When it mattered most, the Southeast delegates to the PDP presidential primaries, most of them puppets, pawns on the national political chessboard, and their puppeteers betrayed their own people.
By Ikechukwu Amaechi
It is no longer news that when Nigerians return to the polls in February 2023 to elect a president for their beleaguered country, former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar, will fly the flag of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
At the PDP presidential primaries held at the Moshood Abiola National Stadium, Abuja on Saturday, May 28, Atiku clinched the ticket with 371 votes. Nyesom Wike, Rivers State governor, polled 237 votes; Bukola Saraki, former Senate President, got 70 votes; Bala Mohammed, Bauchi State governor, garnered 20 votes; Udom Emmanuel, Akwa Ibom State governor secured 38 votes; Anyim Pius Anyim, former Senate President and Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), secured 14 votes; Mazi Sam Ohuabunwa, renowned pharmacist and boardroom impresario, and Olivia Diana Tariela, the only female presidential hopeful in the race, secured one vote each.
Interestingly, some aspirants – Ayo Fayose, former governor of Ekiti State; Dele Momodu, publisher of Ovation magazine; Charles Okwudili, a lawyer, and Chikwendu Kalu – secured zero votes.
Though 17 aspirants bought the nomination form after paying N40 million, two were screened out. Days before the primaries, Peter Obi, former governor of Anambra State, quit and pitched tent with the Labour Party, on which platform he is now pursuing his aspiration. Mohammed Hayatu-deen, a banker and former managing director of the now-defunct FSB International Bank, also withdrew from the race before the commencement of the exercise, alleging that the contest had been “obscenely monetised.” But unlike Obi, he stayed back in the party despite his misgivings.
The political intrigues came to a head when Aminu Tambuwal, former Speaker of the House of Representatives and incumbent Sokoto State governor, who had already made his five-minute pitch to the delegates on why Nigerians should trust him with their most-prized political diadem, was drafted back to the podium, just before voting began, to recant, literally, and urge his supporters to vote for Atiku Abubakar.
That dramatic volte-face set the tone for the outcome of the presidential primaries and delivered victory to Atiku. On Wednesday, the former Vice President went to the Wadata Plaza, PDP national headquarters, to collect the Certificate of Return as the party’s presidential candidate in what he described as “a significant step towards creating One Nigeria.”
Atiku, who was also the PDP presidential candidate in 2019 will now slug it out with Obi, his running-mate four years ago; Senator Rabi’u Kwankwaso, former Governor of Kano State and presidential candidate of the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP), and whoever President Muhammdu Buhari, who has arrogated to himself the power of solely determining the All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate, conjures up, among others.
But the PDP presidential primaries, as successful as it seems to be, has brought many issues to the fore.
The fact that the North brazenly made a mess of the party’s zoning arrangement and muscled out the South is a recipe for disunity, which negates Atiku’s preachments. It is sad that cries for equity, fairness and justice fell on deaf ears and might was whimsically equated to right. Today, the triumphant North is ululating and the leaders are backslapping themselves for a job well done, but it may well be a Pyrrhic victory.
Right now, the presidential candidate of the PDP, the national chairman, Dr. Iyorchia Ayu, and chairman of the Board of Trustees, Senator Walid Jibrin, are all Northerners. No political party interested in national unity in a country as diverse as Nigeria with a multiplicity of ethnicities, languages and religions can survive for long without inclusiveness.
By hubristically throwing zoning overboard in such cavalier, in-your-face manner, the North only succeeded in fanning the smouldering embers of national discord.
But to discerning political observers, the worst outcome of the PDP primaries is the abundant evidence it provided that nothing has changed and nothing will change even when Buhari leaves the stage. We all know that Nigeria is in a deep hole. Pulling it out requires grit – bold, calculated and strategic initiatives – something transformational and radically different from the status-quo. Nothing shows we are headed in that direction.
