PDP: Jonathan battles for relevance
The resignation of Alhaji Adamu Muazu and Chief Anthony Anenih as the National Chairman and Chairman, Board of Trustees (BoT) respectively of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) signposts the battle for political relevance by President Goodluck Jonathan as he steps down this week.
For Alhaji Adamu Muazu, his stewardship
as the National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) which
kicked off on a high note ended rather unceremoniously last week.
After weeks of staving off pressure from
concerned stakeholders in the party, asking him to quit in the
aftermath of the party’s loss in the last general elections, Muazu
finally called time on his 17-months tenure at the Wadata Plaza.
And in what appears as a well scripted
agenda by the Presidency, Chief Anthony Anenih, the Chairman of the
party’s Board of Trustees (BoT) also stepped down from his position.
The two high profile resignations were
the culmination of the blame game and buck passing by members of the
party following its loss to the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the
presidential, governorship and National Assembly elections held on March
28 and April 11 respectively.
With Muazu and Anenih out of the way,
sources revealed that President Goodluck Jonathan is now poised to take
full charge of the party once he hands over to APC’s Muhammadu Buhari on
May 28.
The President, it was gathered, may have
also jettisoned his plan to travel out of the country to rest for at
least one year as he seems poised to stay back to reorganise the PDP,
which stakeholders agree, is in urgent need of reforms and drastic
overhaul.
The fear of being sidelined or
completely losing out in the affairs of the ruling party if Muazu
remains in charge, sources added, compelled the President to exert his
influence to force Muazu’s and Anenih’s exit.
Despite Muazu’s exit, trusted aides and
associates of the president are however not fully satisfied. They are
alleged to have commenced moves to also force some members of the PDP
National Working Committee (NWC), whose loyalty are in doubt, to throw
in the towel.
A source said: “The next agenda is to
force some NWC members out. The President is determined to take control
of the party and carve it in his own image.”
Likely candidates to succeed Muazu
Though Mr. Uche Secondus, the erstwhile
Deputy National Chairman has stepped into Muazu’s shoes, The Nation
gathered that he has little or no chance of assuming the position in a
substantive capacity.
With Jonathan expected to succeed Anenih
as the BoT chairman, sources added that having the National Chairman
also from the South-South could obliterate the little support the party
boasts of in the North and further reduce its chances of bouncing back
in the 2019 general elections.
Against this backdrop, three names are
currently being bandied as the next National Chairman. They are the
outgoing Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Bala Mohammed;
Minister of State for Power, Mohammed Wakil and Minister of Transport,
Idris Umar.
While Umar was believed to be the
President’s first choice as a replacement for Alhaji Bamaga Tukur who
stepped down as the National Chairman in January last year, his name is
however not in the picture this time around.
For Mohammed, his alleged choice is not
unconnected to his loyalty to the outgoing President, who needs someone
that would do his bidding in the running of the party.
But sources say he may face opposition
in his home state of Bauchi as a result of his alleged rift with the
outgoing state governor, Isa Yuguda.
Yuguda, it was, who brought Mohammed to
public limelight, first as his Special Assistant when the former served
as the Minister of Aviation in the Olusegun Obasanjo-led administration.
The governor was also credited to have
nominated Mohammed as a minister, who was elected as senator after
defeating Adamu Muazu in the 2007 general elections. He fell out with
the governor over claims that he was setting up political structures in
his alleged bid to succeed Yuguda as governor.
Those canvassing for Wakil are said to
be impressed with his relative youthfulness, cerebral disposition and
non-controversial posture as attributes required to properly reposition
the PDP for the tasks ahead.
Between outgoing and incoming governors
While the President may have settled for
any of these three men, he appears not to be on the same page with some
outgoing northern governors, who are allegedly scheming to have one of
them as the next PDP National Chairman.
Outgoing governors being positioned for
the job include Sule Lamido of Jigawa State and his Katsina State
counterpart, Ibrahim Shema, sources have disclosed.
Lamido’s choice is hinged on his loyalty
and sacrifices for the party, particularly in the heat of the crisis
that trailed his membership of the defunct G7 Governors, while those in
support of Shema say his emergence as PDP boss may serve as a counter
check to the influence of Buhari, who also hails from Katsina.
The success story of Shema as governor
in the last eight years without much controversy has also made his
choice more appealing to many PDP stakeholders.
The position of the incoming PDP
governors, sources say, would not be different from Jonathan’s. With the
exception of Taraba and Gombe, all the other incoming PDP governors are
in the South-West, South-East and South-South where Jonathan’s
influence is not in doubt.
As the PDP prepares for its new role as
the main opposition party, a few questions would suffice. First, will
President Jonathan retain his hold on the party? Second, will his
support base swell or shrink as the battle for the next general
elections begin within the next two years? Time would surely tell.
