Tukur
PDP crisis, chances to reclaim S/West
Since the crisis rocking the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP)
took another twist with defection of its five governors and the gale of
defections in almost all the thirty-six states of the federation to the
opposition All Progressives Congress, the permutation and politicking of
some of the governorship aspirants of the party in most states,
especially Osun and Ekiti where the gubernatorial elections would be
held this year has been intensified.
But the recent exchange of correspondence between the former President Olusegun Obasanjo and President Goodluck Jonathan has also worsened the situation and made recapturing mission of South-west embarked upon by the party stalwarts in the country, very tedious.
Also, the recent letter also sent by ex-president Olusegun Obasanjo to the Chairman of the Party, Alhaji Bamanga Tukur, notifying him of his withdrawal from the party’s activities has generated a lot of reactions and confusions among the members.
However, the leadership of the All Progressives Congress (APC) has said that it would take over the centre during the next general elections and that PDP’s notion of taking over the South west would continue to be a mirage and a white Elephant project that would never be achieved.
National leader of APC and former Governor of Lagos State, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, has described past administrations of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the South-West states as examples of bad leadership.
On the recent spirited efforts by the opposition to take over the South-West, he said, “I read recently that some of them are collaborating. The old enemies, who chased themselves out of office with cudgels, cutlasses and guns, said they want to collaborate again. They failed before and they will fail again.”
Speaking on Obasanjo’s plan to withdraw from the party’s activities, former National Vice Chairman (South) PDP, Chief Olabode George, said that former President Olusegun Obasanjo’s decision to temporarily withdraw his activities from the PDP was a PDP affair. While picking holes in the decision five governors of the PDP to defect to the All Progressives Congress (APC) and begging them to return, he said the APC would not constitute a threat to the PDP in 2015.
“I do not want to get into that kind of discussion because it will be a whole night of another letter. When you go to the market place to discuss your family matter, then you are gone. This is a PDP problem, we will discuss it in the PDP enclave, it is not meant for public consumption.
“We will do the analysis and find out where we went wrong, what happened, how it happened and how we can prevent it from happening in the future. That is the way I was trained. But if it was against the opposition, I will say it in the open. This is a family issue that must be discussed at the family meeting because these are serious issues that must be discussed in-house, so that we can correct the anomaly,” George said.
He said that despite that there is crisis in the South West PDP; the party leadership was ready to take the Bull by the horn to resolve the issue.
According to him, “We need to sit down and X-ray all the problems. For me, having been part of those who built the party, all these things happening have happened before. There is nothing new under the sun but we must be fair and honest to ourselves. At the meeting, we will lock the door and tell ourselves the truth.
“On the issue of what we are going to do, we suggested that there should be a caretaker committee to reconcile all the warring factions in the South-West before heading to the zonal congress. Let all the warring factions calm down because I know all that happened but everybody is important.
“My mission now is to beg all the aggrieved members. The Yoruba are politically knowledgeable people and very sophisticated politically. If you go and explain to them, they will understand because they know who is lying to them. It is possible for us to chart our course.
“We know there are no zonal executives for the PDP in the South-West, we will resolve that. With all the silly mistakes that have been made in the party, how can there be peace? I am happy the president is now at the steering wheel, we will meet and we will tell ourselves real family issues. We are not going to apportion blames but we will state categorically what needs to be corrected.
In his efforts to douse the tension in the party and ensure the warring parties sheath their swords, President Jonathan recently took full charge of the party’s battle plan for 2014 both for governorship poll that would be in Osun and Ekiti later in the year.
The President was said to have met with former Deputy Governor in Osun State, Senator Iyiola Omisore and former Governor of Ekiti, Ayodele Fayose on the governorship race. The duo were said to have political wherewithal to challenge both Governor Rauf Aregbesola and Dr. Kayode Fayemi of Osun and Ekiti states respectively.
The INEC Chairman, Professor Attahiru Jega, recently announced that the 2015 general elections would hold between January and February, indicating that party primaries would hold in 2014.
