Because PDP Lacks a Tony Anenih Today

By Okey Ikechukwu

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has floundered piteously for ten years now. The epidemic of little men with big egos has been its bane. The triumphalism of never-do-wells who are propped up by half-baked conspiracies and financial subterfuge has made it a progressively inconsequential platform; especially since the exit of men and women of stature. The party now mostly belongs to individuals who lack the personal gravitas, presence, understanding of issues, commitment to party discipline and wide contacts that would make them major custodians of group cohesion.

There was once a Tony Anenih, among a few others of similar standing in the party.  He was a man of outstanding networking capacity. Leadership, group management and sound political experience were some of his strongest points. His life-long exposure to human affairs and deep knowledge of the country, with relationships that spanned geographical, religious and other boundaries, gave him great advantages when and where it mattered. His capacity for strategic engagement, especially from the angle of power politics, as distinct from being in political office, gave him an aura that was peculiarly his own.

He was the man to be consulted on very fundamental issues, of both political office and the power equation. His residence hosted strategic meetings which many heads of state would have loved to call their own. This former Chairman of the PDP’s Board of  Trustees was one of the most influential Custodians of leadership authority and his life and decades of towering political presence in the country is captured  “My Life and Nigerian politics”, his autobiography.  

 At the time of Anenih’s declaration of withdrawal from politics the former President Goodluck Jonathan publicly urged him to reconsider his decision. Jonathan said, then, that though it may not be easy for him to always be available during the midnight meetings and other party engagements because of age, he should leave his doors open to all, particularly PDP members, for consultations. And Jonathan was not alone in this call.

Why? What did Anenih do for the party as member and leader? How did he fair with other similarly powerful leaders of the party? Would the PDP be where it is today if it still had men like Anenih, or individuals who can play the various roles he played for the party when it really mattered? Just look at the PDP today.

It is neither an opposition party nor a strategic contender in the national political power equation. I once accused the PDP of “rumour mongering”. This was in an article which appeared on this page on August 7, 2020, titled “PDP and Rumour Mongering”, wherein I stated as follows:

“To call the PDP an opposition party, or to tag it the major opposition party in Nigeria today, is to take one “necessary” condition for real opposition party politics for a “sufficient” condition that qualifies a party for that appellation. Just as there are necessary and sufficient conditions for any creature to be called a python, or an eagle, there are also necessary and sufficient conditions for serious opposition politics. Chief Obafemi Awolowo, among others, met the necessary and sufficient conditions in this regard, because he had both an ideological distinctness and an engagement strategy that stood out in bold relief. The PDP has none of the above at the moment. It also does not seem to be working towards transmuting into an intelligent opposition that can take over power and offer better leadership. It is not a coherent and articulate opposition by any stretch of the imagination today”.

The article continued with this question: “Can we say in all good conscience that the PDP has a genuinely respected Council of Elders that can call anyone to order today?”

That was five years ago, less than ten years after the party was clobbered and shaken out of office and power by the APC. The PDP now has no Inner Chamber of ultimate summons, presided over by an Enforcer who could call anyone with mischievous ideas or aspirations to ask him these simple but largely unanswerable questions in the realm of politics: (1) What is wrong with you? (2) What do you think you are doing?

As simple as they sound, I cannot think of how many politicians then and now could have stood before Anenih to answer these questions looking him in the eye. It was Anenih who, during the Second Republic, chaired the initially questionable and relatively unpopular National Party of Nigeria (NPN) in the old Bendel State and transformed it into the incredibly popular party with which he defeated the no less popular Governor Professor Ambrose Alli at the time.

His role and impact were obvious in the building of what turned out at the time to be Nigeria’s first people-owned and real national party, the Social Democratic Party (SDP). Consider how he deftly facilitated the political fortunes of his friend, whom he literally took by the hand and sold him across the nation as the SDP presidential flag bearer.

Today, there is no one in the PDP who can hold the party together and help it keep whatever is left of its wretched image, not to talk of conquering new grounds.  Tony Anenih’s smooth, noiseless, well-thought-out and strategic interventions, which gave him a staying power that very few politicians have ever commanded in our national history are missing in the PDP. Under him, the PDP was both an election-winning machine and a widely dominant political party.

The PDP must either find someone with Anenih’s consultative skills, basic everyday sagacity, and reputation as a bridge builder or continue its present ignominious slide to oblivion. The Nigerian political space today does not feel the presence, or impact of the PDP. It is noted for quarrels, such that no one can say for sure who its principal officers are.

Anenih helped to quell the somewhat over-ambitious aspirations of former Vice President Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, who wanted to unseat his principal, Olusegun Obasanjo. Truth be told, not many in this country can speak of wielding the type of influence he wielded without holding public office. In about four decades, his influence has produced Dr Samuel Osaigbovo Ogbemudia (the old Bendel State), Chief John Odigie-Oyegun, Chief Lucky Igbinedion and Professor Oserheimen Osunbor as Governor in his native Edo; he has also recommended many across the country for ministerial and other appointments. We say nothing about Senators, members of the Houses of Assembly and representatives since 1999.

Today, the PDP is not even and intelligent opposition party.

As was said on this page, on May 10, 2025, “…we must make a distinction between a set of angry people, all of them convinced that a lot is wrong with the country, and an organized political opposition with demonstrated capacity for effective interventions in the political space. An opposition party must first keep its house in order, and this is something the PDP is not doing. A serious opposition party should also be in control of its own gates and determine the Rules of Engagement for all movements into and out of its premises. The party is remiss in that regard, and has been for a long time now”.

The article continued: “The party recently complained of being destabilized from outside by the APC and its agents, implying and proclaiming to the world that it lacked internal cohesion and has limited capacity for serious political strategizing. It cannot sack, reign in, or manage Nwesom Wike. It also cannot now have a credible NEC meeting anymore, or issue a clear resolution on any issue; including whether it should meet or not. And its members are fleeing the fold in droves”.

The PDP is currently not walking, or working, towards transmuting into an intelligent opposition that can take power and offering better leadership. It is not a coherent and articulate organization anymore. It is performing disastrously as an informed, organized, focused and articulate opposition that is an essential component of the modern democratic enterprise.

It is not the strong opposition needed to keep a sitting government on its toes, and keep everyone focused on what could be done better or at least what could be done differently. Its alleged opposition leaders recently called on the National Assembly to oppose President Bola Tinubu’s declaration of a state of emergency in Rivers State. There were no quiet strategy sessions with their lawmakers or members of their parties across the nation before and after the media outing. Worse still, their elected members later sat through the proceedings and made no objections as State of Emergency went unchallenged in the National Assembly.

When Alhaji Atiku Abubakar spoke on behalf of the opposition leaders at a press conference at the Yar’Adua Centre in Abuja, he called on Nigerians to resist and urged the judiciary to strike out the President’s declaration of a State of Emergency in Rivers State. He was speaking on behalf of several party leaders, including those of questionable political address and ideological coloration. He also said: “We strongly condemn this development and call on all Nigerians of good conscience to resist this brazen assault on the constitution of our country and the institutions of our democracy. We call on patriotic Senators and Representatives to vote against this illegal action when it comes before them for approval”.

Would this be the trajectory of the conversation if a man like Tony Anenih was here? I think not. The party has too many hot house plants today. They are called party stalwarts, but would have been more of easily discountenanced warts in the party fold than stalwarts. The looming danger is that the party may end up with no candidates for the coming elections, if it does not quickly pull itself together and tell Nigerians whether it has any party officials and who they are.

Partly, or largely, because it lacks “An instrument of phenomenal political value” for ringing the bell for the gathering of wits, and for broad-based strategic political engagement.