www.dailytrust.com.ng/sunday/index.php/top-stories/21514-11-pdp-godfathers-missing-in-action


For about two decades they bestrode the Nigerian political
landscape as movers and shakers within the umbrella of
the now ousted Peoples Democratic Party, calling the shots at will. But now that things have fallen apart for the
PDP and the center appears shaky, many of them seem
to have gone into political oblivion. Daily Trust on Sunday
digs into to their new vocation as members of an opposition party.

(1) Alhaji Bamanga Tukur

Alhaji Bamanga Tukuisr is one of the founding members
of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). A former
Governor of the defunct Gongola State, his almost two
year’s tenure as national chairman of the party, which
came to a dramatic end on January 15, 2014, is said to
have been characterized by a reign of intra-party crises
that eventually led to the split of the party which had
held onto power in Nigeria for sixteen years.
While he held sway as national chairman at the Wadata
Plaza there were a lot of theatrical events that
characterized the party which left no oxygen for him to
breath. Perhaps the most dramatic event that had
characterized the PDP under Bamanga was on August 31,
2013 when the party was to host a mini- national
convention at the Eagle Square, Abuja.
Since his resignation, Bamanga who was later appointed
by former President Goodluck Jonathan as chairman of
the Nigerian Railway Corporation has remained less
visible in the affairs of the party.


(2) Chief Edwin Kiagbodo Clark

Elder statesman, influential Ijaw leader and former
federal commissioner for information Chief Edwin
Kiagbodo Clark is safely referred to as the godfather to
former President Goodluck Jonathan. However, like
many other chieftains of the former ruling party, Clark
appears to have recoiled to his shell and declined to talk
further about the PDP since the party lost out in the last
presidential election to the APC.


(3) Chief Tony Anenih.

Chief Tony Anenih popularly known as “Mr Fix It” is
another influential political figure in the erstwhile ruling
Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). Anenih, who was a
member of the Peoples Democratic Movement (PDM),
played active role in the emergence of former President
Olusegun Obasanjo and later became Board of Trustees
(BoT) Chairman of the PDP. He left the position under
controversial circumstances when Obasanjo completed
his second tenure in 2007, a time when the position of
BoT Chairman was restricted to former Presidents and
former National Chairmen of the party.
After the PDP’s big defeat at the 2015 general elections,
the Edo-born politician resigned as the party’s BoT
Chairman, citing state of affairs of the party and the need
to allow former President Jonathan to occupy the
position as reasons. After the resignation, the PDP political strategist has remained less visible on the political turf but refused to dump politics.

(4) Dr Ahmadu Ali

Dr. Ahmadu Ali, who is a trained physician, served in the
Nigerian Army. He is a former Peoples Democratic Party
(PDP) National Chairman who also played an important
role in the election victories of former President
Obasanjo, late President Umaru Musa Yar’adua and
former President Goodluck Jonathan.
His previous role made former President Jonathan to
choose him as the Director General of the Peoples
Democratic Party Presidential Campaign Organization in
the 2015 general elections. Being a former National
Chairman, he continues to play critical and influential
role in the PDP as he can attend the party’s caucus, BoT
and National Executive Committee (NEC) meetings. He is
also believed to have worked toward the emergence of
Senator Ekweremadu as deputy senate president.

(5) Alhaji Adamu Muazu

Immediate past chairman of the Peoples Democratic
Party (PDP), Ahmadu Adamu Muazu, disappeared from
the political scene few days after the last presidential
election which gave the APC an edge.
Sources close to the former Bauchi State governor said
Muazu “maintained silence” during the controversy that
surrounded the defeat of President Goodluck Jonathan.
“Muazu did his best in strengthening the PDP and that
was what endeared him to many stakeholders of the
Party, including Jonathan. But when the outcome of the
elections favored the APC, the same stakeholders called
for the head of Muazu.
“That was basically why he left the shores of Nigeria and
kept mute while the controversy raged and he resigned
when it was evident that some people wanted to crucify
him,” one of the sources said.

