A FIGHT FOR THE SOUL OF THE PDP
Dele Olowu writes that the PDP zoning disposition for party offices is producing massive anxieties
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) which once flaunted itself as the largest party in Africa has been out of Presidential power for six years now. As it controls 13 states it cannot be considered to have been in the wilderness. Surely it has been provided with adequate political oxygen over time and since it continues to count on titans like Atiku Abubakar and Dr Bukola Saraki it should look up to the future with hope and courage.
It is suggested these days that even though the party was much vilified for dismaying indiscretions at a time, the tide of public opinion has turned in its favour and the PDP may now be in a fit fighting mood. However, having managed to roll with the punches during its stretch of adversity, it now seems much less capable in exploiting its era of acceptance to optimum advantage.
They have been reports of growing tension and disagreements within the entity. Perhaps the loudest voice in all this clamour has been that of Nyesom Wike, Governor of Rivers State. Well served by the generous oil receipts the state enjoys, Nyesom Wike has become the new Czar of the opposition party. Apocryphals insist that Wike is as much a danger to the All Progressives Congress (APC) as he is to his own PDP. The floor of his jurisdiction is littered with the political blood of those who tested his will. Secondus, once Wike’s friend is a noted example. Chairman Secondus of the PDP now stands on uneasy legs for standing up to the Port Harcourt Czar. Some have argued that some unpublished ambition is at the base of all this tremor. The evidence is beginning to show.
In Nigeria, because of our ill-managed plurality, various parts of our political community tend to complain every now and again about marginalization or non-inclusion. Some groups also fear that because of their smallness they needed special protection. The zoning principle was a response to these anxieties and became fashionable under President Shehu Shagari and Vice President Alex Ekwueme but fell into official infamy when General Muhammadu Buhari ended the democracy honey moon on the 31st of December 1983. It remained that way until the Olusegun Obasanjo years when it enjoyed a resurgence. In fact the PDP enshrined it in its constitution to regulate the distribution of party offices. Article 7.2 of the party constitution states that in pursuance of equity, justice, and fairness the party should adhere to the policy of zoning and rotation of party and public executive offices.
The PDP recently unfurled its zoning disposition for party offices and it is already producing massive anxieties. The Chairman of the PDP zoning Committee and Governor of Enugu State, Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi said that offices occupied by Southerners would be taken over by northerners and vice versa. Under this regime the north provides the national treasurer, the national woman leader, national organizing secretary, national legal adviser and national youth leader while the south will provide the national secretary, national publicity secretary, national financial secretary, national auditor and national woman leader.
The committee in making zoning announcement said it would have no bearing on electing nominees for executive offices. This has not been able to entirely calm frayed nerves. Some have alleged that zoning initiative has been weaponized for use against the political interest of some unnamed political heavyweight. A highly polemical pamphlet being distributed by the Arewa Defence League fronted by Alhaji Abubakar has been more vivid. It says the PDP has been hostile to the north, alleging that of the 16 years in which the PDP has been in power at the center, the north’s incumbency was for only two years. The south had 14 years. The pamphlet urges that for a region which produced preponderant electoral support for the PDP, this recompense was disrespectful.
Increasingly voices and clamour are coming from different parts of the PDP political sky. Wike’s growls are continuing while Governor Tambuwal continues to oil his electoral machinery. Atiku Abubakar, a veteran of many campaigns and by far the most visible political product on that side of the divide, is reported to be under the pressure of people and the burden of history to join the contest. In which case, the zoning protocol would merely have provided the mood music for the fight for the soul of the PDP.
Olowu is a veteran journalist
