G7’s planned defection to APC: Real or political gimick? Looks at the meeting of G7 representative with former president, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo against the background of the governor’s earlier resolve to join the All Progressives Congress (APC) SINCE the crisis that tore the umbrella of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) broke out at the special convention of the party held on August 31 in Abuja, what can be described as a soap opera has been launched in the party that prides itself as the largest in sub-Saharan Africa and hopes to bestride the country’s political firmament for about six decades. Governors Rotimi Ameachi, Aliyu Babangida, Rabiu Kwankwanso, Sule Lamido, Murtala Nyako, Abdulfatai Ahmed and Aliyu Wamamako, jointly called the G7 governors, have been vocal in a faction of the party named the New PDP and chaired by Alhaji Kawu Baraje. They vowed never to return to the larger fold unless their seven-point demand was met. A former president, Olusegun Obasanjo and other ex-leaders in the military, including Ibrahim Babangida, Abdulsalam Abubakar and Theophilus Danjuma had made efforts to reconcile the governors with President Goodluck Jonathan, whose second term bid is believed to be part of the intrigue-induced crisis in the party. The bid of the New PDP energised by the G7 governors to open a parallel secretariat had failed as the court ruled against their prayer. The court also did not grant their request to stop the Alhaji Bamanga Tukur-led faction from parading itself as the PDP executive leaders. A truce meeting scheduled for October at the Villa achieved little as some of the disgruntled governors were away in Saudi Arabia for the hajj exercise. With the failure of the legal weapon, the media became awash with reports of open and nocturnal meetings of the G7 with leaders of the opposition All Progressives Congress (APC). APC leaders, Senator Bola Tinubu and General Muhammadu Buhari, led negotiations with the ‘rebel’ governors from PDP. At one of such meetings, it was reported that the planned bid of the G7 governors to publicly declare for APC was stalled as a result of breakdown in negotiation and the refusal of the APC leadership to meet their conditions. They were said to have demanded that APC structure in their states be handed over to them as the first condition. In another episode of the soap opera in the power play, some of the governors and former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, were linked to the submission of an application to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) for the registration of a new party named Peoples Progressive Movement (PPM). This was just as they were also said to be looking towards the direction of the Accord Party as an alternative platform to realise their mission. Governor Kwakwaso, while responding to entreaties by APC leadership led by Buhari to dump PDP, promised to hold court with PDP leaders in the state on the matter. Buhari said the APC was on “a very top and ruthless recruitment drive because we feel very uncomfortable without Kano State coming along with us.” His host had replied him thus: “I will sit down with all stakeholders because there is no decision a governor can sit down and take on his own without consulting the stakeholders of the party. Kwankwasiyya Movement is a disciplined movement. We are working as group and team,” he said. Certainly, we will sit down all of us and look at all the challenges and the consequences if any and together we will take decision on what to do and communicate to you.” Following the increasing camaraderie between its governors and APC leadership, the New PDP, had put the romance in perspective. Its national Publicity Secretary, Chief Eze Chukwuemeka Eze, said “The increasing closeness between leaders of the New Peoples Democratic Party (New PDP) and those of the APC has raised questions in the minds of many Nigerians and fuelled speculations on the possible merger of the two parties… The chemistry between the team and that of APC led by General Muhammadu Buhari and Bola Tinubu was indeed unmistakable. The APC leaders have since then intensified the lobby for a marriage between both parties, even visiting some of our governors to directly invite them to join their party. “All these visits on our state governors simply demonstrate our new status in the politics of Nigeria as the new Bride of Nigeria Politics and we hope to play the role as expected of us as we hold the key to Aso Rock come 2015… Some have interpreted this to mean that a political marriage may be imminent between the New PDP and APC. While nothing is impossible in politics, it is necessary to state that we have not at this point closing the door on the ongoing negotiations between us and President Goodluck Jonathan, who is also the National Leader of our great party, PDP, the reformation of which is our preoccupation for now,” New PDP said. The likelihood of the PDP crisis being resolved became manifest with the sudden meeting of five of the G7 governors with Obasanjo and their volte face on their plan to dump PDP for APC. Niger State governor, Dr Aliyu, who spoke to reporters at the end of the visit in Abeokuta, said the G7 governors were no more dumping the PDP for the opposition APC, asking rhetorically, “who told you that?”, from reporters who had asked a question to that effect. Although they explained that the visit was part of another round of nation-wide consultations with leaders and elders in the party and polity, keen watchers of events in the party are quick to point out that the governors went to Obasanjo for briefing on the next plan. The former President, who is speculated to be grinding an axe with President Jonathan over the control of the party and the running of government, had been speculated to be fully behind the ‘rebel’ in their opposition to Tukur-led mainstream PDP. Observers also noted that Obasanjo might have summoned the governors to inform them to play it cool in their romance with the APC leaders. This observation is anchored on the view that Obasanjo would not consent to the governors joining APC, even if the crisis in PDP proved insurmountable till the end of the year. Adroit in political intrigues, the former president and the G7, according to observers, might have weighed the negative consequences of losing power to the opposition party. At a meeting held with former governors in the South-West in June this year, we gathered that Obasanjo dropped a hint to the effect that some leaders of PDP were planning to shift support to the Accord Party, following their displeasure with the way Tukur and President Jonathan reportedly were running the party. He was said to have added a business tycoon in the party had expressed willingness to fund Accord for that purpose. He was also said to have told his lieutenants in the South-West to fold their arms and await his order on the next move. Another interpretation given to the visit by analysts is that the widely circulated defection report was to fly a kite as part of signaling a strategy in power politics. Analysts observed that it would amount to drinking hemlock for Obasanjo and the G7 governors if the move to APC sails through. To observers, national relevance and the image of an enormous political father figure for a sitting president are at stake for the former president. Another group of observers are anchoring the change of plan on APC by the G7 governors to the crisis in some state chapters of APC, particularly in the South-West. The note of warning sounded by Wammako in media reports against imposition of candidates should they join APC is also said to have played a role. That is, the power tussle that will ensue in the event of the PDP govenrors joining the APC. While Kwakwaso is speculated to be interested in a senatorial slot in 2015, his arch-rival and former governor Ibrahim Shekarau is said to be eyeing the same ticket and said to be spoiling for ‘war’ with any contender for the ticket. The APC leaders in Adamawa State were also reported to have warned against admitting Nyako into the party. Instructive in Babangida’s remark was the G7’s signal to President Jonathan to summon another meeting shortly where the issues in contention would be discussed, a further indication that the crisis might be resolved in the usual ‘family way’ of the PDP. The question that naturally arise therefore are: how real was the threat to dump PDP for APC? Could the G7 have afforded to start from the scratch by joining the APC as ordinary members?
Posted on: Thu, 07 Nov 2013 04:21:49 +0000
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