(6) Alhaji Hassan Adamu (Wakilin Adamawa)

Alhaji Hassan Adamu hails from Admawa State from the
North-Eastern Nigeria and served as a founding member of the PDP and member of PDP Board of Trustees representing his state. He was a Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development as well as that of Environment. A former Chairman of Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN) and one time Nigeria’s Ambassador to the USA he accompanied the immediate past President Goodluck Jonathan to campaign mostly at the two grand rallies in Abuja and at most of the Northern States.
A source told Daily on Sunday that he was alleged to be
the leader of the Fulani Mafia that did not vote PDP and
Jonathan because he did not quell the Boko Haram
insurgency and for not ensuring the peace of Fulani
cattle herdsmen all over the country.
The alleged game plan was for the Fulani to infiltrate the
Jonathan administration and expose him to the
electorate in favour of fellow kinsman and now President
Muhammadu Buhari. The Wakilin of Adamawa placed full
page adverts in major dailies supporting the new
President despite being a card carrying member of the
PDP. Not much has been heard of him since the PDP lost
the general elections to the APC.

(7) Namadi Sambo

Former Vice President Muhammad Namadi Sambo is an
Architect and was a businessman until he ventured into
politics in his home state of Kaduna. The former
Commissioner of Works under the then military
administrator Colonel Abubakar Dangiwa Umar started
his political career when he contested and became
Governor of Kaduna state on May 29, 2007.
He is known for his 11-point agenda which critics have
described more as a political rhetoric than reality. The
sudden death of then President Umaru Yar’adua paved
way for him to become Vice President while his boss and
then Vice President Goodluck Jonathan became
President. He was sworn in as Vice President on May
19th, 2010. Namadi is said to have relocated to Dubai after the last general elections and shuttles between there and London.

( Dr. Bello Halliru Muhammadu

The acting Chairman of the PDP Board of Trustees Dr
Halliru Mohammad Bello is the scion of the Sokoto
Dynasty as he is from the lineage of the younger brother
of the reformer Sheik Usman Danfodio, Sheik Abudullahi
(Gwandu) Danfodio. A trained veterinarian, Dr Haliru
Mohammed Bello was a lecturer and later a politician,
who started politics when he contested for the post of
Deputy Governor of Sokoto under the then Great Nigeria
Peoples Party (GNPP) and lost in 1979.
He joined others in the founding of the PDP. He was
Minister of Communication and later Defense. After he
left office he was indicted in a bribery scandal involving
the German telecom company Siemens AG. He was
Defense Minister from July 2011 until June 2012. He was
appointed the acting National Chairman of the PDP of
Nigeria on 25 May 2015.
Bello Halliru Mohammed supported a change to the
PDP’s zoning in favor of President Goodlkuck Jonathan to
run for re-election in 2011, instead of a northern
candidate. When Jonathan became President, he was
alleged to have rewarded him with the post of Minister of
Defense, a post he held between 2011 and 2012.
Having lost his state to the opposition APC and has since
been quiet following the downward slope of his party.

(9) Dr (Mrs) Kema Chikwe

Findings by revealed that Mrs. Kema Chikwe, the Peoples
Democratic Party (PDP) national women leader is still
occupying her position, though silent on national issues.
Mrs. Chikwe had before the presidential campaign
formed a major source of news in the media, including
her reaction on the over 200 abducted Chibok school
girls. But following the defeat of the PDP at the last
general elections the women leader seemed to have lost
steam.
Daily Trust on Sunday gathered from a reliable member
of the PDP National Working Committee that some party
officials have been silenced not to comment on national
issues as the party moves to re-position itself for victory
in future elections.
Even though she was seen at the NWC meeting held last
Wednesday at the party’s national secretariat Abuja, an
insider who said he was also warned by the party to stop
making comments in the media, said she is not expected
to talk except if the need arises considering that her
comment on the abducted Chibok school girls generated
a lot of concerns nationwide, as she expressed doubt that
the girls were truly abducted.
“Well, every organization has its own modus operandi.
You can see that some of our officers have made
statements that nearly caused confusion within the party
and the nation. See what Jalo said in Lagos, see what
Walid Jibrin said about national convention date.
“We are in the mood of repositioning, re-organizing and
re-strategizing to reclaim our mandate at the centre
come 2019, so we are regulating what comes out of our
party for public consumption, so don’t feel otherwise.
This is a new era in the PDP, as a temporary opposition
party,” he said.
Though silent the PDP women leader is however, seen to
be performing her official duties including attending of
NWC meetings and attending to women issues within the
party as well as being part of the team brainstorming on
how to move the party forward and re-position ahead of
2019.

