Alhaji Atiku
OpenLife Nigeria reports that despite the rhetoric of jumpstarting and reinvigorating the opposition Peoples Democratic Party, PDP after the woeful outing in the 2023 presidential contest, recent developments keep nobody in doubt about its precarious situation.
Nothing delivered this message better than the heart bursting loss of the soul of the party to Wike in the April 18 NEC meeting wherein Wike men remain at the top hierarchy of the party starting from the nation chairman, Damagun.
As it played out, the much anticipated NEC meeting of the Peoples Democratic Party,PDP, held on April 18 with quite significant fallouts and profound implications for the fortunes of the party in the short and long terms.
The NEC meeting was the first since after the 2023 general elections and its build-up was attended by intense intrigues and high tensions as the dominant power blocs within the party wrestled for control of its national leadership.
On one hand is the bloc led by FCT Minister and former Governor of Rivers State, Nyesom Wike, while on the other is the one led by former Vice President of Nigeria and PDP Presidential Candidate at the 2023 elections, Alhaji Abubakar Atiku.
The target for both blocs was the control of the National Working Committee of the party through the office of the National Chairman currently being occupied in Acting capacity by Ambassador Umar Iliya Damagun.
The Wike camp rooted for Damagun to continue in office while Atiku and his people mounted a spirited challenge to capture the office and install former Benue State Governor, Gabriel Suswam as National Chairman.
After series of meetings, at the level of the North Central region, which laid claim to the position as belonging to it by right, and also at the level of state governors elected on the party’s platform, it was evident that the Wike camp was going to carry the day at the NEC meeting.
And that was how it turned out, with NEC resolving that Ambassador Damagun continues in office until the next meeting of the body which is the highest in the hierarchy of the party.
National Publicity Secretary, Barrister Debo Ologunagba, in a statement to the press highlighted that, among other things, the apex decision making body of the party had decided that the Acting National Chairman continuing in office best serves its quest for peace, reconciliation and harmony.
In reality, the decision of NEC represented a defeat for Atiku as it was evident he had done everything possible within his powers to have Damagun removed and replaced with Suswam.
The decision highlighted, in a very clear sense, the working synergy among the National Working Committee, state governors of the party and the Wike-led G-5 group now made up of 4 former governors and Oyo State Governor, Seyi Makinde.
The struggle goes all the way to the heart of the fight for the party’s 2027 presidential ticket which Atiku is known to have already started making a bid for, while the NWC/Governors/G-5 coalition is known to be opposed to such ambition of Atiku.
The thinking behind the opposition to Atiku’s 2027 presidential ambition stems from the shoddy manner he had handled his rift with the G-5 Governors during the campaigns for the 2023 polls which caused the party a victory many believe it had a good chance of winning.
The coalition against Atiku also is believed to argue that his ambition to be president so closely on the heels of a fellow Fulani man, Muhammadu Buhari, having exited the presidency only so recently, is not only inordinate but self seeking.
They also contend that his ambitions at this point in time is against the larger interests of the party as a viable alternative for Nigerians even as it goes against the spirit of equity, fairness and national harmony.
In the course of this political test of will, former minister of Aviation, Osita Chidoka, warned the party against insincerity, saying that should the party fail to do what was right, he would lead others to dump the party.
In a statement he personally signed, Chidoka said: To the Governors, National Assembly Caucus, and National Executive Committee of the Peoples Democratic Party.
I address you today with a sense of urgency. As you gather in Abuja tomorrow for the NEC meeting, I want to warn the party of an impending disaster that could sink the ship of the party.
Let me be clear: if at the NEC meeting tomorrow, the Party fails to uphold the constitutionality and respect for the rules of the party, then I and other progressive members will not hesitate to lead the pallbearers to the funeral of the party as we know it.
The party must put an end to its submission to filthy lucre and macabre dancing to the music of unprincipled pipers. It must return to the role of providing good governance to its states and principled opposition that Nigerians can trust.
If tomorrow, the party’s ship is not steered away from the gigantic iceberg prominent on its path, the consequences will be dire.
It is a matter of grave urgency to save the soul of the party that ushered and stabilised democracy in Nigeria.
The NEC must Act now,” Chidoka warned.
However, just few days after Nyesom Wike re enacted his supremacy in the Party, a former governor of Imo State, Emeka Ihedioha, resigned his membership from the party.
Ihedioha announced his resignation in a letter dated April 23, 2024.
He addressed the resignation letter to the PDP chairman at Mbutu Ward, Aboh Mbaise Local Government Area of Imo State.
After Ihedioha, Engineer Augustine Elochukwu Okeke, the zonal publicity secretary of PDP in the southeast zone, has resigned his membership in the main opposition party.
Okeke made this known in a letter addressed to the national vice chairman, southeast zone of the PDP, Chief Ali Odefa, in a letter dated April 23, 2024.
He wrote: ”Due to personal reasons, I hereby resign from office as the zonal publicity secretary of the PDP, southeast zone.
”Do convey my warm felicitations to the members of the Zonal Working Committee. Yours in Service.”
Copied in the letter were the national secretary of the PDP, the Imo state PDP chairman and the zonal secretary of the PDP, southeast zone.
Reacting, Abdul-Aziz Na’ibi Abubakar, a chieftain of PDP attributed the departure of former Imo State Governor Emeka Ihedioha from the party to the actions of Governor Nyesom Wike and his “disastrous G5.”
In a statement released on Tuesday, April 23, Abubakar questioned the wisdom of Ihedioha’s decision, given the role he has played in the party’s founding and development.
“I still believe leaving the party is not the best decision,” Abubakar said. “Why would you leave the house you built for a robber?”
He expressed concern about the impact of Ihedioha’s departure on the party’s younger members who have yet to benefit from it but remain committed to its cause.
“If the party elders can’t stay and fight for the party till the very end,” Abubakar asked, “what do you want the youth that never benefited from the party but keep on sacrificing their time, energy, and resources because they believe in the party to do?”
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