President Jonathan’s loyalists had already taken over the affairs of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Kano even before the state governor; Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso announced his defection alongside his four other aggrieved colleagues.
Unhappy with the outcome of the 2011 presidential election in Kano state which General Mohammedu Buhari, the candidate of the defunct Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) won in the state, Jonathan’s men in the state had been working hard to push away the executives of the party who are perceived loyalists of the governor. Buhari won Kano state with 1.6 million votes while Jonathan got over 400,000 votes.
Months ago, they succeeded when the tenure of PDP executives in the state led by Alhaji Adamu Aliyu Sumaila lapsed. Majority of the Sumaila-led executive sare loyalists of governor Kwankwaso. From the national secretariat of the PDP, a caretaker committee was constituted to take over the leadership of the party in the state.
Dr. Hassan Kafayos who was appointed by the National Chairman of the PDP, Alhaji Bamanga Tukur has since taken over the party’s affairs in the state. Kafayos, a strategist of high repute has joined other loyalists of President Jonathan in Kano state and they have been working underground to lay a solid foundation for the victory of President Jonathan come 2015.
It was gathered that President Jonathan’s fixers in Kano led by Nigerian Ambassador to China, Alhaji Aminu Wali have succeeded in dislodging the structures of Governor Kwankwaso in Kano’s PDP. Sources said majority of their meetings are held in Abuja and that they have started promoting the candidature of President Jonathan secretly in the ancient city of Kano.
Other people who are perceived as working for Jonathan’s 2015 ambition in Kano are former speaker of the House of Representatives, Alhaji Ghali Umar Na’aba, Alhaji Hamisu Musa, and Mohammed Dangalan who was secretary of the defunct Peoples Redemption Party (PRP), Senator Mansur Doguwa, Aminu Danbaffa, Yusuf Ado Kibiya and former speaker of the House of Representatives, Alhaji Salisu Buhari.
To give his men more power ahead of 2015 general election, it was gathered that President Jonathan has picked Ghali Na’aba for a ministerial post. It was gathered that many of his men have been selected for juicy appointments to enable them gather resources and power for the promotion of his 2015 ambition. One of his strategists in Kano, Akilu Sani Indabawa was recently appointed secretary of the national dialogue committee constituted by the president.
Speaking to Sunday Trust, Barrister Farouk Iya Sambo who resigned from Kwankwaso’s cabinet weeks ago said the defection of Kwankwaso won’t have much negative impact on PDP in Kano state. Sambo who was the chairman of PDP during the 2011 general elections said they are not leaving any stone unturned in ensuring that Jonathan position improve in Kano state come 2015.
But an aide of governor Kwankwaso, Alhaji Ahmed Shuaibu Gara said Jonathan and his co-travellers are going to be surprised come 2015. “For anybody to say the defection of Kwankwaso won’t have negative effect on PDP in 2015, that means, the person needs to be re-examined because Kwankwaso is the flag bearer of political movement in Kano now. Kwankwaso has endeared himself to the people of the state with the numerous projects he is executing. If democracy is about serving people, it is visible to the blind and audible to the deaf what Kwankwaso is doing in Kano state. Time will tell whether the defection of Kwankwaso will have harm on PDP or not,” he said.
In Adamawa State, Jonathan’s men have equally taken positions even as the PDP awaits a new leader in the state.
Sunday Trust investigations revealed that party members in Adamawa have already opened discussions on who will replace governor Nyako as the leader of the PDP in the state. In 2006 when Governor Boni Haruna sided with his godfather, then vice President Atiku Abubakar, Professor Jibril Aminu was appointed to oversee the affairs of the party in Adamawa despite the existence of a loyal party structure under the state chairmanship of Chief Joel Madaki.
Eight years after, Aminu who remains an influential figure is siding with President Jonathan and Madaki is back as the party chairman, a development which suggests that history may be repeating itself.
Many see Aminu as the natural overseer of the party in Adamawa because he did it before and is well respected by the president who shares the same opinion with the national chairman, Bamanga Tukur on how the party should be managed. Aminu who spearheaded the emergence of Nyako had in a recent interview indicated his desire to lead another battle to dethrone Nyako and APC in 2015.
Boni Haruna who handed over to Nyako had defected to Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) and became its leader in the state. He mobilized his supporters and associates for the ACN gubernatorial candidate in 2012 election, engineer Marcus Gundiri who lost to Nyako. Haruna is said to be a good friend to President Jonathan with whom he became friends when they were both serving as state governors.
Presidential Advisor to the President on Politics, Ali Ahmad Gulak is another factor whose working relationship with the President is a reference point by his associates. Another pro- Jonathan supporter in Adamawa is Alhaji Dauda Birma who is also a member of the National Presidential Dialogue Committee.
