A rather
strange title for a political analysis you may say, but don’t blame me. That was
exactly how a top notcher of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) at the
National Secretariat, Abuja, described the ongoing nationwide zonal tours by the
party’s national leadership.
A road show, that is often how big time
musicians and entertainers qualify their efforts when they put their bands on
the road as they embark on tours of selected cities nationwide.
But the PDP tour is not about
entertainment, it is all about politics, but a dispassionate assessment of the
exercise could indicate a convergence between the two scenarios.
The unfolding dynamics exposed the
intrigues and the re-alignments behind the facade of unity put up by the
national leadership as soon as the idea matured and it blew into the open.
Like a bolt out of the blues, in a rather
innocuous press statement issued on April 2, this year, titled: "Proposed
itinerary for zonal tours by the chairman of Board of Trustees, accompanied by
selected trustees," signed by the secretary of the Board, Prof. Jerry Gana, the
body outlined the vision of the tour.
According to Gana, "the purpose of the
proposed tour is not only for the new chairman (Chief Anenih) to meet governors
and party leaders at zonal and state levels, but to provide the opportunity for
interactive sessions on party discipline and the need for PDP governments to
perform so excellently as to make democracy attractive."
The statement also envisioned that the
tour would focus on party discipline, party solidarity, cohesion and
reconciliation, good performance by PDP governments at federal, state and local
government levels, effective service delivery to the people and maintenance of
peace and security.
This comprehensive package appeared to
many discerning party members to be more of executive functions that normally
should be handled, going by the provisions of the party’s constitution, by the
National Executive Committee (NEC) headed by the national chairman, Chief Audu
Ogbeh.
Sources said loyalists and other
supporters of the NEC latched on this to arouse the suspicion of the Audu Ogbeh
led NEC that this move by the Anenih led Board of Trustees which is merely an
advisory body, may be a deft move to upstage the NEC in the power game of who
should be in charge of the party.
Apparently, in a counter move, the party’s
highest decision making organ, the National Working Committee (NWC) hurriedly
went into a closed door session and came out with a fresh position. A statement
by the national publicity secretary, Mr. Venatius Ikem, sought to rationalize
the party’s new position.
The statement said, "after extensive
consultation at the highest level of the party leadership, the NWC decided to
broaden the proposed national tour by the PDP Board of Trustees to involve other
national structures of the party."
In view of this, it announced that
consequently, the first leg of the tour billed for Akwa-Ibom State to cater for
the South-South zone will be flagged off by the national chairman, Chief Ogbeh.
To assuage ruffled feathers, it was
further directed that a revised programme and harmonized team list comprising
members of the NEC and the Board of Trustees will be announced later.
The party spokesman tried to explain that
"the decision is meant to achieve the best result from the tour and eliminate
any impression of division within the rank of the party." But party sources said
no one was fooled by that rationalization.
Indeed, according to observers, the first
leg of the tour which held at Uyo, Akwa-Ibom State last month clearly exposed
the thinly veiled contest for supremacy between the NEC and the Board of
Trustees.
It was learnt that there was dissonance
and discordance between the presentations made by Chief Audu Ogbeh and Chief
Anenih. While Ogbeh reportedly warned ill-disciplined party members that they
will be treated as saboteurs, Anenih dwelt on the theme that growing
indiscipline in the ruling party may actually be a failure of leadership.
The veiled reprimand embedded in the
message was said not to have been lost on the Audu Ogbeh led executive.
Another interesting aspect of the tour is
that so many party chieftains who had lost out from the mainstream and had been
dumped have been recycled into relevance and contention as members of
delegation. In this category are former Speaker of the House of Representatives,
Alhaji Ghali Umar Na’Abba, seen as the enfant terrible of the party who
doggedly fought the Obasanjo administration in its first tenure in order to
ensure that the independence of the legislature was not compromised in its
relationship with the executive.
Former presidential aspirant, Alhaji
Mohammed Abubakar Rimi known to have squared up with President Olusegun Obasanjo
during the 2003 presidential primary also made the list. Edo State strongman,
Brig. Gen. (rtd) Samuel Ogbemudia (rtd) known to have had a recent cold war with
"Mr. Fix It," Chief Anenih was another visible name on the list. It would be
recalled that Ogbemudia was the chairman of the 2002 national convention and
congresses committee which midwifed the election of the Audu Ogbeh led
executive.
