Remi Akintoye, who hails from Lagos State. Chief George is making a deliberate attempt to fill the void created by Obasanjo’s face-off with Jonathan in the South-West. In the South-East, the new political lords include Chief Anyim Pius Anyim, Hon Emeka Ihedioha and Senator Ike Ekweremadu. For instance, the Acting National Woman Leader,    Barrister Oyibo Nwaneri, who hails from Imo State, was nominated by Hon. Emeka Ihedioha, while the Acting Deputy National Secretary, Emma Agboti (Ebonyi) was brought in by Chief Anyim.
From the South-South, the emergence of Hon Chibudom Nwuche as Acting Deputy National Chairman may not have come as a surprise to watchers of the face-off between the president and Governor Amaechi. In a recent interview, Hon Nwuche demonstrated his support for President Jonathan and the 2015 ambition, arguing that the South South’s interest in 2015 is the presidency, and not the position of Vice-President, which Amaechi is believed to be angling for in his association with the North. It is a popular belief that Hon Nwuche is in league with the pardoned former Governor of Bayelsa State, Chief Diepreye Alamieyeseigha, in the campaign for an Ijaw man to retain the biggest prize in Nigeria’s politics – the presidency.
Under the current political arrangement, most governors of the North-West and North-East, who are seen to have 2015 ambition have lost their voice in Wadata Plaza, while governors of the North-Central States of Benue, Kogi, and Plateau, except Niger, have enhanced advantage.  
 
THE CONVENTION COMMITTEE AND RECONCILIATION IN PDP
The party also immediately put in place the Convention Planning Committee, headed by Jerry Gana. Membership of the committee has been generating criticisms as comprising mainly Jonathan’s loyalists. It comprises Akwa Ibom State governor, Godswill Akpabio (deputy chairman);  Deputy Senate  President Ike Ekweremadu (secretary);  Abia State governor, Theodore Orji: Delta State governor, Emmanuel Uduaghan;  Bauchi  State governor, Isa Yuguda;  Beue State governor, Gabriel Suswam; Katsina State governor, Ibrahim Shettima; Special Adviser to the President (Political Matters), Ahmed Gulak, Anyim and 27 others.
The speed at which the PDP leadership acceeded to INEC’s directive to annul the old NWC positions confounds some party members. So does INEC’s approval of the party’s request to hold a mini-convention almost immediately to elect new officers.  INEC had earlier on four occasions within the last six years directed the PDP to dissolve its executive committees in about eight states based on alleged illegal elections that flouted relevant sections of the party’s constitution. The directives weren’t complied with. But current developments are said to be agreeable to the party leadership because they favour its scheming to re-jig the NWC, with a view to installing loyalists in sync with the president’s reelection ambition.
President Jonathan admitted the fact that the party is in dire crisis and has constituted a reconciliation committee headed by chairman of the party’s Board of Trustees, Chief Anthony Anenih. But former Vice-President, Atiku Abubakar, apparently lacks confidence in the president’s peace moves. Abubakar sets his sight firmly on the PDP’s presidential ticket in 2015.  But to his chagrin, Anenih has hinted of an automatic reelection ticket for Jonathan. In a statement he issued over the weekend, Abubakar stressed the incumbency upon the president to “permit the establishment of a non-partisan committee that will have the authority and autonomy to devise the appropriate strategy to resolve the ongoing turmoil once and for all and rescue the PDP from extinction.”
Abubakar opined that if Jonathan’s special reconciliation committee is starved of representatives from other factions in the party and of its founding fathers, it was designed to fail in its mission. The reference to “founding fathers” alluded to the late Yar’Adua’s good use of former Vice-President Alex Ekwueme and retired General Ike Nwachukwu in his efforts to reconcile warring elements in the PDP.  In a veiled reference to Anenih’s headship of the committee, Abubakar contended: “Any group or persons charged with the responsibility to rescue the PDP should be able to freely and objectively explore all options to resolve the crisis without the imposition of a single individual.   
The former VP referred to what he said was the “good job” done by Ekwueme and Nwachukwu to restore the PDP to its “original democratic glory” by recommending vital far-reaching solutions to solve the crisis.  He wondered why the incumbent party leadership lacks the “moral courage” to implement those recommendations. “Can impunity and imposition ultimately replace the will of the people?” he asked.
Abubakar advised the president to invest his energy and time in governing Nigeria “where turmoil abounds” and remove himself from direct involvement in resolving the crisis. “The president has no business setting up any committee on party matters  when his interests are believed to be central to the ongoing acrimony within the party...  We need a more credible committee to do the job than a committee that is subservient and driven by a narrow agenda,” he declared.
BAMANGA LAMENTS OVER SHORTAGE OF FUNDS:
A fallout of the crisis is the gradual erosion of the party’s finances, if its leaders are to be believed. Tukur said after his close shave with expulsion from his juicy chairmanship office that paucity of funds had been affecting smooth administration of the party’s affairs.  Sunday Trust did learn that governors opposed to his leadership style have not been readily disposed to releasing funds to the chairman’s office.  Appealling to President Jonathan, Vice-President Sambo, Senate President David Mark, Tambuwal and the party’s 18 state  governors on the financial crunch, Tukur said: “We cannot afford  running this party with severe under-funding dilemma. “
Despite the internal crisis, the president is exuding confidence the PDP would win the 2015 general elections. The party faces a strong threat in the emerging All Progressives Congress (APC) merger of the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC), Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) and the All-Progressives Grand Alliance.  But Jonathan told members at last week’s NEC meeting that no extent of a gang-up would upstage the PDP from power and majority control of the states and in the National Assembly.
FACING THE APC CHALLENGE:
As the APC threat looms, there are reported moves by the party leadership to placate angry elements within the party to enable it regain its strength in preparation for the 2015 election. It was heard late last week that efforts were being made to make peace with Amaechi and lift the suspension clamped on him. Already, the party has lifted the suspension placed on Wamakko.
The peace issue, however, goes beyond Amaechi. As Atiku Abubakar reiterated, Jonathan’s 2015 reelection ambition is the crux of the crisis. In this respect, it is unlikely that all the northern leaders in the PDP will support Jonathan’s ambition this time around, unlike in 2010-2011 when they largely united to give him the ticket and electoral votes.
Inability of the PDP to convince those uncooperative northern leaders within it would be just the shot the APC needs. It is certain the APC, if it finally wins INEC registration, would be choosing its presidential candidate from the core north. Retired General Muhammadu Buhari, the CPC’s presidential candidate in the 2011 elections is hoping to nick the APC mandate. Buhari has a large followership of his own and his chances, and, indeed, the chances of whoever the APC picks from the north, would be brightened by the irreconcilable resolution of the PDP crisis. The Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF), the socio-political umbrella for the north, has already berated the PDP governors rooting for another term for Jonathan, instead of working for the emergence of a successor from the north.
The ACF condemned what it called Jonathan’s divide-and-rule politics to polarise the north in furtherance of his 2015 ambition. ACF National Chairman, Alhaji Aliko Muhammed, mentioned at last Thursday’s Annual General Meeting of the ACF that some leading members of the north had visited the president at Aso Rock to assure him of the region’s support for his ambition. Nothing, he said, could be distant from the reality on the ground.
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This effectively places the opposing northern governors in a minority in the party and president jonathan can do without their support, in the 2011 primaries, the only states jonathan lost were kano,niger,sokoto,kebbi and yet he still won the primaries with 77%, and he reamains in control of the PDP in Adamawa and Rivers thanks to Joel Madaki faction and Nyesom Wike faction respectively....so its GEJ all d way

