But realising the danger of running into conflict of interest, the state chief executives have perfected plans to hurriedly fulfil their part of the political agreement they reached with President Goodluck Jonathan on the eve of Muazu’s enthronement as PDP chairman.
The Guardian learnt that in their bid to avoid having a party chairman that would end up hurting their political interests, the PDP governors decided to stay united in diplomatically preventing the President from installing a chairman of his choice.
The governors, along with others, agreed to collectively work for the second term bid of Jonathan, but they must first be given the opportunity to produce the party chairman.
That part of the agreement fulfilled, the governors, under the banner of the PDP Governors’ Forum (PDP-GF), were also to begin immediate and serious preparations in their various states for the eventual declaration of interest by the President to seek a second term in office through the 2015 elections.
A source within the forum hinted that before April, a massive campaign that would culminate in the declaration by the President, would take shape in most of the PDP-controlled states.
In a subtle defence of this arrangement on Tuesday in Abuja, the PDP-GF chair and Akwa Ibom State governor, Chief Godswill Akpabio, explained why Jonathan required a second term.
He said: “We urge Mr. President to go back for a second term in office. We believe strongly that the transformation agenda that he has put in place in Nigeria, in the power sector, in agric sector and other sectors will deliver good dividends of democracy to Nigerians and will lead this country to a higher level and that is why Akwa Ibom took the lead.”
Akpabio also restated his loyalty to the President, pointing out that it was imperative that members of the party in his state accord him (Akpabio) similar respect.
“I am here very loyal to the leader of the party at the national level, Mr. President, and you can all attest to that and I don’t make pretences about it. So, I will expect the same loyalty to be extended to me at the state level.
The governor also cautioned Mu’azu. and the PDP National Working Committee (NWC) against the danger of tolerating politicians whom, he noted, had no grassroots support.
“Mr. National Chairman, one of the things you should watch out for, not just from Akwa Ibom but from all the states, is the ones they call Metropolitan politicians, who come here with stories and they will tell you they can deliver everything; that they own the whole state.
“They will tell you to forget the governor, forget chairmen of councils and forget everyone that they can deliver everywhere. First, look into their history and find out where they have delivered before because some of them cannot deliver even their families.
“We are not the kind of politicians to come with elders, who had been Ambassadors or who had been High Commissioners to the United Nations. Those ones don’t win election anywhere; they only win offices of the United Nations.”
He said the party could only win in 2015 if members concentrate attention at the grassroots.
“For us to win the presidency, we need the grassroots. Elections are done in the wards, in the villages and in the chapters. Elections are not done in offices, in the NWC in Wadata House neither do we do elections in the Villa.
“So, those who have access to the Villa and who have access to the offices here are not necessarily those that will get the votes that will put PDP in power in 2015.”
On the need for complete loyalty, Akpabio said: “One thing I know about in party politics is loyalty. You cannot be disloyal to the leadership of the party and the system and expect to come through the window to take power. It is impossible and that is what the NWC must help us to work against.”
During the heated political struggle and campaigns for the chairmanship of the PDP following the exit of Alhaji Bamanga Tukur, the governors saw an opportunity to regain what they had lost in Tukur.
The deal between PDP governors and Jonathan
THE deal was full of drama and surprises! Even the President’s closest governor, Seriake Dickson of Bayelsa State, had ruled many other aspirants out of the race when the selection committee he presided over recommended a former House of Representatives’ Majority Leader, Mohammed Wakil and a former Police Affairs Minister, Maina Waziri.
But the PDP governors, through their umbrella body, the PDP Governors’ Forum, were not ready to lose out, as they did during the political manipulation that culminated in the election of Tukur as chairman of the PDP.
At the centre of the issue that had always caused crisis between the PDP national chairman and the governors was the question of control of state political structures, which gave the governors the opportunity to produce all members of the state executive committee.
A commissioner in one of the PDP-controlled states in the Southeast, who is very close to his governor, disclosed that the PDP governors were so desperate to produce the new party chair because of how they were treated under Tukur through the “arbitrary establishment of caretaker committees in place of the elected executives controlled by the governors.”
