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Waiting for PDP Code of
Conduct
Snr. Staff Writer KALU
OKWARA says that the planned code of conduct by the ruling PDP,will to a
large extent, decide the shape and direction of the 2007 election.
ALTHOUGH
the commencement of the zonal tour of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP)
conceived by its Chairman Board of Trustees (BOT), Chief Tony Anenih, was
characterised by suspicion and conflict, the import of the exercise is becoming
clearer with each passing day. Beyond the fear of usurpation of duties as the
National Central Working Committee (NWC) of party initially alleged, the zonal
tour has proved to be an invaluable contact-point between the people and their
leaders.
This is evident in the type of
discussions that have transpired in all the zones so far visited. It is against
this backdrop that the party’s insistence on discipline will be appreciated,
especially the revelation by Chief Audu Ogbeh, its National Chairman, that they
would soon evolve a code of conduct to regulate the activities of elective
political aspirants under the platform of the PDP.
Unlike the Shakespearean Macbeth
who got emboldened in his kingship ambition after extracting what he believed
was a confirmation of the reality of his aspiration from the weird sisters, whom
he challenged to "look into the seeds of time" and tell him the
practicability of his ambition, Chief Ogbeh’s anxiety at the moment, is not
the emboldened vaulting ambition of elective political office seekers in their
party but the methodology they have adopted in going about it.
With his prism primed into the
future, the PDP National chairman used the opportunity of the zonal tour of
North Central, to warn ahead of 2007 that: "We are going to witness fast
driving on the political highway, emergency lane crossing, causing severe
accidents and deaths.
"We are going to witness
uncontrollable and over-bolting application of methods that are less than
orthodox and certainly grass unethical."
Conscious of the bloodletting
path, which the 2007 presidential election is likely going to assume, going by
current spate of rancour, scheming, backstabbing and wheel-dealing, the PDP
National Chairman last week at Nasarawa revealed that their party was tinkering
on a code of code for all elective office aspirants, especially, presidential
aspirants to forestall the doomsday. He insisted that when such rules come into
effect, all aspirants must shape in or ship out.
Giving an insight into the
expected code of conduct, Chief Ogbeh said they would place restrictions on
campaigns, which he complained was rather too early, stressing that those found
to be contravening the code would be suspended or denied the right to run on the
PDP platform.
He told those interested in
running to be wary, explaining that eventhough there was no harm in having
ambition, but that "we must watch ourselves and not become willing
accomplices in evil happenings.
"We must avoid deliberate
involvement in mischief for the sake of achieving an objective, and we must
remember as religious as we are or claim to be, no matter how great our ambition
is, only God will give to whoever he wishes, power and authority. No matter how
we boast, none of us can boast that we have our destiny in our hand."
He noted that since election
involves governance, those elected after every election should first and
foremost engage themselves in governance in order to justify their mandate
before clamouring for another election.
Political analysts contend that
his warning may not be out of place, considering the hype in the presidential
campaigns of the trio-Vice President Atiku Abubakar, General Ibrahim Babangida
and Brig. General Mohammed Marwa, even when none of them has directly claimed
responsibility for such campaigns.
Last week, President Olusegun
Obasanjo had cause to direct all aides attached to the Presidency to desist from
further comments, including campaigns in connection with the 2007 general
elections. The directive did not come as a surprise to many. Last year, visibly
worried by the subtle flag off of presidential campaigns by numerous groups,
purportedly promoting the presidential ambition of the vice president, President
Obasanjo in discountenancing the campaign warned that it was too early to dream
of such a thing.
Although some public affairs’
analysts accuse the president of setting the precedent since he did not dissuade
Chief Anenih, then Minister of Works, from flagging off his re-election campaign
barely six months into his first tenure, many Nigerians attribute the high level
of violence that characterised the 2003 general elections to either the absence
of clearly defined electoral rules or the inability of the political system to
effectively regulate the activities of the politicians.
Perhaps, it is for these reasons
that Chief Ebenezer Babatope, a chieftain of the PDP, has thrown his weight
behind Chief Ogbeh’s expected code of conduct. Speaking to Sunday Champion on
telephone, he said without such rules and regulations, there would be chaos
before 2007.
"Aspirants," he said,
"should not make hasty statements to the press concerning their ambition
until the appropriate time; otherwise the party will wield the big stick against
such recalcitrants."
Chief Babatope pointed out that
apart from the from the illogicality of embarking on campaigns so early in the
life span of the current administration, the trend was capable of over-heating
the system because "it is a serious threat to those yet to declare their
own ambitions." He therefore affirmed that the tide should be stemmed
before it destabilises the party.
He is, of course, not alone
General Babangida whose campaign train, ably driven by his acolytes that
benefitted from his administration, has applauded Chief Ogbeh for his decision
to not only articulate a code of conduct for elective political office seekers
but also to stop the on-going presidential campaigns.
Speaking to newsmen on his 63rd
birthday, at Minna, Niger State, General Babangida said it was germane for all
political office aspirants to adhere strictly to the laid down rules of the
party.
In reinforcing the need for the
code of conduct, Alhaji Abubakar Rimi, former presidential aspirant of the PDP
stressed that no serious political party could survive without a guideline for
the maintenance of party discipline and cohesion.
However, he expressed his
misgivings on the capacity of Chief Ogbeh to keep his words. In Alhaji Rimi’s
words: "Nobody takes Ogbeh serious, we only have to wait and see. He is not
a man of his words; he plays more to the gallery."
Citing instances where Chief
Ogbeh floundered when he needed to be decisive, Alhaji Rimi blamed him for the
unresolved crisis that rocked the party in Kano State which also led to the
defeat of PDP at the last general elections.
He however insisted should the
National Chairman fails to summon the National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting
to deliberate on the code of conduct as he has promised, some of them would take
it upon themselves to remind him.
But besides the desirability of
the rules and regulations for aspirants, the former presidential candidates
questioned the rationality of focusing on presidential aspirants at this crucial
moment in the national political history when poverty, hunger, disease,
unemployment, poor health and dearth of infrastructural facilities were staring
Nigerians in the face.
Alhaji Rimi who said that at the
appropriate time he would disclose his elective political ambition, insisted
that he had no option now than to obey the directive of his party that all
campaigns be stopped.
"Even those that the media
have been busy highlighting, what are their programmes? This fundamental
question is not being asked yet, the media are highlighting them because of
their personality. It should not be like that," said Alhaji Rimi.
However, while Nigerians await anxiously the
release of the code of conduct by the NEC of the PDP, analysts still express
some misgivings on the ability of the party to tame the high indiscipline within
its rank and file and engender party cohesion.
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