Last Tuesday’s attack on the National Secretariat of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has confirmed the plot to muzzle opposition to orchestrate one party in Nigeria, writes ONYEKACHI EZE.
The political climate in the country was heightened last week when principal actors in the leadership crisis in the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) engaged in the battle of supremacy for the control of the party’s National Secretariat.
For several hours, the standoff exerted the energy of truckloads of policemen drawn from various units of Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Police Command, as they battled to bring the crisis under control.
In the process, many people were injured while two sitting PDP state governors – Bala Mohammed (Bauchi), and Seyi Makinde (Oyo), together with other PDP leaders, inhaled doses of teargas, in a manner comparable to that of Senate President Chuba Okadigbo some decades ago. When the dust settled, the party’s National Secretariat was taken over by the Police and the two warring factions barred from accessing it.
No one knows how long this will last. A staff of the party told this newspaper that the party will soon announce an alternative secretariat. This will be the second time PDP is finding itself in this situation in less than 10 years.
The first was in 2016 when the party was factionalised and the secretariat shut down, also due to leadership tussle. The circumstances that led to the present standoff are well known, but nonetheless worth recounting. PDP crisis has been festering since May 2022 after Nyesom Wike, then Rivers State governor failed to win the PDP presidential ticket for the 2023 election.
He also failed to lobby Alhaji Atiku Abubakar who defeated him in the party’s presidential primary, to pick him as running mate. Since then, Wike who is now the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) under the All Progressives Congressled Federal Government is believed to be playing opposition politics inside the PDP.
The minister is openly campaigning for the APC and working against his party – the PDP. In the 2023 presidential election, he ensured that PDP lost Rivers State, although the party won all the National Assembly seats in the state.
The situation however got out control following the suspension of Senator Samuel Anyanwu, former PDP National Secretary, his National Organising Secretary and National Legal Adviser counterparts, Capt Umar Bature (retd) and Kamaldeen Ajibade, respectively, as well as Deputy National Legal Adviser, Okechukwu Osuoha, by the National Working Committee (NWC) under Ambassador Umar Damagum. The suspended party officials are Wike’s allies.
Former National Publicity Secretary Debo Ologunagba who announced their suspension, said the affected officers breached Section 58 of the PDP Constitution, which frowns against action of any member that might “bring the party to disrepute, hatred or contempt,” or who “disobeys or neglects to, or carries out unlawful directives for the party or any organ, or who engages in any conduct likely to cause disaffection among members of the party.”
They were suspended for 30 days, and referred them to the National Disciplinary Committee. This was later converted to expulsion by PDP delegates who gathered in Ibadan, Oyo State for the party’s National Convention, the highest decision-making organ of the party.
Wike was included in the list of eleven PDP members expelled at the convention. Interestingly, this was not the first time PDP would be expelling its members for anti-party activities. In 2013, the party expelled the Secretary to Rivers State Government (SSG), George Feyii, and 14 state commissioners, for alleged insubordination to the party.
Also expelled by the party were Sam Jaja, a former PDP Deputy National Chairman; Tony Okocha, Chief of Staff to the Governor Rotimi Amaechi and Aleruchi Cookey-Gam, Sole Administrator, Greater Port Harcourt City Development Authority. They were accused of the same offense that also led to the suspension and later, expulsion of Anyanwu and others, namely, attempt to scuttle PDP convention through court order. Felix Obuah, the PDP Chairman in Rivers, who announced the expulsion said “discipline must be upheld in the party for the party to progress.”
What happened at the PDP National Secretariat on Tuesday was a confirmation of the plot to have one party in Nigeria. Wike is believed to be goaded by the ruling party to destabilise opposition political parties, including the PDP so that President Bola Tinubu would have smooth reelection in 2027.
He confirmed this when he reportedly told the six-man reconciliation committee set up by the Board of Trustees (BoT) of PDP, that the only way to allow peace to reign in PDP is for the party not to field a presidential candidate in 2027.
Spokesperson for former Vice President Umar Sani, said in an interview that every attempt to resolve the crisis internally failed because of Wike’s insistence that he must always have his way.
Sani said in a national television interview that when the BoT reconciliation “committee approached Wike, and one of his conditions was that we (PDP) must agree that we’re not going to field a presidential candidate in 2027; that is the only condition he would allow, or that this is a fight to finish.” BoT Chairman, Senator Adolphus Wabara, also stated that “some people want the party dead now, and then they will resurrect it in 2031 for their use.
“They don’t believe in democracy or in opposition. Opposition does not mean taking over power. Opposition generally is to guide the ruling party to do the right thing, provided those criticisms are very objective.” The APC has been accused of complicity in the crisis in opposition parties.
The party has been engineering defections from the opposition. Four of PDP elected governors have already defected to the ruling party, while the 5th, Governor Kefas Agbo of Taraba State, just deferred the date for his defection. APC has already secured two-thirds majority in both chambers of the National Assembly. The crisis in the PDP is to further weaken the party so that more state governors and legislators could defect to the APC and boost the chances of President Tinubu’s re-election.
Oyo State governor Seyi Makinde told journalists on Tuesday that the fight is not just about PDP but the survival of Nigeria’s democracy. Said Makinde, “We don’t believe in one party in Nigeria. We believe that our founding fathers gave us a multi-party democracy.
We must sustain it so that Nigerians can have options when they are choosing their leaders.” Coalition platform, the African Democratic Congress (ADC), said the attack was an assault on Nigeria’s democracy, and an attempt to force on party democracy in the country.
The National Publicity Secretary Mallam Bolaji Abdullahi, who signed the statement, added that by the action, the government in power “is sending a chilling message that it would do anything and employ any means, including acts of terror, to advance partisan political interests. “If the government could send armed agents to enforce factional control of an opposition headquarters, what stops it from doing the same to labour unions, press organisations, student movements, or peaceful protest groups.” Many people believe that Nigeria is under state capture.
All the institutions of government are used to coarse the opposition and advance the cause of the ruling party. The Supreme Court in April this year, recognised Senate Esther Nenadi Usman-led National Caretaker Committee as leadership of the Labour Party. Eight months after, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) still accords Julius Abure who was sacked by the Supreme Court, recognition as Labour Party’s National Chairman. Abure was invited to INEC’s meeting with the leadership of political parties in October.
The ADC is calling for investigation on the rule played by the Nigeria Police in last week’s attack on PDP National Secretariat. Officials of the force were accused of taking side with the Wike faction. By deliberating, throwing teargas canisters on the two PDP governors was an act of aggression, and is condemnable.
With less than two years to the next general elections, and with most opposition parties in crisis, it is obvious that President Tinubu and the APC want to kill multi-party democracy in the country. The danger this portends for the survival of the nation’s democracy could only be better imagined.
