In this report Chibuzo Ukaibe, chronicles the intrigues leading to the emergence of PDP’s new chairman and the challenges ahead
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) often prides itself in its ability to conjure shock and awe. And so when it finally found the much elusive replacement for Adamu Mu’azu, it’s immediate past national chairman who bowed out unceremoniously last May, it evoked reactions of utter bewilderment.
Even for its members, the emergence of former governor of Borno State and former chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Sen. Ali Modu Sheriff, as National Chairman, took them by surprise, throwing the party into a fresh disarray.
After a long and rancorous search for a substantive chairman from the North-east zone to fill their slot as provided by the party, governors of the party, spearheaded by that of Ekiti, Ayo Fayose, championed the emergence of Sheriff.
Interestingly, Sheriff was never in contention for the position as at when the national caucus met on Monday ahead of the NEC meeting. However, the first official mention of his name emerged when at the meeting, the National Publicity Secretary of PDP, Chief Olisa Metuh, disclosed to newsmen, that Sheriff, Nuhu Ribadu and Hon. Muhammed Wakil have all been invited to appear before the caucus for screening.
At the time, four party members from the North-east, namely Amb. Wilberforce Juta, Sen. Saidu Kumo, Sen. Girgiri Lawan, Shehu Gabam and Abba Gana had been screened by the Caucus.
By 3pm on Tuesday, the party’s national secretariat, venue of the NEC meeting was charged. At a point it seemed like the party would implode in the process of trying to arrive at the controversial former governor who eventually got the position.
Some Board of Trustees (BoT) members of the party rejected Sheriff and stormed out of a meeting which deliberated over his nomination. They protested the negative image he would have on the party. Party chairmen in the state were also split over the choice of the former Borno State governor.
There protests, however, could not stop his emergence at the NEC where 60 out of 71 voting members present voted in his favour.
Hence he was ratified national chairman by the party’s NEC, the second highest decision-making body of the party after the national convention. While dissenting members had their say, the powerful governors had their way.
By implication, Sheriff’s nomination was endorsed by the National Caucus, a body with membership drawn from the forum of PDP governors, members of the National Assembly, BoT and National Working Committee of the party.
The man Sheriff
Sheriff was former chairman of the BoT of the defunct ANPP and was instrumental to the merger process of the All Progressives Congress (APC). He joined the PDP in 2014 after he fell out with the leadership of the newly formed APC.
Sheriff left APC when he lost out at the party’s national convention. His group alleged that the current Chairman, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun was imposed on them by former governor of Lagos State and a national leader of APC Bola Tinubu. Sherriff’s candidate Tom Ikimi, was schemed out of the contest.
The former Borno State governor has engaged Tinubu in a shouting match at a previous meeting, which climaxed the tussle for the soul of APC going into the 2015 presidential election. He also lost his bid to upstage the party and his protege and governor of Borno State, Kashim Shettima.
Although Sheriff lost out in that tussle, he has an impressive resume of political conquests spanning the Third Republic to date. Defeating the wife of the National Chairman of defunct Social Democratic Party (SDP), Dr. Babagana Kingibe, Kolo Kingibe, as a National Republican Congress (NRC) senatorial candidate, launched him into national limelight. That senatorial victory in Borno Central started his foray into the legislature.
He went on to become a political godfather of sorts, installing governors and occupying the position as well. His ability to fight tough political battles have never been in doubt for many analysts.
What’s more, he has always been drawn to opposition politics, sticking with the defunct APP through its transformation into ANPP and then APC.
The acceptance crisis and issues within
Sheriff is expected to complete the tenure of the North-east, which was vacated by Dr. Adamu Mu’azu in May 2015. But the rejection to his emergence continues to intensify by the day.
Appeals by the governors to party members to support the new chairman seems to be fueling the opposition to Sheriff. For them, their former colleague governor, has intricate knowledge of the APC, required experience in party politics and clout to lead the opposition at this time.
Besides some aggrieved BoT members, former ministers and aides of former president Goodluck Jonathan have rejected Sheriff.
While Jonathan’s campaign spokesman, Femi Fani-Kayode, says the party needs prayers, Jonathan’s former aide on public affairs, Doyin Okupe, said, “if it is the divine will of God that our present masters must kill PDP, then by the Grace of God, we shall yet tarry at the graveside to bid it farewell.”
It was gathered that aggrieved members of the party in the National Assembly are threatening to leave the party in protest.
The protest against Sheriff comes in the face of the perception challenge the party battles. Although he has not been indicted for sponsorship of the Boko Haram sect, like some analysts opined, he gets frequently mentioned whenever the history of the sect is discussed.
Stephen Davis, a negotiator recruited over the release of the Chibok girls made the first mention of Sheriff as a sponsor of the sect, but there has not been any evidence to link Sheriff with the sect yet.
Nevertheless, it was under his watch as governor that the sect metamorphosed into what it has become, analysts opine.
But there is also the old protest against overbearing influence of the governors, especially from members of the National Assembly, who felt they ought to be given more respect in decision making in the party.