PDP is internally democratic. All efforts should be geared towards making primaries possible. But it is up to the NWC of this great party to know that for PDP to stay in power, we need the best candidate in the Party to be presented. Currently I do not see any person that can win for PDP than GEJ at the moment, apart from his personality, policy implementation and power of incumbency, he is a natural lucky winner.

Regarding the cries of tribal northern elements in the PDP who want power zoned to North, it will not be possible cos North has no person capability of winning 2015 within the PDP at the moment. So if they chose to play tribal politics by porting from PDP to APC, then it will be unfortunate failure. Cos APC as at June 2013 is NOT yet registered, so is unprepared to win any Presidential elections.

Let's go tribal and ethnocentric, The West and the South must co-operate to push for development of Nigeria. Cos the Northerners are known for their selfish and parochial lifestyles. So it is the responsibility for the South to lead as we always do. Its a pity that Tinubu prefers to steer the Yoruba Dynasty into playing second fiddle politics because of his selfish gains, for his pockets even when the Yorubas are the most educated Nigerians.

My conclusion is that GEJ wins 2015 -2019, so we can cement hold on power to the South and I am sure we will have 247 electricity, and with that the South will control the economy industrially, and control politics resourcefully.
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emk4lif: This effectively places the opposing northern governors in a minority in the party and president jonathan can do without their support, in the 2011 primaries, the only states jonathan lost were kano,niger,sokoto,kebbi and yet he still won the primaries with 77%, and he reamains in control of the PDP in Adamawa and Rivers thanks to Joel Madaki faction and Nyesom Wike faction respectively....so its GEJ all d way

Pls,what has Jonadraft done to deserve another term? Nothing. I don't care where the next president will come from,his impact should be feel by the people.

And Daily trust is just knowing this now??