The defeat of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the general election early this year has left the party in a most uncertain situation. Such is the uncertainty that all manner of emergency leaders, attention seekers, carpet baggers and new godfathers who are masquerading as political reformers are on the prowl, struggling to seize control of the party. At the last count, over seven different groups, pretending to a ‘reformist’ mission, have been holding one conference or the other in the name of PDP – all in an attempt to seize control of the party in preparation for 2019. The recent outing of Chief Raymond Dokpesi, a media mogul, under the auspices of PDP Conference Committee, fits well into this pattern of emergency party leaders and political deception.
In promoting the so-called PDP Conference, which in fact was his pet project, Dokpesi had shocked the world by “apologising to Nigerians” on behalf of the PDP for fielding the former president, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan, as the PDP presidential candidate in the 2011 presidential election. In Dokpesi’s reductionist reasoning, PDP lost the 2015 general election simply because it fielded Jonathan in 2011, thereby depriving the North their “turn” to complete the remaining years of the Umar Yar’ adua’s presidency.
Let it be pointed out that Dokpesi’s self-serving argument of the abandonment of zoning by the PDP in 2011 is not close to the reasons behind the electoral setbacks that the party suffered at the polls this year. In any case, Dokpesi and his sponsors have failed to explain why, in spite of the zoning principle, Jonathan went ahead to defeat the former vice president, Atiku Abubakar, at the PDP presidential primaries and later won overwhelmingly in 2011 presidential election when Nigerians chose to uphold the constitution of the Federal Republic against a narrow party rule. Make no mistakes about it, zoning remains an integral principle to promote equity, justice and fairness in the sharing of political positions and that explains why the founding fathers of the PDP enshrined it in the party’s constitution. PDP has been faithful to that principle since 1999 until 2011 when the party was faced with a strange situation when its own constitution came in conflict with the Nigerian Constitution and the latter had its way as the law prescribed. And so Dokpesi and his co-travellers, now taking advantage of the weak leadership of the PDP and pretending to be founding fathers of the party, have nothing to teach discerning members on the principle of zoning!
Again, if one may ask, who is Dokpesi in the PDP to speak for the party? This clearly shows how low, the clueless, corrupt leadership at Wadata House has fallen since it threw away the mandate Nigerians had entrusted with the party since 1999. Dokpesi is not a member of any of the principal organs of the PDP; he is not a member of the National Working Committee (NWC) and neither is he a member of the National Executive Committee (NEC). Yet, in his desperation for relevance and, perhaps, to perfect his scheming with those whose drumbeats he is dancing to, Dokpesi got himself to chair the committee for the e-registration of party members, a project which he claims is geared towards returning the PDP to the grassroots members and eliminating godfathers.
And who will argue with any initiative to increase internal democracy and whittle down the overbearing influence of godfathers and mothers in the PDP, which is part of the reasons for losing the 2015 general elections? Yet the manner, in which Dokpesi has carried on especially with his recent unsolicited and even scandalous apology purportedly on behalf of the PDP, raises new doubts about the real intentions behind the PDP e-registration being championed by him! It is more so as Dokpesi has declared his intention to retire PDP leaders of seventy years and above to make way for younger people with persons like him below the age of seventy as the new party leaders. For all intents and purposes, Dokpesi is not really against the presence of godfathers; what he wants is to replace the “old godfathers” with himself and his ilk. He certainly does not need to descend to an ignominious low to achieve this.
It is not curious that Dokpesi, his clownish followers and masked sponsors do not have any problems with Jonathan as the PDP candidate in 2015, the election that he lost, but are raising all kinds of issues with the Jonathan candidature in 2011. Dokpesi is simply at his sycophantic best because in the build-up to 2011 presidential race, the Agenebode High Chief was working for some northern politicians under the aegis of an amorphous group, PDP Reformers. Lest it be forgotten that the main objective of the group was to ensure that power stayed in the North even if it meant destroying the PDP by denying a sitting President Jonathan the constitutional right of seeking his party’s presidential ticket. Some of Dokpesi associates in that group like Nasir el-Rufai had moved on to join the opposition party then while people like Dokpesi were apparently left strategically behind to decapitate the PDP from within as was seen in the last election. So for those who can read between the lines, Dokpesi’s purported apology is in complete sync with the hatchet job he was recruited to do by certain northern politicians some years back.
Dokpesi and his ilk flying all sorts of kites for politicians, some of whom have disowned him, are doing so because a compromised NWC that led the party to a disastrous election is still disgracefully hanging on to the leadership of the party. Apart from the fact that this NWC gave away the power that PDP had been holding in trust for Nigerians since 1999, it is undeniable that this group will go down in history as the worst in performance, integrity and sagacity. They are more interested in sharing money and that may explain why, after losing a major election, their best thought was to pay out to themselves unjustifiable millions of Naira as allowances after destroying their party by selling tickets to the highest bidders. Apart from losing the Presidency, the loss of Benue, Plateau, Adamawa and perhaps, Taraba States, will continue to haunt Adamu Mu’azu and Uche Secondus!
PDP remains a formidable political platform and, in many senses, stronger than the ruling APC. And that is why some forces are using the likes of Dokpesi to seek to destroy the party. There is nothing to be ashamed of by fielding Jonathan as PDP’s candidate in 2011 and in 2015. Jonathan and the PDP lost the election not necessarily because of what the President did but more for what he did not do. And this includes not keeping dangerous enemies who were pretending to be his friends like Dokpesi and a saboteur- NWC at arm’s length. The task before the real leaders of the party now is to flush Uche Secondus and his corrupt NWC out to enable the genuine rebuilding necessary for the challenge in 2019!
Abdullahi, political analyst and public affairs commentator, contributed this piece from Abuja.