While the PDP NWC and the governors have also dared anybody with evidence suggesting he supports the sect to come forward or forever shut up, they have also cautioned against defection.
They believe the narrative over his involvement with the Boko Haram sect was created by the opposition to smear him, knowing how much of a threat he posed to them.
But reports that Jonathan has also bought into Sheriff’s chairmanship, has sparked more angst within the party, even though it remains hazy how much influence the former president brings to bear in the party since he lost the presidential election last year.
A BoT member of the party, Chief Bode George, in trying to smooth frayed nerves said, “We should bear in mind is that he (Sheriff) is only a transitional chairman.
“He’s there to fill the remainder of the tenure of our former chairman, Alhaji Adamu Mu’azu. He would be the chairman for three to four months.
“We have the fathers of the PDP in the North-East. We can’t afford to let them go. We will appeal to them. They shouldn’t wreck the house they built. We don’t want them to leave the house they built to become tenants in another party,” he added.
Sheriff, during an inaugural address acknowledged the dissenting voices over his emergence, pleaded for cooperation, promising that he would not “witch hunt anybody or leave anyone alone”.
Vowing to rebuild the party, he admitted that the task ahead of the party is very challenging, assuring members “that the choice made today will not be regretted.”
“I ask everybody for prayers, whatever your feelings, let\s work together, I will carry everybody along.”
Indeed, there is a big task ahead for the new chairman. He takes over the reins of control at a time the party faces serious perception crisis. The Dasukigate scandal, which has many of the members facing charges in court, hasn’t helped the party much. What’s more, he has to see wether he can build the party back within the timeline he has to work.
Already the former acting chairman, Secondus had initiated some reforms towards the party’s resurgence, including returning the zoning formula, e-registration, adoption of direct primaries as against delegate system, amendment of the constitution to, as he said, make the party more women- and youth-friendly.
But would this be enough to rally dissenting voices within the party, who still blame the current NWC for its failure at the last general elections?
How will he deal with the overbearing influence of the governors which has mostly been responsible for the sack of previous national chairmen of the party?
Certainly, whatever political capital the new chairman has might come to bear. But that would be dependent on how much time he has to preside over the party before he leaves office.
The opposition and 2019
Barely minutes after his inauguration, Sheriff boasted that PDP still has the structure and remains focused to regain power in 2019. He stressed that by “2019, PDP will return to power and keep it forever. We will come here to celebrate by 2019. We will rule from federal center.”
He repeated the same boast in Umuahia, the Abia State capital during the thanksgiving celebration of Governor Okezie Ikpeazu barely 24 hours later.
Clearly, Sheriff should have better knowledge of the workings of the APC, having contributed to its birth. And with his wealth of experience in opposition politics over the years, it would stand to reason that his boast might not just be empty.
But the Kano State Governor Abdullahi Umar Ganduje, the National Chairman of PDP Ali Modu Sheriff, will work for the APC going by his “antecedents”.
Ganduje, while dismissing the threat by Sheriff in Abia Saturay that the PDP will regain control of Aso Rock in 2019 said, “I do not wish to engage in crossfire. But I believe it is an empty threat. Looking at the antecedents, the history of the chairman himself, we all know he is a cross-carpeter. He is always on the move, changing from one party to the other.
“Even when he was in the All Nigerian Peoples Party (ANPP) for eight years, he was working for the PDP. Even the APC started with him, and then he went back to the PDP and we were happy. I am sure in the long run, he would work for us. That is what I believe. We are happy because we believe in the long run, he would work for us. Find out his history, you will believe me.”
The governing APC, however, thinks Sheriff’s boast laughable. A statement by the National Secretary of APC, Mai Mala Buni, said, “Nigerians are aware that the current economic hardship and institutional rot caused by the PDP’s 16-year misrule and pillage.”
He added that President Muhammadu Buhari has been working assiduously to correct the PDP’s years of damage and bring about people-centric governance.
“It is baffling how the PDP expects Nigerians to abandon APC’s smooth sailing ship for a sinking and rudderless PDP ship, come 2019.
“Happily, Nigerians can look back, with relief and attest that since the APC-led administration took over governance, Nigeria is back on the right track – economically and security-wise – and has taken its right of place among the comity of progressive nations.
“The full implementation of the Treasury Single Account (TSA) by the present administration has greatly plugged revenue leakages. The presidential directive to the Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency (PPPRA) to adjust its pricing template to reflect competitive and market driven components has resulted in a more efficient and realistic pricing system for petroleum products and also brought about constant availability of fuel nationwide.
“Nigeria is winning the war against insurgency. In spite of desperate attempts to discredit ongoing anti-corruption efforts, the war against graft is being won.
“In reiterating the recent submission of the APC National Chairman, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun, for the first time in many years, Nigeria now has a solidly positive international image and the President is trying to cash in on this image to help rescue our nation from the throes, the economic morass which the PDP’s 16-year misrule has plunged Nigeria.”
However, for most analysts, the task before Sheriff would be to gain measurable acceptance within his party, rebuild the image of his party and position it as the flagship of the opposition. Regaining power in 2019 would be the decision of Nigerians.
-Leadership