As philosophers say, insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result. The PDP last Saturday did what they are wont to do. Expecting that Nigeria will move in a different direction even if Atiku wins the 2023 election will be stretching the limits of optimism.
In his congratulatory message to the PDP presidential flag-bearer on Sunday, Anyim aptly captured the dampened mood of majority of Nigerians who had hoped that 2023 will present an opportunity for a new beginning. “I am shocked that consideration for voting the PDP presidential candidate was not based on burning national issues and how to resolve them, but still on the old primordial sentiments. It appears doubtful if our search for nationhood is yielding any results,” the former SGF wrote.
In the PDP presidential primaries, the sole determinant of success was money – hard currency. The number of votes each aspirant polled was commensurate to the quantum of financial inducement dispensed during the primary season in what has been tagged “Dollargate scandal.” Nigerians have every reason to mourn.
But I weep more for Ndigbo. Their leaders betrayed them and sold the entire Igbo nation two for a penny. These are a people who have made a sing-song of marginalisation. For atonement, they demanded, justifiably, that the presidency be zoned to the Southeast. Their clamour for equity, fairness and justice resonated so loudly that leaders of other ethnic nationalities became cheerleaders.
Chief Ayo Adebanjo, 94-year-old Afenifere leader and 95-year-old Chief Edwin Clark, former Federal Commissioner for Information and leader of Pan Niger Delta Forum (PANDEF), climbed the rooftops to make their voices heard. The Middle Belt leadership was not left out.
But when it mattered most, the Southeast delegates to the PDP presidential primaries, most of them puppets, pawns on the national political chessboard, and their puppeteers betrayed their own people. Of the 95 delegates from the zone, only 15 voted for Southeast aspirants – Anyim (14), Ohuabunwa (1); the remaining 80 votes were shared between Wike and Tambuwal.
The governor of Abia State, Okezie Ikpeazu, and his Enugu colleague, Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi, ensured that delegates from their states voted for Wike. Former Imo State governor, Emeka Ihedioha, ensured that Imo delegates voted for his friend, Tambuwal, who in turn handed over the votes to Atiku. I wonder if Tambuwal got the permission of those who handed over to him the votes of Imo people on a platter of friendship before pledging same to Atiku. For Tambuwal, when it mattered most, ethnic solidarity and regional interest trumped friendship. Sadly, these Southeast delegates, one per local government, ought to have represented the people. It was a sacred mandate. Yet, they toyed with the votes and desecrated the mandate.
The ‘de’ in the word delegate comes from the Latin prefix meaning “away from oneself,” which serves to emphasise the ambassadorial nature of the noun’s meaning, legate, which is a person who is the official representative of another person.
Simply put, a delegate is a person sent or authorised to represent others, in particular an elected representative sent to a conference. So, they did not go to Abuja on their own. They went as representatives of their people. And in casting their ballot, the utmost consideration should have been the aspirant who will best serve the interest of the people.
I dare say that neither Atiku nor Wike will serve the best interest of the Southeast. So, why did our delegates capriciously trade away our interest?
In trying to rationalise their delinquency, I have heard some people say that with only 95 delegates in a convention with 767 delegates where the Northwest alone had 182, the Southeast stood no chance. That is true. The under-representation of the zone in all facets of national life because of the terribly skewed number of states and local governments and the deliberate manipulation of census figures over the years, eloquently speaks to the vexing issue of marginalisation, which the rest of the country has refused to address.
Yet, a strong statement would have been made if the Southeast delegates had voted en bloc for an aspirant from the zone. If that had been the case, friends of the zone would be standing on a moral high ground lending their support. Doing so after what happened in Abuja at the PDP presidential primaries will be tantamount to crying more than the bereaved.
Can anyone take any Southeasterner who comes out tomorrow to shout about marginalization serious? I doubt!
Indeed, ihe n’eme anyi si anyi n’aka (we are the architects of own misfortune).