The elections in Osun and Ekiti States were being seen by the Presidency as a test case for the PDP to cut the opposition All Progressives Congress (APC) to size.
“The Ekiti and Osun governorship elections are a litmus test for both sides in the battle for the soul of Nigeria. You know the APC’s major foothold is the South-West. So, whatever happens in these elections will either weaken or strengthen either side. That is why the president is not leaving anything to chance. The die is cast. You just wait and see how events unfold,” a source in the PDP said.
It was gathered that the presidency regards 2014 as a critical year, especially as the party is expected to pick all its standard-bearers for the next general elections in the next few months. Under presidential watch, it was gathered that the PDP is to launch an expanded offensive to gain lost grounds and put the party in good stead ahead of the 2015 polls.
It was also learnt that the president had increased the tempo of his direct consultation and interaction with critical stakeholders, both for the 2015 general elections and the governorship elections holding in Osun and Ekiti states.
Daily Newswatch further gathered that the president had asked the Chairman of PDP Board of Trustees, Chief Tony Anenih, to help coordinate the party’s strategy to win the coming governorship polls in the two South West states.
It was, however, learnt that gathered that Senator Omisore, indeed, had a closed door meeting with the president recently in Abuja. Both men again met during the visit of the Afenifere to the president recently in Abuja.
It was after the meeting with the president that Senator Omisore announced February 8 for the declaration of his governorship ambition, an event to be witnessed by Vice President Namadi Sambo and the Chairman of the PDP Governor’s Forum, Governor Godswill Akpabio of Akwa Ibom State.
A similar meeting was said to have been held between the president and Fayose in Abuja a week ago. Those privy to the meeting disclosed that Jonathan reviewed the state of the party in Ekiti with the former governor and charged him to continue his mobilisation to ensure victory for the PDP in the governorship polls.
But pundits are watching with keen interest what would be the outcome of the President’s consultation since the outcome of the gubernatorial elections in Osun and Ekiti this year would be a litmus test for the acceptance or failure of the PDP in the zone. This will also determine whether or not the President would have enough votes in the zone in 2015 as he did in 2011.
But the recent exchange of correspondence between the former President Olusegun Obasanjo and President Goodluck Jonathan has also worsened the situation and made recapturing mission of South-west embarked upon by the party stalwarts in the country, very tedious.
Also, the recent letter also sent by ex-president Olusegun Obasanjo to the Chairman of the Party, Alhaji Bamanga Tukur, notifying him of his withdrawal from the party’s activities has generated a lot of reactions and confusions among the members.
However, the leadership of the All Progressives Congress (APC) has said that it would take over the centre during the next general elections and that PDP’s notion of taking over the South west would continue to be a mirage and a white Elephant project that would never be achieved.
National leader of APC and former Governor of Lagos State, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, has described past administrations of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the South-West states as examples of bad leadership.
On the recent spirited efforts by the opposition to take over the South-West, he said, “I read recently that some of them are collaborating. The old enemies, who chased themselves out of office with cudgels, cutlasses and guns, said they want to collaborate again. They failed before and they will fail again.”
Speaking on Obasanjo’s plan to withdraw from the party’s activities, former National Vice Chairman (South) PDP, Chief Olabode George, said that former President Olusegun Obasanjo’s decision to temporarily withdraw his activities from the PDP was a PDP affair. While picking holes in the decision five governors of the PDP to defect to the All Progressives Congress (APC) and begging them to return, he said the APC would not constitute a threat to the PDP in 2015.
“I do not want to get into that kind of discussion because it will be a whole night of another letter. When you go to the market place to discuss your family matter, then you are gone. This is a PDP problem, we will discuss it in the PDP enclave, it is not meant for public consumption.
“We will do the analysis and find out where we went wrong, what happened, how it happened and how we can prevent it from happening in the future. That is the way I was trained. But if it was against the opposition, I will say it in the open. This is a family issue that must be discussed at the family meeting because these are serious issues that must be discussed in-house, so that we can correct the anomaly,” George said.
