Borno PDP and the generational war
Just when people were beginning to heave a sigh of relief that the Party is repositioning to takeover power from the All Nigeria Peoples Party, ANPP, in the forthcoming election, following the resolution of its one year old crisis occasioned by the Ward and Local Government congresses of last year, a seeming generational war is […]
Just when people were beginning to heave a sigh of relief that the Party is repositioning to takeover power from the All Nigeria Peoples Party, ANPP, in the forthcoming election, following the resolution of its one year old crisis occasioned by the Ward and Local Government congresses of last year, a seeming generational war is brewing between some elders of the party and other stakeholders, on one hand and between the elders and the national leadership of the PDP on the other. The dimensions this conflict is assuming, has heightened fears that the party may be factionalized..
Nine elders of the party, including Alhaji Ibrahim Bunu and Mohammed Abba Gana, both former Ministers of the FCT, Senator Sanusi Daggash, Senator Mohammed Abba Aji, Ambassador Saidu Pindar, Alhaji Mallum Bulin, Alhaji Garba Satomi, Hajiya Kakenna, and Hon. Mohammed Wakil, have dissociated themselves from the peace initiatives of the national secretariat of the Party, calling for a reversal of the directive seeking to correct last years imbalances in the Local Government congresses. To them, the directive has the tendency to whittle their influence in the party in the state.
This move seems to have met stiff resistance from other stakeholders, especially the younger stock. Led by the chairman of the elders committee, Alhaji Ashiek Jarma and Kashim Imam, the group comprises of people like Hajiya Inna Ciroma, Alhaji Ali Bukar Wurge, Barrister J. K Gadzame (SAN), Alhaji Zanna Mustapha, Yusuf Amaza, Harami Balami, Nicholas Msheliza, Barrister Alex Marama, Hon.Fanta Baba, Alhaji Umar Abba Gana, Ambassador Ahmed Kashim, Sanda Garba, Hon. Umara Kumalia, Mohammed Dili, and Major S.D Ngadda, amongst others.
Barely a week ago, the national leadership of the party had, at a meeting with stakeholders in Abuja, resolved the protracted crisis, with a directive that the State Chairman of the party, Alhaji Baba Basharu should inaugurate all the officials returned at the January 18th Ward and Local Government Congresses without exception to whether there was a problem or not. As part of the conditions for the resolution of that crisis, the suspension earlier slammed on the State chairman was also lifted. People left the National Secretariat in Abuja happy, believing that the crisis was over, and for he first time there was a feeling of oneness.
As a follow up, the Minister of Interior and leader of the PDP in Borno state, Dr. Shettima Mustafa called a meeting of stakeholders last Friday to review developments and reposition for the task ahead, where he enjoined everybody to heed the directive of the National Secretariat, even as he declared that there was no winner nor vanquished in the conflict. He equally ordered that as the leader, the directive from the National secretariat superseded every other, and the State Executive Council must strive to carry everybody along in implementing it.
The euphoria of the resolution of that crisis was hardly over when two elders of the party, claiming to write on behalf of seven others petitioned the National Chairman of the PDP, Prince Vincent Ogbulafor asking him to reverse himself over the Borno matter. According to Alhaji Mohammed Abba Gana and Alhaji Ibrahim Bunu, both former Ministers of the Federal Capital Territory and members of the Board of Trustees of the Party, the directive to replace the controversial structures could have far reaching consequences for the party in the state.
In castigating the national leadership, the duo also faulted the National Chairman as taking unilateral decisions. And apparently in solidarity with members of the BOT, former President and chairman of the Board of Trustees, Olusegun Obasanjo was said to have attempted to prevail on the national Secretariat to act in the interest of the nine elders and damn the position of the general stakeholders. This position seem to have irked the party leadership, as the BOT to which the duo belong acts only in advisory capacity, and can not force the hands of the National Executive Council on purely administrative issues.
In a swift reaction on Sunday, the younger generation of stakeholders and the remaining elders, under the leadership of the Chairman of the elders Committee, Alhaji Ashiek Jarma, and the party’s flag bearer in the 2003 and 2007 governorship elections, Kashim Ibahim Iman rose from a meeting with a resolve to resist any attempt at reversing the decisions of the National Secretariat. Meanwhile the National Secretariat on its part has turned down the request of the elders insisting such actions that fail to represent the wider view can not be accommodated in the new PDP. The Deputy National Chairman, Dr Mohammed Bello Haliru was reported to have conveyed the position of the national leadership at a meeting of the BOT last Friday.
The argument being advanced by other stakeholders is that, the elders who wrote the petition were the same people who held the party to ransom all the years and yet failing to deliver during elections. A curious perusal of the list also indicate that they were people who have benefited most immensely from the Party, and are still insisting on clinging to power in spite of their apparent failures. As it is, the youthful stakeholders have threatened to polarize the party if the National Secretariat plays to the whims and caprices of the nine elders
Back home in Borno state, reports have it that the directive of the National Secretariat although did not go down well with some people, especially those occupying positions at the Local Government level, was accepted as a mark of respect for party supremacy. Some of them who spoke with me agreed that they have accepted to give way as part of their sacrifices to make the PDP stronger, even as others have threatened to resign their membership of the party.
Against the background of her electoral outings and the attendant crises that led to her failures at the polls, one may be tempted to surmise that the Peoples Democratic Party; PDP in Borno State is the architect of its own woes. It does appear as if it is not destined to govern Borno state. How else can one explain the endless ego war amongst its stakeholders since inception, especially the outbreak of yet another crisis barely a week after the resolution of another? I think it is time those whose only credentials as elders or stakeholders are their monumental failures at elections to leave the scene and allow others take their turns.
Inuwa Bwala comments from Abuja