By Chukwudi Nweje and John Adams, Minna
Former Chairman of the Caretaker Committee of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Senator Ahmed Makarfi has said the South-west geo-political has not lost out in the party in spite of its inability to produce the national chairman.
“No part of this country should feel they have lost anything. If you don’t get one thing, you will get another thing. What we want is the government, because that is where every part of this country will be adequately accommodated,” Makarfi said.
Five candidates from the region had withdrawn from the race and adopted Tunde Adeniran as their consensus candidate. Adeniran later emerged second in the exercise with 231 votes behind Secondus who polled 2,000 votes.
Makarfi, however, identified failure to reach a compromise and agree on consensus candidate for the zone’s woes. He also said a “damaging campaign” engineered by an unnamed individual rubbed off negatively on the region.
“For the South-west, it was at the convention venue that they resolved on a consensus candidate. And even then, another candidate came to the state box and met the leaders and said, look, they never resolved, that he was still in the race. So, it was a total confusion,” he said.
“Somebody signs on behalf of other candidates and say, ‘we now have a consensus candidate and please support him’ and another went round and saying ‘no, we don’t have a consensus candidate.”
He, however, did not say who that individual was.
“The whole issue of the South-west was its inability to put itself in order in good time. And then allowing some characters that cannot stand up in terms of credibility to occupy the political and media landscape; all kinds of abuses,” Makarfi said.
Makarfi also denied allegation that the convention was marred by a ‘unity list’ insisting that, “nobody foisted anything like unity list on delegates. “Nobody had a list going to the polling unit. Every delegate had his ballot paper and at each polling unit, names of those standing for the election were there. And delegates look at that and made their choice.
“In politics, you also have consensus building. Even before the convention, you had geopolitical zones and states endorsing candidates. So, if a zone is endorsing a particular candidate, they must have consulted with their delegates.
“Before the convention, people were going round and campaigning and some states changing their mind. So, the issue of any particular list may be an issue of a state or zone who has come to a decision that this is where we were going.”
But two analysts, a lawyer and public affairs analyst, Daniel Bwala and a member of the PDP Reform Group, Ariyo Atoye disagreed.
They noted that while stakeholders in the party had the right to canvass for votes and lobby delegates, the list should not have been allowed into the convention venue. They also noted that PDP committed a grave error by giving the chairman to the South-south zone.
Both men spoke on a television interview programme.
Bwala noted that it would have been more strategic to give the chairmanship to the South-west to consolidate the PDP position in the zone.
“Because of so many things that has happened, especially in states controlled by the APC, where the governors have not done anything tangible, the PDP may be able to recover some states. But as far as the presidency is concerned, the PDP has missed the opportunity.
“The best that would have happened to the PDP was to elect a chairman from the South-west because the election would be decided largely by votes of the South-west. The PDP is strong in the South-south. The South-west is where the PDP lost ground and it is the bastion of strength of the APC. This (the convention) would have been an opportunity to push that agenda because most likely the presidential candidate of the party will choose his running mate from the South-east. For failing to choose a chairman from the South-west, I believe the 2019 presidential election is done and dusted. Atoye agreed that the party made a wrong calculation by not allowing the South-west to produce the national chairman.
“On May 21, 2016 at a meeting chaired by the chairman of the PDP Governors Forum, it was agreed that the South West should produce the chairman, that was when they did the micro-zoning. Now they have worked against it; it is going to be a tough one for the PDP. We are going to be in a fix in deciding who produces the vice presidential candidate between the South-east and the South-west. The South-east has been making sacrifices since 1999 voting for the PDP, yet no president or vice president position. It will only be fair to ensure they get the vice president slot this time around,” he said.
Notwistanding, the Niger State chapter described the election of Secondus as “the end of imposition and impunity in the party.”
Reacting to the array of criticisms that have trailed the outcome of the convention, the state chairman, Alhaji Tanko Beji argued that no matter what anybody said, “it is the beginning of a new down of the party.”
Beji in a statement he personally signed said he was confident that the national chairman “would bring about progress and unity for the party.”
Tanko Beji stated further that Secondus and other members of the National Working Committee should be assured of the support of the Niger State chapter of the party.
