Ahead of the January 8, 2013 election of the chairman, Board of
Trustees (BoT) of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), former chairman of the
board and former President, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, has made a U-turn on his
support for the South-east zone to produce the next chairman and is now
vigorously campaigning for the South-west zone to produce his successor.
In this regard, he has thrown his
weight behind the former deputy national chairman of the party, Alhaji Shuaibu
Oyedokun, who hails from Osun State.
On the other hand, President Goodluck
Jonathan is said to be still undecided on who should emerge the chairman of the
party’s BoT, but his aides say his sympathy lies with the South-east zone.
The scramble to chair the party’s BoT
coincided with PDP’s response to the opposition Congress for Progressive Change
(CPC), which upbraided the President’s Christmas message and called on
Nigerians not to trust him.
THISDAY gathered that the former
National Chairman of the party, Dr. Okwesilieze Nwodo, has also joined other
contestants who have picked the expression of interest (EOI) form to become the
next chairman of the board.
A competent party source told THISDAY
that Obasanjo had made a U-turn in his support for the South-east to produce
the next chairman.
This time around, it was gathered
that he is seriously rooting for Oyedokun to succeed him. Obasanjo stepped
aside as the BoT chairman in April.
The source said: “The former
president made a U-turn from supporting the zone (South-east) to produce his
successor when a team of PDP Yoruba elders met him on Christmas eve to convince
him that it would be a great disservice to the South-west if he continues to
campaign for the South-east.
“It was after the meeting that he met
with Oyedokun and commenced campaigning for him,” and that it would be suicidal
for him to campaign against a position that he voluntarily relinquished.
“We told him at the meeting that the
best he could do was to remain neutral, instead of working against his zone
because this has a way of affecting the fortunes of the Yoruba’s within the
PDP,” the source said.
Obasanjo’s change of heart
notwithstanding, Nwodo who was forced to resign as the party’s national
chairman in January 2011 has joined other contestants seeking to become the
next chairman of PDP’s BoT.
By virtue of being the former
national chairman of the party, he is already a member of the BoT but obtained
his EOI form before the December 7 deadline.
THISDAY gathered that with Nwodo
joining the race, the jostling for who would become the next BoT chairman has
become a keen contest between the former senate president, Ken Nnamani; a
newspaper publisher, Emmanuel Iwuanyanwu; former Minister of Works, Chief Tony
Anenih; former Minister of Petroleum, Chief Don Etiebet; and the former
national chairman of the party, Dr. Ahmadu Ali, among others.
But the odds seem to favour the
South-east, as the president, though undecided, appears to be sympathetic
towards the zone because of the need to ensure equity and balancing.
However, the party source, who spoke
to THISDAY, explained that there might be no election on January 8, because to
go ahead with the election would be tantamount to polarising the BoT.
He explained that the president is at
the forefront of ensuring that there is a consensus arrangement to pick the
next chairman of the party’s BoT.
Meanwhile, the PDP has described the
reaction of the CPC to the president’s Christmas message as clear evidence that
the CPC is not ready to step down from its philosophy of violence and vile
communication module.
A statement by the National Publicity
Secretary of the PDP, Olisa Metuh, said the intentions of the CPC, which is to
stir public distrust and trigger a flood of mutiny against the PDP led Federal
Government, will continue to suffer a still birth as Nigerians are capable of
sifting the truth from the tissue of lies.
PDP insisted that President Jonathan
was correct when he declared in his Christmas message that he has the political
will and determination to deliver on the party’s promise of positive change in
the living conditions of the people in the shortest possible time, insisting
that the gains of the party’s transformation programme will bear more fruits in
the coming years.
According to Metu, “President
Jonathan has invested heavily in critical infrastructure such as power, road
and rail transport, security, agriculture and education, among others.
“While the maturity span of some of
this infrastructure is long term and expected to yield benefits in the coming
years, there is abundant evidence that steady gains are already crystallizing
in sectors such as power, education and in the rail transport sector.
“The CPC will definitely be blind to
this steady progress because constructive engagement is not the ultimate
motivation of its criticism.”
Source: Thisday
No comments:
Post a Comment