He said that despite that there is crisis in the South West PDP; the party leadership was ready to take the Bull by the horn to resolve the issue.
According to him, “We need to sit down and X-ray all the problems. For me, having been part of those who built the party, all these things happening have happened before. There is nothing new under the sun but we must be fair and honest to ourselves. At the meeting, we will lock the door and tell ourselves the truth.
“On the issue of what we are going to do, we suggested that there should be a caretaker committee to reconcile all the warring factions in the South-West before heading to the zonal congress. Let all the warring factions calm down because I know all that happened but everybody is important.
“My mission now is to beg all the aggrieved members. The Yoruba are politically knowledgeable people and very sophisticated politically. If you go and explain to them, they will understand because they know who is lying to them. It is possible for us to chart our course.
“We know there are no zonal executives for the PDP in the South-West, we will resolve that. With all the silly mistakes that have been made in the party, how can there be peace? I am happy the president is now at the steering wheel, we will meet and we will tell ourselves real family issues. We are not going to apportion blames but we will state categorically what needs to be corrected.
In his efforts to douse the tension in the party and ensure the warring parties sheath their swords, President Jonathan recently took full charge of the party’s battle plan for 2014 both for governorship poll that would be in Osun and Ekiti later in the year.
The President was said to have met with former Deputy Governor in Osun State, Senator Iyiola Omisore and former Governor of Ekiti, Ayodele Fayose on the governorship race. The duo were said to have political wherewithal to challenge both Governor Rauf Aregbesola and Dr. Kayode Fayemi of Osun and Ekiti states respectively.
The INEC Chairman, Professor Attahiru Jega, recently announced that the 2015 general elections would hold between January and February, indicating that party primaries would hold in 2014.
The elections in Osun and Ekiti States were being seen by the Presidency as a test case for the PDP to cut the opposition All Progressives Congress (APC) to size.
“The Ekiti and Osun governorship elections are a litmus test for both sides in the battle for the soul of Nigeria. You know the APC’s major foothold is the South-West. So, whatever happens in these elections will either weaken or strengthen either side. That is why the president is not leaving anything to chance. The die is cast. You just wait and see how events unfold,” a source in the PDP said.
It was gathered that the presidency regards 2014 as a critical year, especially as the party is expected to pick all its standard-bearers for the next general elections in the next few months. Under presidential watch, it was gathered that the PDP is to launch an expanded offensive to gain lost grounds and put the party in good stead ahead of the 2015 polls.
It was also learnt that the president had increased the tempo of his direct consultation and interaction with critical stakeholders, both for the 2015 general elections and the governorship elections holding in Osun and Ekiti states.
Daily Newswatch further gathered that the president had asked the Chairman of PDP Board of Trustees, Chief Tony Anenih, to help coordinate the party’s strategy to win the coming governorship polls in the two South West states.
It was, however, learnt that gathered that Senator Omisore, indeed, had a closed door meeting with the president recently in Abuja. Both men again met during the visit of the Afenifere to the president recently in Abuja.
It was after the meeting with the president that Senator Omisore announced February 8 for the declaration of his governorship ambition, an event to be witnessed by Vice President Namadi Sambo and the Chairman of the PDP Governor’s Forum, Governor Godswill Akpabio of Akwa Ibom State.
A similar meeting was said to have been held between the president and Fayose in Abuja a week ago. Those privy to the meeting disclosed that Jonathan reviewed the state of the party in Ekiti with the former governor and charged him to continue his mobilisation to ensure victory for the PDP in the governorship polls.
But pundits are watching with keen interest what would be the outcome of the President’s consultation since the outcome of the gubernatorial elections in Osun and Ekiti this year would be a litmus test for the acceptance or failure of the PDP in the zone. This will also determine whether or not the President would have enough votes in the zone in 2015 as he did in 2011.
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