The main opposition party in Nigeria, the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) loses its biting prowess due to internal wrangling and presence of fifth columnists, thus leaving the current APC government at the centre without checks and balances
By Udoka Ekeleme Abuja
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) is widely divided. Two major camps trying to capture the soul of the party for their own advantage are ostensible, namely the camp of the Minister for the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Ezenwo Nyesom Wike and that of a former vice president and Presidential candidate of the party at the 2023 presidential election, Atiku Abubakar. PDP is the main opposition party in the country.
The history of crisis rocking the PDP predates the 2023 presidential election where the party went into the contest divided. Since 2014 when the All Progressives Congress (APC) formation was consummated, PDP has become a shadow of its own, causing the party to lose the 2015 presidential election to the APC in that year, 2019 and 2023. When Wike contested for and lost the presidential ticket for the 2023 general election, he chose to work against his own party, but supported hugely the APC where President Bola Ahmed Tinubu emerged as the candidates for the APC and won the election that was highly controversial. All effort of the PDP presidential candidate in 2023, Atiku, to ensure that the party went into the 2023 presidential contest as a united front yielded no positive result as Wike and other sitting governors at the time, including Okezie Ikpeazu of Abia State, Seyi Makinde of Oyo State and Samuel Ortom of Benue State turned their back against Atiku and the PDP. These took offence due to their insistence that the presidential ticket of the party for 2023 should have been given to a Southerner since Iyorchia Ayu, a North central indigene was made the National Chairman of the party, sponsored by Atiku.
Atiku has been accused of dumping the PDP and working against it several times. In 2006 Atiku left PDP and joined the Action Congress of Nigeria (CAN) to accomplish his presidential ambition. That made him an ally of Tinubu. During the 2011 presidential election, Atiku did not support then president Goodluck Jonathan after the former contested and lost the party’s presidential ticket. In 2014 Atiku left PDP and joined the APC where he lost the presidential ticket of the party and supported Muhammadu Buhari who won the 2015 presidential election.
Atiku was to return to the PDP to contest the 2019 presidential election with Buhari of the APC. Though the former vice president who had entered political alliance with Wike, won the PDP presidential ticket which he allegedly bought with his dollars, he was defeated in that election by Buhari.
Thus, in the build up to the PDP’s 98th National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting on Thursday, April 18, 2024 in Abuja, there was sharp division between the camps of Atiku and that of Wike over who would become the next National Chairman of the party and take over from Amb. Umar Damagun who is on acting basis. While the camp of Wike pushed for the continuation of Amb. Damagun on acting basis, the Atiku camp sought to enthrone a substantive National Chairman from the North central where Ayu, the deposed National chair hails from.
At the end of the NEC meeting, Wike’s camp coasted home to victory following the endorsement of the Amb. Damagun-led National working Committee (NWC) by the party’s second highest decision making body, the NEC at its 98th meeting in Abuja. Speaking to newsmen after the event, the Chairman of the PDP Governors Forum and governor of Bauchi State, Bala Mohammed, said the NEC meeting was held in a peaceful atmosphere.
According to him, “You can see there was no dissension and rancor. It was planned that the party will have an implosion. PDP is more than that. This party is a united party that is guided by experience and constitutionality.
“There was a lot of permutations and mischievous thinking outside there. We looked at all the issues and we worked along our guidelines and constitution. There is no problem, dissension or problem among members”.
Ambassador Damagun, in his speech said, “This is not a matter of life and death. I am still an elected member of this NEC. Even if I revert to Deputy National Chairman, I’m still a member of the NWC. The issue of surviving or not does not arise”.
In his opening remark, the Chairman of the Board of Trustees (BOT) of PDP, Adolphus Wabara, recognized the crisis rocking the party which led to the current division between the two camps when he said, “We cannot ignore the fact that our party is facing internal strife fueled by inactions, disagreements and misunderstandings that threaten to undermine the very foundation upon which the PDP stands.
“The recent events have brought to light the urgent need for reconciliation, unity and collective action to steer our party back on course.
“All custodians of our party’s values and principles, it is incumbent upon us to address the crisis that have arisen from the recent challenges surrounding the leadership and actions of the National Working Committee”.
Debo Ologunagba, the National Publicity Secretary of the PDP read the communiqué at the end of the NEC meeting.
Many political analysts have opined that Wike who is serving under the APC government as a minister will remain a fifth columnist in the PDP because his loyalty is to Tinubu who gave him the job. They argue that Wike should not have been allowed into the 98th NEC meeting of the PDP because he would act as a mole who would divulge all the secret decisions and plots of the party to his principal, Tinubu. These argue that as long as Wike remains in the fold of the PDP, the party will always remain a laughing stock to the ruling APC.
Again, Amb. Damagun, the acting Chair of the party, is regarded as Wike’s close ally who will always seek the latter’s consent before taking any critical steps that can uplift the party. According to them, PDP cannot criticize any actions, inactions or policies of the APC-led Federal Government as the main opposition party due to Wike and Damagun’s factor. But the Senate Minority leader, Senator Abba Moro, has said that there was no way Wike could have been stopped from attending the last NEC meeting because he had not been found guilty of any crime against the party, and was never penalized for any crime he committed against the PDP.