Indeed, Akpabio confirmed this fear in a remark at the inauguration of Mu’azu as chairman of PDP last week.
On behalf of other PDP governors, Akpabio was quick in thanking Mu’azu for promising not to tamper with the governors’ structures in the states.
He said “A few weeks ago, I had the unpleasant luck of recalling a situation that had always caused friction between the leadership of the party and the governors and I said, let us try and avoid the banana peels that had affected past chairmen.
“That banana peel has always been the conflict between the national chairman and the home state led by the governor.”
“And we agreed that this was also what started the last crisis, when there was a conflict between the home state governor in Adamawa and our past national chairman.
“But of course, a lot of things came in - political jobbers came in and those who didn’t wish the party well came in and so many other issues came.
“This time around, I think the national chairman has started well. This is the first time we are getting a national chairman and the person who is proposing his nomination is his home state governor. I think this is very uncommon, extremely uncommon.
“I must state the fact that the governors are ready to cooperate with the new national chairman. Be assured of our cooperation; we don’t want to lose more governors; instead, we want to gain.”
In appreciating the assistance of the PDP governors, Mu’azu had said he had watched “the dwindling fortunes” of the PDP from 2003 to date, and pledged that as a means of halting the trend, he would not interfere with state structures of the party, which are controlled by the governors.
He said he was aware that constant disagreements between the national chairman of the party and governors were usually caused by the interference in the running of the party at the state level.
As a practical demonstration of his promise, Ma’azu disclosed that he had entered into agreement with his state (Bauchi) Governor, Mallam Isa Yuguda.
Turning to the PDP governors present during his inauguration, he said, “I won’t tamper with any of your structures, including that of Yuguda. I won’t tamper with any of your structures.”
Mu’azu, a former governor of Buachi State, however, pleaded with the governors “to allow the (state) chairmen of the PDP to register everyone interested in joining the party in their states.”
On the relationship between him and Yuguda, Mu’azu said: “There is an obnoxious belief that a national chairman of the PDP is never in good terms with his state governor. I have decided to break this jinx. I will not tamper with his structures.”
He thanked Yuguda for moving the motion for his nomination as national chairman, saying it was rare in the history of the PDP.
How Mu’azu emerged
THE appointment of Mu’azu defied other permutations that had narrowed the search for a national chairman of the PDP to states outside the immediate control of the party in the Northeast. The highly favoured states were Borno, Yobe and Adamawa, which are all controlled by governors belonging to the opposition All Progressives Congress (APC).
The thinking was that the party should choose a formidable PDP chairman from any one of the APC-controlled states, to act as counter force to the party’s governors in the Northeast.
Also, given the historical frictions between incumbent PDP governors and recent national chairmen, there were also reasonable grounds for all four PDP governors from the Northeast to object to the emergence of a national chairman from their states.
It was more shocking that Mu‘azu, known for his famous face-off with his one-time friend, Governor Isa Yuguda at the time of the 2007 gubernatorial election, became the choice of the party.
Mu’azu got the job ahead of Mohammed Wakil, who was being pushed by elements around the president; and also Senator Idris Umar, who was allegedly the candidate of the First Lady, Mrs. Patience Jonathan.
According to sources, Mu’azu’s appointment was cleared first by the resolve of the PDP states chairmen to oppose any candidate sponsored by Mrs. Jonathan. Their belief was that Bamanga Tukur was sustained in office far longer than he ought to have exited by the support he allegedly received from Mrs. Jonathan and her husband, Dr. Jonathan.
“This idea of the First Lady bringing somebody will be seriously resisted among the chairmen, who feel that Tukur stayed that long because of the overt support he was enjoying from the First Lady,” one the sources said.
“The decision that was finally taken on Thursday (resignation of Tukur), if it had been taken about four, five months ago, the state chairmen feel that only one governor would have gone and that would have been Rotimi Amaechi.
All other governors who left were complaining about Tukur and his style of administration, as characterised by the unwarranted dissolution of state excos and planting his own structures in those states.
“If this decision was taken about five months ago, the party would have been saved the embarrassment of the five governors leaving at the same time.”
Source: Guardian
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