(10) Chief Bode George

Arguably the most powerful politician in the Lagos State
Chapter of People’s Democratic Party (PDP), Chief
Olabode George wields enormous clout that had won
him friends and foes alike.
George, a former military Governor of old Ondo State,
had his priorities cut out for him at the start of the
Fourth Republic when he emerged as the National Vice
Chairman of People’s Democratic Party (PDP, South
West). He was later to become National Deputy Chairman
(South). And when the going was still good between him
and the former President Olusegun Obasanjo, George
had a larger-than- life influences that cut across entire
south west region.
For those in the know, it was when occupying party
positions that George was able to establish a firm root for
himself in the local chapter of the PDP. With his blessing,
state party chairmen, gubernatorial candidates, among
other seekers of political offices, secure the party’s flags
from time to time.
“Baba influence would ordinarily have diminished when
he had that issue with EFCC which of course led him to
Kirikiri for about two years if he had lacked the prowess
to maintain a grip on the state political structure. But that
could not be as he seamlessly dished out orders that
were often followed to the latter,” a young but close
associate of George, who will not want his name
mentioned, said.
That assertion might be difficult to dismiss. Before his
travails with the anti- graft agency, George had single-
handedly installed the state party executive under the
chairmanship of Sentonji Kosheodo. That singular act
proved to be a masterstroke few years later when despite
being within the confines of Kirikiri, George’s anointed
candidate, Ade Dosunmu emerged as the party’s flag
bearer to contest the 2011 gubernatorial election.
George’s political invincibility are however being
challenged with no lesser political actor than Obanikoro.
Multiple sources within the party also confirmed to Daily
Trust on Sunday that such relentless attacks from
Obanikoro and his supporters now appear to be
weighing on George’s political dominance.
“We know that rather than being engaged by the
opposition, the intra-party feud within the Lagos State
PDP was what appeared to have kept Baba out of political
limelight now. That is not to say he is totally out. What I
can tell you is that he is also strategizing, having come to
realize that the other camp within the party is not
relenting,” the source added.
Though that insurrection appeared to have been doused,
it nonetheless exposed continuous underbelly war that
has been ravaging the party. The mudslinging could only
get messier as the race to install new party executives
rages ahead of 2016 handover of power by the current
occupiers. Such political development, observers say, is
capable of getting George out of political sabbatical.

(11) Professor Jerry Gana

Professor Jerry Gana, a former Minister of Information,
is a member of the Board of Trustees (BoT) of the
Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). His influential role in
the PDP made former President Jonathan chose him as
part of his 2015 campaign team. In fact, he headed the
campaign’s contact and mobilization unit.
He was the Chairman of the PDP Fund-raising
Committee for 2015 the presidential campaign of
President Jonathan. As part of the campaign strategies
for former President, he led the Northern Economic
Summit Group, also known as G-20.
He was also a member of the Board of Trustees (BoT) of
Alhaji Tanko Yakasai-led Northern Elders Council (NEC),
an opposing group to the Arewa Consultative Forum
(ACF) ahead of the 2015 general elections.
Earlier last month, the former Minister of Information
urged Nigerians to be patient with President Buhari and
called on the Buhari’s administration to pursue its
determination to fight corruption.
He spoke at retired Brigadier General Chris Olukolade’s
public presentation of his books, entitled: “Issues in the
Mobilization of Public Support for Military Operations
and The Battles and Voice of the Nigerian Military,” at the
Nigerian Air Force Conference Centre and Suites, Kado,
Abuja.
He also urged Nigerians to pray for President Buhari and
other elected leaders for God to give them the wisdom to
select their priorities right, especially in a nation like
Nigeria.

How are the mighty fallen!

As usual we expect them to leave the scene since "there is time for everything under the sun"

Some of them were undercover agents in PDP

They are still mourning the demise of their beloved party.
Lots of wailing wailers still signing the condolence register.

Gone forever. May they never return.

Hey! They mistakenly press "hibernate" key on their "system" Maybe they will resurface when the 'P' in PDP joins the other 'P' after the 'D' to become DEMOCRATIC people's party.

Their days of reign is over. No body remember that this people exist again.

They were united for power, so they have to be divided for power.

Whatesle do you expect after the party was sold to the political jobber like IBB, Fayose and Kayode in an attempt to put them to shame.

Let's organise a search party for them! Lol

All in the dungeon re-strategizing!!!!! Worthless set of old cargoes....... We are waiting aswell

its a new dawn, a new day. its the time of the new rebranded Republican PDP