State secretary of the PDP, Barrister Tahir Shehu said there was no scheming among party chieftains in respect of control of the party machineries as each member is working for the success of the party and that the party structure is capable of handling the affairs of the party in the state.“There is only one leader and that is the national chairman who is from this state and the party structure under the chairmanship of Chief Joel Madaki and me as the secretary is capable of running its affairs in the state”, he said.
Who will deliver Rivers State for President Goodluck Jonathan in 2015 Presidential election? This million dollar question is left for conjecture. Governor Chibuike Amaechi who for the past one year had been maintaining a cat and dog relationship with President Jonathan and his family over his undeclared presidential ambition took political analyst by storm when he and four other governors of G7 fame defected to the All Progressive Congress, APC.
Many believe, Amaechi by this singular action may have played into the hands of his political detractors in the State who are looking at every possible means to push him out of the ruling party and hijack the State party structure. Although the governor said he joined the APC with the overall interest to protect Rivers people on the ground that the State has suffered neglect under the Jonathan administration his defection to the opposition party has equally gone a long way to prove his traducers right that he is actually working against the interest of President Jonathan’s 2015 Presidential bid.
Advancing reasons for his defection, Amaechi said: “I have seen the fact that we are losing our oil wells in Etche, in Kalabari areas and that the more they continue to pilfer these oil wells, the more we continue to lose our wealth.
Amaechi’s defection to APC was received with wide jubilation across the State and especially in the camp of education Minister, Nyeson Wike. It was jubilation in the State capital as members of PDP poured out on the streets to celebrate what they described as the exit of Amaechi from the party. To members of Wike group, Amaechi’s exit From PDP was a good riddance aimed at making “our great party stronger and more focused.”
Speaking at a press conference, the secretary of PDP in the State Walter Ibibia alleged that Amaechi was using the State resources to “lubricate his vice presidential ambition which informed his stiff opposition to President Jonathan.” Walter said Amaechi’s plan has always been to dent the image of the President before the Nigerian public, despite the fact that both of them come from the same geo political zone.
Now that Amaechi has left for APC the PDP structure has been handed over to Wike. The Minster has invariably become the leader of the party in the State. He has since launched a campaign for Jonathan’s 2015 using his political platform, the “Grassroots Development Initiative, (GDI) to galvanize support for Jonathan. The organization is presently touring the 23 local government areas of the State to mobilize and solicit the support of Rivers people for Jonathan’s 2015.
Amaechi on his part is equally using another political platform, the Leadership Advancement Forum (LAF) to mobilize the same people of Rivers State ostensibly for APC. The governor had at different times boasted that he will not allow those he described as criminals to last the State fund.
In Kwara, the defection of new PDP led by former Governor Bukola Saraki as well as Governor Abdulfatah Ahmed into APC has generated mixed feelings in the state. The development has added another chapter to the complex politics of Kwara state which was ruled for over four decades by Dr. Olusola Saraki, the late strongman of the state that had the unprecedented record of installing four civilian governors that the state ever produced until 2011.
Many politicians who became relevant in the politics of Kwara state had in one way or the other regaled in the dynasty and used the platform to advance their political career. With the death of Saraki on November 14, 2012, many analysts and ardent watchers of political events in the state had predicted that the politics would never be the same again.
Given the peculiarity of the state politics, not many people believed the impending move to join the APC would come to fruition until the announcement was made, thereby disproving the permutations of analysts who considered APC in the state a no-go area for the Sarakites.
Members of the pro-Jonathan group include the Chairman of Federal Character Commission (FCC), Professor Oba Abdulraheem, Senator Simeon Ajibola representing Kwara South, former Minister of Transport and Sport, Alhaji Bio Ibrahim, pioneer PDP chairman in the state, Barrister Kunle Sulyman, former Senator Salman Ajadi (1999-2003), Senator Haliru Kaiama, former Presidential candidate of National Transformation Party (NTP), Chief John Dara, Special Adviser to the President on Ethics and Values, Mrs. Sarah Jibril, former House of Representatives member, Hon. Zulukarnaini Edun, former House of Representatives member, Alhaji Ayinla Folorunsho, a member of the House of Assembly, among others.
Most of these politicians were once loyalists and supporters of late Saraki and have also worked with Bukola before they parted ways. For instance the rift between Saraki and Abdulraheem who hail from the same Ajikobi ward in Ilorin West was said to have widened the gulf in the political dynasty. Abdulraheem who has completed his five year tenure as FCC chairman was re-nominated by President Jonathan against the wish of Saraki who preferred the position to be zoned to Kwara North. The controversy still lingers as Abdulraheem awaits his confirmation in the Senate.
