The impression, which has been created in some quarters, is that the position of the chair of the Nigerian Governors’ Forum (NGF), a non-constitutional body, was at the root of the crisis rocking the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). That is only partly correct. There were other reasons that conspired to cause aggravation among some leaders of the party.
But it suffices to surmise that the totality of the causes or the causative agents of the crisis is targeted at stopping the second term bid of President Goodluck Jonathan. Those who are parading themselves as members of the new PDP under Kawu Baraje are committed to a devious plot to fracture the cohesion of the party ahead of the 2015 general election in the calculation that it would be difficult for the Party to win, especially the presidential election. Unfortunately, they are mistaken.
However, it is important to underscore the fact that the opposition elements’ multi-faceted strategies are anchored on the fulcrum of the NGF leadership crisis, which pitched anti-Jonathan Governor of Rivers State, Mr Rotimi Amaechi against the candidate of the PDP for the NGF chair, Governor Jonah Jang of Plateau State. That should not have been the case had Amaechi agreed to toe the PDP line.
With the solid support of many governors of the opposition parties, save Governors Olusegun Mimiko of Ondo State and Peter Obi of Anambra State, Amaechi had spurned the position of his supposed party to step aside for its consensus candidate-Jang. But Amaechi had dug his feet in and insisted on election even when the PDP governors’ caucus in the North had chosen Jang as its consensus candidate for the NGF chair.
The outcome of the process has since polarized the Forum with two chairmen- Jang and Amaechi- laying claim to the chair. It does not now matter who the authentic chair is or not. There is crisis in the Forum and it can no longer speak with a voice. This development has worked pretty well for the PDP and the Jang faction. One thing that has been achieved with the polarization is the weakening of Amaechi’s hold on the leadership of the Forum, which he had hitherto deployed to criticize the Federal Government.
The impotence of Amaechi’s factional leadership has also manifested in its inability to synergize with or constructively engage the Federal Government on issues of policies, programmes and governance in the polity as it does not enjoy official recognition. Take for instance, the Jang faction summoned a meeting of governors and the Minister of State of Finance over the walk out by State Finance Commissioners from a meeting of Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC) over the sharing of revenue accruing to the three tiers of government.
The Amaechi faction could not intervene in the crisis because it lacks the official recognition to do so; what it did was to hold a meeting much later on September 17, 2013 where it called on Minister of Finance, Dr (Mrs) Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, to resign if she knew she would not be able to adhere strictly with the 2013 Appropriation Act. Of course, the minster gave it back to the faction, saying only the president could determine her fate.
Again, it was to the Jang faction of the NGF that the Federal Government turned in the setting up of administrative machinery for resolving the issues in the strike by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU). Benue Governor, Gabriel Suswam, a staunch member of the Jang faction, chairs the NEEDS Assessment Implementation Committee for Public Universities in Nigeria. ASUU met with the Committee and agreed on the proposed expenditure of N100 billion for some infrastructure facilities needed in the universities.
The Amaechi faction was completely lost from the radar. The sensitive and very important nature of the issue of public universities needs did not permit the faction to play politics with it; otherwise, the faction would have hastily criticized the effort by the Federal Government. It was wise enough to know that such indiscretion would backfire terribly. Indeed, the move by the Presidency and the Jang faction has further rendered Amaechi and his band of opposition governors prostrate and impotent.
Even within the PDP, where six other governors have decided to openly associate with Amaechi’s rebellion, the decision to take on the Jonathan presidency is considered a misadventure, given the enormity of the powers and influence of the Federal Government. This open association of six governors with Amaechi is also a confirmation of his impotence. What it simply means is that without the conspiratorial alliance of the six governors in the PDP, encouraged by the governors of the All Progressive Congress (APC), Amaechi would not have dared to challenge the presidency and his party to a supremacy contest.
His impotence has fired him up on the imperative of survival and he has understandably become desperate in the protection of his enlightened self-interest. His political future is on the tenterhooks and the commonwealth of Rivers people are being deployed to fund a save-Amaechi-rebellion (read as an enterprise to save the PDP from the alleged maladministration of the National Chairman, Alhaji Bamanga Tukur).
Credible information from the grapevine had pointed to Amaechi as the sponsor of the shuttle diplomacy that took five northern governors, to wit: Sule Lamido (Jigawa), Rabiu Kwankwanso (Kano), Muazu Babangida Aliyu (Niger), Magatakarda Wammako (Sokoto) and Murtala Nyako (Adamawa) round parts of the country during which they reportedly consulted with some leaders on the crisis within the PDP.
They were reported to have been gravely concerned about the factionalisation of the NGF leadership. That was the issue they trumpeted as motivating them to embark on their nationwide consultations. They appeared to have gained some sympathy from the Nigerian public. Even some leaders and members of the PDP were touched by their seemingly mature manner of going about adverting attention to the problem within the PDP.
But suddenly, they expanded the scope of their grievances: removal of Bamanga Tukur and reversal of the decisions by the Tukur-led National Working Committee (NWC) to dissolve the Adamawa State Executive Committee and Rivers State Executive Committee of the PDP (albeit a product of court judgment) loyal to Nyako and Amaechi respectively. They had also wanted the presidency and the PDP to recognize Amaechi as the bona fide Chair of the NGF.
Then, in a move that was intended to force the presidency and the PDP leadership to discuss with it, the aggrieved seven governors broke out of the August 31, 2013, venue of the special national convention of the party, to float the new PDP, which is itself a manifestation of their immaturity, frustration and incompetence. They thereafter demanded a review of the convention. First, how could they bring up Kawu Baraje, who did not contest the position of national chairman with Tukur as their national chairman? Second, they shot themselves in the foot by describing themselves as new PDP as there is nothing like new PDP in the register of INEC.
Perhaps, they would have moved far away from their huge joke, even in the face of their lack of credibility, if they had appropriated the PDP platform, as it were, to push their claim for an alternative or new leadership. But by propping up the platform of new PDP, they have terribly missed the point; and if their point is to move out of the PDP, why are they wasting time? It seems to me that they do not have the courage to do so. What are they afraid of? Even their dilatory tactics of seeking to extend reconciliation talks is an indication of their hopelessness. If they want to jump ship, they should do it forthwith. Their romance with the opposition is an open secret, after all. So why are they being duplicitous, wanting to have their cake and eat it?
I am not sure many people are enamoured by their claim that they want to stay in the party and fight to the finish. There is nothing to fight to the finish, other than the re-election bid of President Jonathan; and, here, the Amaechi faction is hopelessly impotent. The faction (comprising the APC governors) cannot determine Jonathan’s second term bid. It does not have the capacity to do so. Two elements-God and the Nigerian people-and not Amaechi and his co-travelers in the voyage of stopping Jonathan’s re-election, will determine his fate.
· Ehigiator contributed this piece from Abuja.
