As at 9 pm on Friday, less than 15 hours to the National Convention of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), nothing was sure. Not even the series of round-the-clock meetings clearly indicated the direction of the flow of events. Before then, high wire intrigues, controversies, betrayals and uncertainty were still the major highlights of the planned convention. Some aggrieved members of the party had gone to an Abuja High Court to ask it to stop the convention principally because it is said not to conform to the constitution of the party.

Three members, Alhaji Abdullahi Maibirgi; Chief Iroha C. Iroha and Hajia Ceceko Asmau Ahmed, had approached an Abuja High Court with a 38 statement of claims asking the court to stop the convention. The plaintiffs pointed out that the National Executive Committee (NEC) of the party was not the one calling for the convention but the National Central Working Committee (NCWC), an action they noted was against the provisions of the Constitution of the party.
Importantly, they are also contending that among other things, the amendment of the constitution that took place in December 2006 was not properly carried out.

The court, had on Wednesday, fixed Friday for determination of the matter. But by Friday morning, their counsel, Festus Keyamo had filed for a withdrwal of the case. The presiding judge, Ishaq Bello of the FCT High Court subseqeuntly struck out the ccase and awarded N10,000 cost against the petitioners.

But a chieftain of the party, Hon. Nze Duru, who was a two term member of the House of Representatives from Anambra State, told Sunday Sun that he did not see how the convention could be postponed because, as he put it, “you can hardly get such a judgment against a ruling party”.
With the coast clear, the major players merely intersified their intrigues to clinch the diadem.

High stakes
From the word go, signs that it would be a long drawn battle were all over the place. It had been unofficially dubbed ‘the mother of all conventions’. The reasons were clear. The stakes were high, very high. It was an opportunity to settle some personal scores, and therefore, it was to be a veritable ground to test the ‘Do or Die’ philosophy of some of its bigwigs.
At the very heart of the factors that determined the direction of events was the ground swell of opposition against the methods hitherto used in conducting the businesses of the party. Popular opinion within the party heavily tilted toward reforming, repositioning, refocusing and generally making the party a model of democratic ethos.

Some forces within the party teamed up to undo the iron grip of former President Olusegun Obasanjo on the party, perceived as undemocratic and dictatorial. Obasanjo was bent on continuing with the tradition and so made the perpetuation of his dynasty the sole objective behind all his moves.
He was said to be doing everything humanly possible to ensure that his preferred candidates got the two choice positions of the party chairman and secretary. While he was pushing the candidacy of former Ebonyi State Governor, Dr. Sam Egwu for chairman, he was doing same with Brig. Gen Tunde Ogbeha for National Secretary. But events in the last one week showed that Obasanjo’s avowed plan to ride rough shod over everybody and get his candidates in place had suffered a major set back.
He could not push too far with the plan to instal Ogbeha as the party’s next scribe. But he stuck to his choice of Egwu for chairman.

Search For A Neutral Man
By Friday night, the talk in town, less than 15 hours to the convention was the search for an individual who was to a very large extent, neutral and non-aligned. The two front runners in the race for the chairmanship, Egwu and former Senate President, Anyim Pius Anyim, locked in a fierce battle to clinch the top job, had left the party polarized along the lines of their sponsors and backers.
While it was known that Obasanjo was sponsoring Egwu, an array of other countless groups were said to be behind the candidacy of Anyim. The necessity to ensure that the party was not further polarized along that line informed the decision of the Governors of the PDP to intervene by shopping for a neutral candidate who would be a unifying force than continue to divide the house. Suddenly, the name of Prince Vincent Ogbulafor, former Secretary of the party come to the fore as a compromise candidate.

But then analysts said for the governors to keep their resolve to dump both Egwu and Anyim would be a difficult thing for the governors because some geo-political zones would not want to betray their allegiance to their mentors. The South West governors, for instance, have an attachment to Obasanjo which would be difficult to push aside. From the North, the governors’ alligiance could not be said to be for Obasanjo as far as helping him to ‘instal Egwu’ was concerned.

IMPLACABLE FOES
In no other business has the theory of ‘no permanent friends but permanent interests’ been more pronounced and practiced as in politics. It is a game full of intrigues and betrayal.
Many view the convention as an occasion to show might and influence. Since the party’s constitution was amended to give Obasanjo the office of the chairman of the Board of Trustees (BoT), it has pitched him against Anenih, the man known as ‘Mr. Fix It’ in Nigeria’s political circle.

While Obasanjo enjoys the allegiance of Ahmadu Ali, the chairman of the party, Anenih is said to have his band of supporters at the National Assembly and some influential northern politicians. Those from the north felt that Obasanjo should not have been made the BoT chairman given his propensity to always want to have his way. The anti- Obasanjo sentiment started even before he left office when he engineered the forceful exit of many a top norther politicians from the party.

