₦airaland Forum

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has scheduled to hold its Elective National Convention from December 9 – 10, 2017, in Abuja, Nigeria. The Convention is supposed to elect officers of the party at the National level to pilot the affairs of the party for a period of four years.

As the major opposition political party in the country and a party that has also been in power since the birth of the forth republic in 1999 till 2015, Nigerians are of the opinion that the success of the PDP Convention in December will end the APC regime of misgovernance, maladministration and total failure to deliver on its campaign promises.

It is however worrisome that the PDP has not leant any lessons from the fourteen months leadership crisis that began on May 21st 2016 and ended at the Supreme Court on July 12, 2017, after some governors on the platform of the party imposed one of their own, the former Governor of Borno state, Senator Ali Sheriff on the Party.

The PDP is once again enmeshed in some serious power-game, involving different stakeholders, zones and organs of the party competing for who becomes the National Chairman of the party and other positions come December 9, 2017. The most worrisome aspect of these power tussles includes and not limited to the following:

1. Culture of impunity and imposition of candidate

2. Influx of immediate past National Working Committee (NWC) members into the race and the records of misappropriation of funds by the same NWC in recent past.

3. Endorsement of some aspirants by the zones and party leaders without recourse to merit and capacity to deliver.

4. Threat by some zones to leave the party if election does not favour them at the convention.

Another disturbing development is the revelation that the ruling All Progressive Congress (APC), has concluded plans to plant aspirants for key and sensitive offices in the PDP, like the National Chairman, National Secretary, National Organizing Secretary and National Publicity Secretary, in order to destroy the party from within as it did on the wake of the 2015 General Elections.

It is therefore incumbent on the founding fathers of the party and other elders to intervene urgently to rest these ugly developments before the scheduled National convention of the party; otherwise, the PDP is heading for another dangerous implosion that may end the life of the party if proper care is not taken.

Some concerned members of the party are calling on the former Head of States, Gen. Ibrahim Badamosi Babangida, Gen. Abdulsalami Abubakar and other Generals behind the formation of the party to quickly intervene on these issues to restore peace in the party before the Convention.

Others are also inviting the founding fathers of the PDP that are still alive, e.g former Vice President, Dr. Alex Ekwueme, Dr. Bamanga Tukur and Alhaji Adamu Ciroma to call the rampaging members to order before it is too late.

Some stakeholders have also mooted the option of convening meetings of Major critical stakeholders of the party to brainstorm on the way forward to resolving these issues in order to carry everybody along, to give them sense of belonging and inclusion.

Nigerians are waiting with great expectations that the PDP will conduct a very successful, free, fair and credible Elective National Convention in December 2017, that will end the misery of the failed APC led administrations at all levels.

Dimgba Okonkwo is writing from Ebonyi State

My Social Naija
POLITICS State of Affairs in the PDP and the way forward

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The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) is at its lowest ebb since it first emerged as the ruling party in 1999. From a near total domination of the Nigerian Political space, the party lost the Presidency in the March 28, 2015 Presidential and National Assembly Elections and PDP won only 11 States out of the 27 seats in April 11, 2015 Governorship poll.

The PDP also lost its domination of the Senate with 40 members out of 109. The PDP currently has about 130 members out of the 360 in the lower chamber of the National Assembly. Most State Assembly seats have also been conceded to the ruling All Progressive Congress (APC).

Apart from the loss at the National and State levels, the Party in the build up to the last elections suffered gale of defections across the country which continued unabated within the period of the 14 months leadership crises that rocked the foundation of the party between May 2016 to July 2017.

Within the periods under review, the morale of Party members, officers and supporters was dampened beyond imagination until the July 12, 2017 Supreme Court judgment that brought a lot of relief to the party. The National Secretariat of the PDP that used to be a center of political gathering was deserted due to the crisis but suddenly came alive after the Supreme Court ruling.

The Way Forward:

The current situation in the PDP presents another golden opportunity for the emergence of a strong team of leaders that will re-cultivate that nationwide support base the PDP is known for in order to bounce back to power in 2019.

A critical analysis of the candidates that emerged during the April 11, 2015 Governorship Elections proves that the PDP is still the dominant political party in Nigeria. The current APC Governors of Sokoto, Kebbi, Niger, Jigawa, Katsina, Kano, Adamawa, Bauchi, Benue, Plateau, Nasarawa, Kaduna, etc were all former PDP members who left the party due largely to the issue of imposition of candidate, impunity and lack of internal party democracy. There is therefore a chance to correct these mistakes and rebuild the party for the greater good of all Nigerians.

The first step will be to rally round the remaining members of the party across the states of the federation and at the national level to halt the tide of defection. The party organs must remain active, holding meetings regularly and getting the leaders elected on the platform of the Party to be very supportive of the party at all levels.

