By Ishaya Ibrahim (Lagos) and Onwukwe Ezeru (Umuahia)
Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) eggheads and moneybags are putting heads together to claw back integrity and public support to regain federal power, despite the split between the camps of Ali Modu Sheriff and Ahmed Makarfi.
Plan A. To pacify all the vested interests in the PDP to dig into the strongholds of the All Progressives Congress (APC).
Plan B. Those who defected to the APC may return to the PDP to jostle for the presidential slot zoned to the North in 2019.
However, the Sheriff faction insists that unless the PDP National Caretaker Committee led by Makarfi is dissolved, and the convention billed for Port Harcourt on August 17 is moved to Abuja, it would continue to throw a spanner in the works.
“Nothing has changed. And we are not changing our position,” Sheriff’s media aide, Inuwa Bwala told TheNiche.
When asked why his principal has refused to give up opposing the Makarfi committee, giving its popularity among PDP topnotch, he retorted: “Thank you for your opinion.”
Make or break national convention
Former Sokoto State Governor, Attahiru Bafarawa, told TheNiche in a telephone interview that the Port Harcourt convention would be a make or break for the PDP, and if it fails, the impact would be catastrophic for even the APC.
“The convention will decide whether there will be PDP or not. And if there is no PDP, there will certainly not be APC,” he warned.
Bafarawa declined to expatiate.
But sources said his comment may be tacitly referring to likely defections of APC chieftains to the PDP, especially those in the PDP bloc who have not really got accommodation in the APC, some of whom want to contest the 2019 presidential election.
Names like those of former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar; former Kano State Governor, Rabiu Kwankwaso; and Senate President, Bukola Saraki; have been bandied.
The source said for instance, Saraki has the muscle of moving Kwara with him if he chooses to rejoin the PDP, and Atiku could sway Adamawa and Kogi governors to join him.
The PDP has made an attractive offer to these presidential hopefuls by zoning its presidential slot to the North.
And with the APC establishment saying there is no vacancy in Aso Rock in 2019, the presidential hopefuls may become the ace if the PDP remains split.
“And when coming to the PDP, they will bring with them serving governors, reminiscent of the G5 defections of 2013 when five serving PDP governors joined the APC,” the source enthused.
Abia PDP split encourages Sheriff
Abia PDP has already shown the weak link in reconciling the PDP ahead of the national convention in Port Harcourt.
The state PDP chapter, which used to be very peaceful, has split into two with a faction pledging loyalty to the Sheriff camp.
The faction is led by some former members of Abia State House of
Assembly, including Chidi Nwosu, who represented
Umuahia South; Emeka Ejiogu who represented Umuahia North; and Emeka Osoagbaka, who represented Ikwuano.
On Thursday, July 21, Nwosu described the State PDP congress held on May 10, 2016 as a “sham” that should not be allowed to stand.
He said the powers and cabals in the last administration hijacked the congress and imposed their candidates, stressing that one family would no longer be allowed to hold the state to ransom.
“Yes we now have a parallel faction, the last congress was a sham, no election took place, what we saw is that some people in power hijacked the party leadership and imposed their candidates on us.
“We cannot continue like that where a family controls the affairs of the state,” Nwosu argued.
To drive home their stand, last week members of the faction visited Sheriff in Abuja and pledged their allegiance to his camp.
We’ll sanction Sheriff supporters, Abia PDP warns
But in a communique signed by 20 members including the state’s executive, Abia PDP condemned as illegal and unacceptable the action of Nwosu and his group.
“That their description of the democratically conducted state
congress of our party held on May 10 2016 as a ‘sham ‘ is an
utterance that depicts irresponsibility, disloyalty.
“And their illegal visit to the erstwhile National Chairman of the PDP, Ali Modu Sheriff, is a further display of indiscipline, gross misconduct and disloyalty of extreme order.
“That the party is united, intact, and has no division and that the
democratically elected officers as produced vie state congress of May 10, held by Johnson Onuigbo, remains the only authentic executive.”
The communique maintained that the executive is in compliance with the
national convention held on May 21, 2016 and has confidence in and
loyalty to the caretaker committee headed by Makarfi.
Edo, Ondo governorship polls not threatened
Bafarawa told TheNiche that the leadership tussle in the PDP is not a threat to the forthcoming governorship elections in Edo and Ondo.
Describing one as local and the other as national, he said the good thing is that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has recognised the leadership of Makarfi, which scuttles the thinking of the nay sayers.
“At the national level, every PDP chieftain knows who the INEC says is in charge and will not fail to support the candidate approved by the INEC,” Bafarawa said.