Late last year, Ali and Obasanjo were shocked by the open rebellion displayed by members of the lower house acting under the aegis of the Integrity Group. While Obasanjo and Ali were drumming support for former Speaker Patricia Etteh, the young Turks in the House went ahead to make a fundamental statement that the days of ‘obey the last order’ were over.
And preparatory to the convention, each had reached deep down into his arsenal to fight the other.

LAST MINUTE GAME PLAN
The failure of a group to stop the convention dramatically uttered the game plan. The convention had been postponed twice. It was all in a bid to ensure the smooth sailing of a particular interest.
Part of the joker was to screen out formidable candidates and ensure that annointed ones were cleared. But the process ran into troubled water.
The intrigues involved came to the fore when correspondences exchanged between chairman of the Convention Electoral Panel, Adamu Ciroma and Ali were published in the press few days to the convention. While Ali insisted that the electoral panel could at best play an observer role, Ciroma argued that it is the responsibility of the panel to screen the candidates.

Observer said a lot of importance was attached to the screening process and the two men were from two different camps, hence the fight to ensure the protection of personal interests.
But the presidency stepped in and declared that screening should be down played and people who had emerged from their wards and zones be allowed to contest. President Yar’Adua also moved against the idea of a consensus candidate, insisting that votes be cast and a level playing field be allowed at all times.
This position certainly would be the last that would favour the Obasanjo camp considering the anti-Obasanjo sentiment overflowing in the party at the moment.

But he held tenanciously to his point that Egwu be the man. As the minutes ticked by, it became apparent that Anyim and Egwu’s irreconciliable differences would be their greatest undoing. It was gathered that Anyim power house, the National Assembly realised that even a block vote for him would not be enough to save him. Series of meetings were held at which our sources express their inability to confirm the direction of the flow of events. The governors forum could not agree and a division emerged among them. As a compromise decision, Ogbulafor featured again.

But a source said Egwu migh play the joker of insisting that an early agreement between him and Yar’Adua and Obasanjo be honoured. As a presidential aspirant, Egwu was aabout the first person to step down for Yar’Adua and subsequently worked for him. It was also gathered that it was unlikely that Yar’Adua would stand against the choice of Obasanjo. But as an alternative plan, the Obasanjo camp was said to have drafted Chief Bernard Ezeh from his hitherto obscurity to be another strong contender for the position of chairmanship.

CONSENSUS
A study of the intrigues in the PDP easily proved how dynamic politics can be in this clime. Of course, as the ruling party, and one touted to have the largest followership in black Africa, that was to be expected.
The build up to the national convention of the party followed the same pattern. It was a harvest of manoeuvres by the power brokers and political gladiators.
All along, one of the issues in contention was the adoption of certain candidates by consensus. The system appears to have become part of our democratic process.
Based on past experience, many believed that majority, if not all the party’s candidates would emerge by consensus arrangement. The first move in that direction was initiated by the South-East geo-political zone where the PDP zoned its chairmanship position.
At the meeting which held in Enugu, the South-East caucus could not agree on a candidate for the plum position because of obvious reasons.

While some favoured the candidature of Egwu, others routed for Anyim. There was an impasse and even the Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu, who anchored the meeting could not change the mindset of those who formed the caucus.
Sources revealed that the original plan was to adopt Egwu as a consensus candidate but when it failed, the caucus zoned the position to Ebonyi and Imo States.

LEVEL PLAYING FIELD
According to a chieftain of the party from Osun State, the clamour for a level playing field was to ensure that any plan for the ‘installation of a puppet was forestalled’.
He explained: “ The presidency and leadership of the party want a strict adherence to a level playing field and rancour free convention. With that you know who would emerge. The National Assembly is with Anyim, same with the Senate. The governors are divided because the northerner governors are for him while some of the south west governors are supporting Baba’s choice. I can tell you that the anti –Obbasanjo sentiment has never been so much in the party and I don’t see how his candidate can survive this one. Already the case of the National Secretary has shown clearly that those days of Baba want this Baba want that are over”.

Apart from this line of thought, there was a strong suggestion as at the time of writing that a dark horse from Abia State might be the beneficiary of the unresolved political acrimony among the two big sons of Ebonyi, thus making nonsense of the purported zoning to Imo and Ebonyi. But a chieftain of the party confided in Sunday Sun that all that was being said about consensus was a mere smokescreen to send many on a wide goose chase, saying authoritatively that no candidate would emerge through a consensus agreement.

He stated that the former president had completely perfected the emergence of Egwu and that the factor that will make it possible was the fact that he would be the one dealing with the governors as BoT chairman of the party, explaining that until has shown clearly that he was removed by whatever means, they must still pander to his whims.
Whatever has happened in the last 24 hours must have taken the form of ‘coup’ planning. The idea was that if it failed the planners would bear the brunt, perhaps for life. But if it succeeded, they would be heroes and tin gods in their own world.