As a matter of urgency, the Party must put in place series of reform programmes before the December 2017 Elective National Convention that will encourage participation of all members and the return of other previous party supporters that left on the wake of the 2015 general elections and with the period of the leadership crisis. The leaders of the party that will be elected at the forthcoming National Convention should be people of unwavering character that are committed to revitalize and reform the PDP speedily before 2019.

In view of the above, efforts must be made to consciously do away with the above listed impediments that have remained the clog in the wheel of progress in PDP.
An opportunity therefore exists to harvest from the catalogue of failures that has bedeviled the ruling party, the APC in the last two and half years. The achievements of previous PDP government at the national and states levels are great advantage for the PDP to regain power in 2019.

The party must therefore do away with the burning issues of imposition of candidates, gross impunity and lack of party internal democracy. Party leaders must allow a level playing field for all members of the party to contest for any offices he/she deems fit without interference.

Another topical and disturbing issue at various discussions in the party at the moment is that of micro-zoning. Some concerned members of the party are of the opinion that the office of the President which has been zoned to the North, based on the Ike Ekweremadu report should be allowed for all eligible party members in the three northern zones to contest while that of the Chairman should also be allowed for the entire zones in the south to contest.

These opinion leaders are averse to micro-zoning the two important offices in order to create an opportunity for a robust platform for party members to choose the right person (s) that will pilot the affairs of the country in 2019 and that of the party from December 2017.

Finally, deliberate and conscious efforts must be made by the Party’s Standing Reconciliation Committee to achieve total reconciliation especially towards individuals and groups that were disenchanted and alienated by the party in order to present a unified force towards 2019 general elections.

Mohammed Bashir is writing from Kano.

The Peoples Democratic Party, (PDP), the leading opposition political party in Nigeria has scheduled to hold its elective National Convention, between November and December, 2017 to elect officers that will replace the National Caretaker Committee (NCC) and pioneer the affairs of the party ahead of 2019 and beyond.

2. However, the concern in the minds of stakeholders of the party and other lovers of democracy in Nigeria is that, the PDP must surmount the various political calculations and interest within the party and in the country in order not to further destroy its fortunes.

3. Critics of the PDP are already positing that the party has not learnt from its past mistakes of imposition, lack of internal party democracy, illegal manipulation of the zoning arrangements and possible disenfranchisement of credible persons that may take the PDP out of the woods.

4. One of the issues under contention in recent times, is the influx of the immediate past National Working Committee of the Party in the race for various party positions. It has been alleged that the Immediate past national working committee of the party committed serious act of gross misconduct and looted the party with reckless abandon.

5. Nigerians may recall that, after the disappointing loss of the PDP in the 2015 General Elections, staffers of the PDP National Secretariat raised an alarm, accusing Prince Uche Secondus, the former Deputy National Chairman of the Party and other members of the then NWC of mismanagement and misappropriation of party funds.

6. The party had recorded over N12 Billion from the sale of nomination forms during the 2015 General Elections but the members of the NWC under Dr. Adamu Muazu and Prince Uche Secondus squandered the said amount before leaving office in May, 2016.

7. In one of the publications made available to newsmen by the PDP staff, it was gathered that Prince Secondus after the resignation of Adamu Muazu sat with other members of the NWC and appropriated to themselves various sums of money ranging from N30 to N100million without the approval of the National Executive Committee (NEC).

8. It was reported that the NWC in less than six months paid themselves six years housing allowances in areas, far above the stipulated four years tenure of the NWC, thereby neglecting the backlogs of the same allowances meant for the administrative staff of the party.

9. It was also gathered that, one of the share meant for Dr. Adamu Muazu was paid into Julius Berger company account, a situation that led to some Inter agency rivalry between the company and the party.

10. In order to perpetrate this nefarious act, the then National Working Committee under Prince Uche Secondus opened a pseudo or ‘All Purpose’ bank account in Zenith Bank, N0 1014041654, without the approval of NEC, in the name of ‘Morufi Nigeria Limited, where monies were diverted to serve their personal interest. The Morufi Nigeria Limited account was used, instead of the Party official account for the payment of nomination forms of delegate elections in 2015.


11. Investigations has also revealed that part of the failure of the PDP in 2015 was traced to the Immediate past National Working Committee of the party.. It was revealed that the non inclusion of some of the past NWC members in the Jonathan Campaign Organization angered most of the members, leading to infighting and anti party activities.

12. Some stakeholders are also of the opinion that the former National Chairman, Dr. Muazu, his Deputy, Prince Uche Secondus and the members of the NWC colluded and collected huge sums of money from various aspirants of the party and later denied them tickets. This also led to the mass exodus of PDP members before the general elections. It is therefore a misnomer and suicidal to allow the immediate past NWC members to administer the affairs of the PDP at this crucial times.

13. Party members are therefore worried with these embarrassing situations and believes that, returning again this same set of persons to the National Secretariat will not only spell doom for the party, but will remain an impediments to the progress and success of the PDP in the 2019 general elections.

Musa Abdullahi is writing from Bauchi, Bauchi state.

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