To Chief Tony Anenih, chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Board of Trustees, double-speak is not a virtue. Over the years, he has maintained the principled position that on issues of party loyalty and discipline, a leader does not need to prevaricate. It is one principle that has defined his politics and earned him acclaim even from rivals. It was that principle he brought to bear in dealing with the perceived Vice Presidential ambition of Ibrahim Shehu Shema, the governor of Katsina state- an issue which has brought so much disquiet to the leadership of the PDP for the better part of this year.
Among top Northerners in the party, the issue of displacing the sitting Vice President, Architect Namadi Sambo and installing Governor Shema in his place, was generating unnecessary bad blood. While some openly declared for Shema, a larger number insisted that incumbent Vice President Sambo has not done anything to warrant replacement. Though that aspiration existed in the realm of speculation as Shema refrained from making open declarations about it, it was no less potent because Shema did not find it fit to dispel the rumour outright. Indeed his actions tended to reinforce that perception that he was indeed nursing the ambition of becoming the vice president.
From little speculations, the matter gained a divisive momentum among a certain section of the North. Coming shortly before major national elections in which the President is standing for re-election, it was an issue with which Anenih and the PDP hierarchy were not comfortable. So, when the issue reared its head in Katsina during a stakeholders and reconciliation meeting of the PDP presided over by Anenih in his capacity as chairman of the North-west Integration Committee, he had reportedly told Governor Shema that his bid to become vice president was not feasible. The elder statesman, according to available information, was apparently annoyed that instead of addressing issues of reconciliation, the top party leaders in attendance at the meeting, had busied themselves singing praises of Shema and arguing that he should impress it upon President Jonathan to replace Vice President Sambo with Governor Shema.
Feelers from the meeting indicated that after listening to submissions from most of the stakeholders who requested him to prevail on Jonathan to replace Sambo with Shema, he was blunt in telling the sycophants that President Jonathan has made up his mind to run with Sambo in 2015. He categorically stated that implicit in the sole candidacy ticket offered Jonathan by the party is the VP ticket for Sambo.
Ever since that blunt declaration by Anenih, it is interesting to see how certain individuals have mounted a campaign to misinform the public and create the impression that Anenih was high-handed in dealing with Shema on the issue. The orchestrated media campaign to impugn Anenih’s esteemed character is an unnecessary viciousness and the good thing is that a vast majority of members of the public who are interested in the issue could read in between the lines.
What really does Shema want? Although he has severally claimed that he was never after Sambo’s job, his actions all through the current year have been most divisive, posing unnecessary hurdles for a Party in need of cohesion. At the time this speculation was gaining ground, Shema was also revving up publicity around his person and his administration. It was easy to interpret the unusual increase in media attention as a subtle campaign. Suddenly, his performance as Katsina governor became a topic of discussion in the media just as his jingles and advertisements of his administration’s projects became more audible. If anyone still doubted his intentions, the carnival he staged last September to host the Nigerian editors’ conference was a clear indication.
The argument by supposed Shema loyalists that VP Sambo would not be able to rally the North or deliver the required votes from the North for President Jonathan in 2015, was an unnecessary distraction. Not only is that statement not supported by reality on ground, it tends to create divisions in the Party and betrays desperation on the governor’s part.
But as a newspaper columnist recently argued, there is nothing really wrong in Shema aspiring to that position since people should be allowed to hold their convictions if only the constitutional provision of the right to aspire under the principles of franchise is to be respected. The snag was in the tactic adopted for the aspiration and the bad blood it was creating in the Northern wing of the Party. Considering the deeper implications of a divided PDP in the North going into the 2015 elections, the Party could no longer condone such insensitivity.
It is an issue that needed the tough-talk of Anenih to finally bring to rest; and he did just that at the Katsina meeting, ending the shenanigans over whether or not Sambo would be retained as Jonathan’s running mate in the 2015 presidential election. For him, Sambo is it! Once again, the greater interest of the party has prevailed over personal interest of one person, and to the chagrin of some newspaper columnists and opposition elements, the PDP is the better for it.
Galadima contributed this piece from KanoAbugaladima67@gmail.com