Analysts say the defection of Governor Ahmed and Saraki to APC poses serious threat to Jonathan’s much speculated 2015 ambition given the huge followership behind Saraki
The October 26 local government election won by the PDP candidates is another testament of the influence of Saraki. With the machineries of government at Saraki’s disposal vis-a-viz the local government chairmen who won the primaries through Saraki’s endorsement, it would be a herculean task for the mainstream PDP to defeat the APC.
Former Chairman of new PDP, Hon. Isola Balogun-Fulani who addressed a rally at the PDP secretariat in Ilorin declared that with their defection to APC, PDP is dead in Kwara state.
“According to tradition, we don’t have any party as a must. It is where our leaders go that we are going, we are Sarakites and we have our structures. Anywhere he moves to, we move there en-masse. All the executives of the wards, local governments and the state would move en-masse to the party that our leader said they have merged with.
“We have spoken the mind of everybody in Kwara state especially those in PDP. Like I told you we are Sarakites and if our leader says he is no more in PDP, that is the end of PDP in Kwara State and it is dead. I will tell you that we believe what our leaders have done and we are APC as at now. PDP is dead in Kwara state”, he said.
However, an elder of PDP in the state, Alhaji Oba Ajara organized a rally to, according to him, “correct the misinformation that PDP is dead.” Ajara who told Sunday Trust that the party remains very strong as always said: “We are asking other people like Gbemi too to come and remain in the party. We told the world that we remain in PDP because we are founding members of PDP and majority of Kwarans do not follow them to APC as they want the world to believe. So we are strongly in support of PDP and the national leadership.”
In Sokoto , pundits see the state deputy governor ,Mukhtari Shagari ,Senator Abubakar Umar Gada ,Yusuf Suleiman as among key politicians who will hold the structures of PDP after the exit of governor Wamakko. Many think Shagari may not likely move to APC with governor Wamakko even as observers believe he will remain in the PDP and work to be the party’s governorship flag bearer.
Barrister Muktari Shagari is one of those presumed to be nursing the ambition to contest in the state governorship polls come 2015. Over the years, he had been nursing the same ambition to govern the state having contested in the 2003 PDP governorship primaries but was unsuccessful.
He was also the PDP governorship flag bearer for the 2007 polls in the state until Alhaji Aliyu Magatakarda Wamakko, who was the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP) Sokoto governorship candidate, decamped to the PDP before that election. Shagari had to surrender his ticket to Wamakko and run as his deputy. Some claim that there was an agreement at that time to the effect that Shagari would have the PDP ticket after Wamakko but there had been nothing suggesting such even though Shagari is believed to have been very loyal to his boss. There are no indications that he was a favoured candidate of the Governor.
With Wamakko out of the PDP, some are of the opinion that the party will give Shagari the chance to be the governorship candidate. Senator Gada, political adviser to the PDP National Chairman, is seen to be emboldened by the reported support he is supposedly enjoying from President Jonathan who is said to be his longtime friend. Though PDP in Sokoto under governor Wamakko was noted to have control of all elective positions in the state including the Senatorial seats, House of representative, State Assembly, local government chairmanship, it was strongly thought that President Jonathan would use federal might to tilt the playing ground In favour of Gada particularly as he has a lot of scores to settle with Wamakko.
Gada first entered into politics in 2003, contesting as a running mate to Senator Abdallah Wali but they were defeated by the then governor Attahiru Dalhatu Bafarawa. Under the ANPP/PDP arrangement with the coming of Wamakko, Sokoto-East Senatorial seat was allocated to old members of PDP and Gada subsequently clinched the seat in 2007.
However, he is one of those described as Abuja politicians and all along he has been living outside the state and this many negatively impact on his grassroots support. It would be recalled that his bid to return to the senate fell flat as he was defeated by his opponent. Some observers say it does not necessarily suggest that because he failed in the bid to return to the senate, he could not draw support from those that are discontented within the party for whatever reason and possibly some hard-core “old PDP” who still have axe to grind with Wamakko.
Former minister of Sport, Alhaji Yusuf Sulaiman, parted ways with Wamakko in the wake of 2011 gubernatorial re-run election in the state when he entered the race for the party ticket. Sulaiman who also aligned himself with the Abuja based Political opponents of Wamakko is assumed by some to be a favorite of President Jonathan who may also be working to reposition the PDP in the state in favour of Jonathan’s 2015 ambition. But many say he needs to build a broad grassroots support base which they say is lacking for now.
Source: Daily Trust
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