Many analysts thought that given the fact
that many of the national officers were returned unopposed, it was contentious
to claim that elections actually held at that convention.
Former Police Affairs Minister, Maj.-Gen.
David Jemibewon (rtd) and Kogi State-born political power broker who lost out in
a cabinet reshuffle also appeared. Others include Senate radical, Senator Idris
Kuta, Chief Empire Kanu, Prince B.B. Apugo and second republic Minister of
Justice and Attorney-General, Chief Richard Akinjide.
Similarly, Senate President, Adolphus
Wabara, and his deputy Ibrahim Mantu, corporate mogul, High Chief Abel Ubeku,
frontline South-East politician Chief (Dr) Emmanuel Iwuanyanwu, PDP National
Secretary, Prince Vincent Ogbulafor, former national chairman, Chief S.D. Lar,
Chief Philip Asiodu, House Speaker, Alhaji Aminu Masari and National Woman
Leader, Chief (Mrs) Josephine Anenih, are some of the other high profile party
notables on the list.
According to the itinerary of the tour,
the train is expected to make a stop over in the six geo-political zones. So
far, the tour has been concluded in the South-South (Uyo, Akwa Ibom State),
North Central (Lafia, Nasarawa State), North West (Kaduna) and recently ended in
the South-West (Abeokuta, Ogun State).
The meetings are held at selected capitals
of states within the zones, according to party sources, for easy mobilization
and convenience of all the stakeholders.
As part of the unfolding drama associated
with the tour, an incident which may have gone unnoticed had to with the
South-East zonal tour scheduled for May 15 at Enugu which was hurriedly
rescheduled. According to party sources, the face-off between party Board of
Trustees chairman, Chief Tony Anenih and Abia State Governor, Dr Orji Uzor Kalu
over the latter’s claim of alleged threat to his life by the former, which had
created bad blood between the two, and the intractable political crisis in
Anambra State since the failed abduction of the governor, Dr Chris Ngige on July
10, last year, the situation may not be conducive for the tour.
There were palpable fears that if
governors Kalu and Ngige decided to boycott the event, it may create a bandwagon
effect that may lead to the failure of the event. Sources said, a boycott by two
out of the five South-East states "will be too humiliating for the national
leadership to swallow."
Another development which appeared to have
coated the tour with the impression that it may be jinxed, occurred on Friday
June 18, when the national team, led by Chief Audu Ogbeh, ran into a verbal
ambush laid by Chief (Mrs) Beatrice Afobali, wife of the late PDP titan and
former Internal Affairs Minister, Chief S.M. Afolabi.
On a condolence visit to her in Osun
State, a shocked Chief Ogbeh along with Chief Anenih and others were lambasted
by Mrs Afolabi who described them as alleged "ingrates," many of whom she hinted
owed their political lives to her late husband, and more than five weeks after
his death they did not have the good conscience to come and condole his family.
Observers say her outburst may not be
unconnected with the fall-out of the national ID card scam which allegedly put
her late husband on a collision course with the party’s mainstream, and the
belated attempt, according to some party sources, by many of his proteges and
beneficiaries to "hypocritically distance themselves from the man who made them
what they are today in the party."
Speaking at another segment of the tour last week in Ekiti State, the national
chairman Chief Audu Ogbeh reportedly admitted that the yearly turnover of over
800,000 graduates into the labour market, and the high level of unemployment may
be "a ticking time-bomb for everyone concerned." Some ask if this is an
indictment of his ruling party.
The train is expected to swing north next
month to the north-east-zone (Bauchi), to be concluded in the South East "once
the contentious issues are resolved," said a party top notcher.
At every turn, governors, their deputies,
senators, Reps members, ministers, advisers, commissioners, state Assembly
members, expectedly the party’s cream, formed the audience. Hints also emerged
that others had taken advantage of the tour to plot a road map for their
candidates for the 2007 presidential campaign.
Despite the "PDP road show," many party
observers say that the problem of indiscipline and factionalisation ahead and
2007 still remain unresolved.
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