PDP AND MEMBERSHIP DEFECTIONS

The opposition party is paying heavily for disobeying its own rules

For the third time within 19 years, former Vice President Atiku Abubakar recently resigned his membership of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). “It is with a heavy heart that I resign, recognising the irreconcilable differences that have emerged,” he wrote in the letter addressed to ward chairman in Jada Local government area of Adamawa State, citing the party’s departure from its founding ethos. Instructively, Atiku served as vice president between 1999 and 2007 under the PDP, a platform he also used twice to contest the presidency in 2019 and 2023.

But Atiku is not the only prominent member who has left the main opposition party that ruled the country between 1999 and 2015. David Mark, a former Senate President, has formally left the PDP to become the national chairman of a new opposition group that has coalesced in the African Democratic Congress (ADC). Many of the party’s top officials are also defecting in droves to join the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC). The Governors of Delta and Akwa Ibom, Sheriff Oborevwori and Umo Eno respectively, have left for the ruling party. There are indications that other governors, especially in the south, are merely dancing around the subject and may indeed take the plunge very soon. Many PDP Senators and House of Representatives’ members have also been defecting to the APC.

Apparently concerned by what is turning out to be mass defections, PDP leaders have been meeting in recent days. While they talk tough against members who flirt with the coalition platform, the party cannot disregard the outrage arising from its disregard to internal rules. That was what triggered the conflict that has continued to tear the party apart. The party has repeatedly failed in adhering to its internal rules as they affect the filling of vacancies in the National Working Committee (NWC) of the party. For instance, the provisions of the party’s constitution are precise on ‘micro zoning,’ but they are routinely abused. The PDP will need to reinvent itself to be relevant again.

 At the ‘PDP Founding Fathers’ National Restoration Conference’ in Abuja on Wednesday, a former Minister of Information, Jerry Gana lamented the inability of the party to play a serious opposition role. “Nigerians are facing unprecedented levels of poverty, insecurity, and hopelessness. The APC promised change but delivered only chains; chains of hardship, poverty, and despair,” Gana said while urging the party’s National Executive Committee (NEC) to organise an inclusive and transparent National Convention to elect a new NWC, made up of credible, loyal, and competent individuals. His admonition was echoed by many others at the session. But the PDP must do more than the current talk shops.

At a period when Nigerians desire a responsible and virile opposition that can articulate alternative policies, the PDP has failed to rise to the occasion. First, an opposition party needs internal credibility and adherence to due process to hold those in power to account. Second, truly great parties become organic entities because of certain values by which their leaders and followers could be held accountable. Third, a political party nomination process does not have to be a bazaar where votes are traded. These are some of the challenges that have dogged the PDP since inception.

Unfortunately, the other parties face similar issues. The leaders of these parties and the countries in which they hold sway are furnished by the history of adherence to party and nation. A situation such as we have in Nigeria where parties come into existence or die off depending on their electoral advantages can hardly contribute to national development. Nor can such seasonal parties that come alive only on the eve of elections become instruments of national stability let alone tolerable governance.