From Ndubuisi Orji, Abuja
For the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) National Working Committee, the last few weeks, is perhaps the most challenging since their election as managers of the opposition party in 2018.
The PDP leadership assumed office after a bitter tussle for the soul of the party, with a promise to avoid the pitfalls of the past, do things differently and restore the lost glory of the party.
The NWC had led the PDP to 2019 general elections, where it won a total of 16 governorship seats, including Oyo, Bauchi and Adamawa states, which were hitherto controlled by the All Progressives Congress (APC) prior to the last general elections. Before the election, the PDP was in control of 12 states.
For followers of events, the opposition party also recorded an improved performance in the National Assembly elections in 2019.
However, recent events appear to rubbish the achievements of the PDP since the emergence of the current NWC led by Prince Uche Secondus. The committee has been particularly on the spot following the defection of some members of the party, including governors and members of the National Assembly.
Last month, Zamfara State governor, Bello Matawalle formally defected to the All Progressives Congress ( APC). The defection of Matawalle brings to three the number of the governors that have dumped the opposition party in the last eight months.
Before him, Ebonyi State governor, Dave Umahi and his Cross River state governor, Ben Ayade had dumped the opposition party for the ruling party.
The defection of three governors has reduced the number of states controlled by the opposition party to 13. Also, the spate of defections have also reduced the number of PDP members in both Chambers of the National Assembly.
Among key members of the National Assembly, elected on the platform of the opposition party, who have defected to the APC, in the last two years, is former speaker of the House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara.
In the aftermath of the defections, the PDP leadership had come under criticism by some members of the party. Some PDP members apparently frustrated by the exit of the governors, laid the blame on the party’s leadership.
A member of the House of Representatives from Taraba State, Rimmande Shawulu, in an open letter to Secondus demanded for the resignation of the PDP NWC over the recent defections. Shawulu had noted that the defections were a cause for concern and that there was need for the NWC to throw in the towel in the interest of the party.
Nevertheless, analysts say the defection of the governors and members of the National Assembly has nothing to do with anything the Secondus-led NWC has done or failed to do.
PDP leaders say the defectors, contrary to the reasons they gave for their exit, left the opposition party to further their individual political nests.
For instance, in the wake of Dogara’s defection, the chairman of the PDP Board of Trustees (BoT), Senator Walid Jibrin, had said the former speaker left the APC because of his alleged 2023 ambition.
Jibrin had noted: “I am beginning to suspect that the former speaker has an underground motive for joining the APC. I begin to suspect that Mr Dogara has a plan of becoming President or Vice President in 2023 which he knows he will never achieve in the PDP.”
A member of the PDP Board of Trustees, Professor Sam Oyovbaire told Daily Sun in a recent interview that the reasons adduced by defecting governors to justify their defections were untenable.
Oyavbaire noted that the three governors betrayed the opposition party and the electorates by leaving with the mandates given to them on the party’s platform to the APC.
“For me, the only thing I can tell you about these defections is that it is a shame. You look at the reasons Ayade and Matawalle gave for leaving the party to join APC, one cannot help but laugh.
“As a student or scholar of the process, you will find it more convenient to describe them as jokers and opportunists in their respective government houses,” Oyobvaire stated.
Regardless, the PDP believes that the defections were orchestrated by the APC to weaken the opposition, ahead of the 2023 polls.
According to the PDP Governors Forum,
the Federal Government and the APC have allegedly been deploying threats, intimidation and “underhand tactics” to “force” opposition governors into the ruling party.
The forum in a statement noted that “all sorts of threats had been deployed by the … APC Caretaker /National Convention Planning Committee whose only job seem to be to just lure PDP Governors and other PDP Stakeholders…”
Amidst concerns, in certain quarters that the recent defections will affect the PDP adversely in the 2023 general elections, Secondus says despite the exit of some of its governors, the opposition party is poised to win the 2023 presidential poll.
The PDP national chairman, spoke at a press briefing, at the party’s National Secretariat, Abuja, in the aftermath of Matawalle’s defection.
According to him, while the government and APC are wooing governors elected on the platform of the PDP into its fold, the opposition party is concentrating on the electorate
“Let me also emphasize that APC governors and government of APC are overbearing on the system and moving to poach our governors and this to them is regarded as an achievement.
“They are going after our governors but we are going after the masses of this country. The governors have one vote. But we are after the people, the masses, the people who are suffering under this government.
“The masses are solidly behind us, the masses are for the PDP and we stand here to state clearly that we shall form this new government coming in 2023 because of the masses and not because of the governors, “ he stated.
Pundits say in the run-up to the 2023 general elections, there are two major tasks confronting the PDP. And these are effective management of issues surrounding the zoning of party and elective offices for the next general elections and the successful conduct of its electronic registration of members.
The party last week inaugurated its Electronic Registration. The committee, which is headed by the Edo State governor, Godwin Obaseki, is expected to commence the electronic registration of old and new members of the PDP from August 1.
Pundits say all eyes are on the NWC to see how it will handle the issue of zoning for the 2023 general elections.
The PDP Committee on the Review of the 2019 general elections, in his report had recommended that the 2023 presidential ticket of the opposition party should be thrown open to all eligible aspirants.
The chairman of the committee and governor of Bauchi State, Bala Mohammed had noted that “the exigencies of the moment demand that nothing should be compromised in choosing the leader, with the attributes to disentangle the country from the present quagmire.”
He added: “we think that every Nigerian, from every part of the country, should be given the opportunity to choose the best candidate, through a credible primary election as a way of institutionalising a merit-based leadership recruitment process, for the country.”
The PDP leadership in its reaction had promised to study the report on zoning and come up with a position, in consultation with the various organs of the party.
However, pundits say the PDP must handle the issue carefully in such a way that it will be a win-win for the six geo-political zones, especially as no zone is more important than the order. And no zone can produce a president of the country, without the support of other zones.
Consequently, the ability of the party to give a sense of belonging to all the six geo-political zones, and individual members to put the general good of the party above personal ambition would have great impact on fortunes of the party.
Moreover, analysts say the most crucial task ahead of the NWC and critical stakeholders in the PDP, ahead of the 2023 general elections is unity.
Pundits say for a party, desirous of winning the next general elections, its leaders must close ranks while no individual or group must be allowed to play god in its affairs.
For former Senate President, Bukola Saraki: “nothing is more important at this point than Nigeria and our party. And it is obvious that the success of the PDP today is the only hope that Nigeria needs to survive and bounce fully back…”
Saraki, who is the chairman of PDP Reconciliation and Strategy Committee, in an address recently, stated that members of his panel “subscribe to the fact that a united PDP is in the best interest of Nigeria.”
He said: “It is a necessity for mobilising the citizens of this country around the ideas of national unity, economic prosperity, healthy social relations, mutual respect, discipline and security of lives and properties.”
Analysts say unless PDP leaders unite, and avoid anything that will trigger crisis in the opposition party, at this critical time, their desire to regain control of the reins of government in the 2023 polls will be a mere day-dream.
This is the major challenge before the NWC and other leaders of the PDP, and their ability to surmount it, will have a great effect on the fortunes of the opposition party in 2023.