PDP Crises: Sambo’s desperate trouble-shooting

The last-ditch efforts to reconcile members are being undertaken to save the ruling party from unravelling less than two months to the general elections.Already, the party has been hit by a gale of defections by senior party members like its former national chairman, Chief Barnabas Gemade, and a former Minister of State for Trade and […]

The last-ditch efforts to reconcile members are being undertaken to save the ruling party from unravelling less than two months to the general elections.
Already, the party has been hit by a gale of defections by senior party members like its former national chairman, Chief Barnabas Gemade, and a former Minister of State for Trade and Investments, Dr Samuel Ioraer Ortom, both from Benue State.
In Nasarawa, powerful former Minister of Information, Labaran Maku who lost the PDP governorship primary, has also pitched tent with the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) on whose platform he will now be contesting the election. Other aggrieved PDP members have warned about the electoral consequences of allowing the winners of the primaries in their states to run in the governorship election this February.  
 
To a difficult mission in Sokoto
Will the planned visit by Sambo to Sokoto today douse the raging storm that has engulfed the state chapter of the PDP and bring about genuine reconciliation among the stakeholders in the party, or would it be a wild goose chase?
These are the posers as the PDP members in Sokoto await the proposed reconciliatory move, even as some have elected to boycott it because they have apparently resolved it cannot repair the damage that has been done.
The Sokoto PDP is one of the worst hit among the state chapters of the party enmeshed in the primary elections imbroglio.
The party has remained profoundly divided following its December 8, 2014 primary from which Ambassador Abdallah Wali emerged as the party’s candidate. The election was written off as a charade by other aspirants, including Deputy
Governor Mukhatari Shagari, former Minister Yusuf Suleiman and Senator Aubakar Gada.
The aggrieved aspirants have maintained no gubernatorial primary election was held for the party in the state. According to them, the processes that led to the election were fraught with anomalies. They insisted a fresh governorship primary should be conducted.
Shagari, who is a PDP deputy governor, had warned that the party stands to lose in the 2015 general elections if it did not declare him as its candidate in the state. He criticized the entire process result which showed that he got only one vote.
Not unexpectedly, Abdallah Wali defended the primary election. “In the real sense, nobody should have the moral justification of accusing that delegates were manipulated. Do not forget that these delegates were accredited in front of three certified agents who represented the three aspirants. To us, it is embarrassing for anybody to raise the issue of fake delegates during the election. This venue was in the open in the stadium and not in a hall. The INEC officials were present and they monitored the processes. The security agents were also present at the venue. To many, the election is one of the most transparent in the state,” he said.
As the 2015 elections move nearer, the internal strife in the Sokoto PDP chapter has robbed it of the much needed unity among its key actors, breaking it into four factions.
Former Governor Attahiru Bafarawa and the state party chairman, Ibrahim Milgoma who are supporting the election of Wali as governorship candidate belong to one faction, while there are also the Shagari, Yusuf Suleiman and Abubakar Gada factions.
The lingering problem deepened during the week as a group of 25 out of the 28 elected members of the Sokoto State PDP Executive Committee, in a paid advertorial on the prevailing situation in the state chapter of the party, called for the cancellation of the PDP governorship primary in Sokoto, claiming that it was not free and fair.
A body, under the aegis of the Sokoto State PDP Exco Integrity Group, which appears to be on the side of Shagari, Suleiman and Gada has called for a fresh governorship primary in the state and appointment of a new team of impartial members of electoral team.
They also expressed worry that the party was losing members in the state because of the crisis rocking it. “The mass defection of members of our party recently will spell doom for the party as witnessed in Isa local government where 3,000 members were lost to the All Progressives Congress (APC) as a result of Bafarawa’s imposition of candidates on that locality which is supposed to be his immediate catchment area,” the group asserted. It alleged that Bafarawa’s action may affect the chances of the party in the forthcoming election.
However, in defence of Bafarawa, Alhaji Milgoma, dismissed the allegation that the former governor has hijacked the party.
A PDP member in the state, Yusuf Dingyadi has suggested that, “The best solution to fashion a way out for genuine reconciliation is to go back to the drawing board. The leadership of the party should find the best remedy.”
Many other members of the PDP in the state hold that the drive behind the planned reconciliation should be to ensure that the right thing is not only done, but is seen to be done.
A close associate of one of the governorship aspirants told our correspondent that they had resolved not to take part in the reconciliatory meeting with Sambo, because they don’t believe it would change the position of things.
“We will shut our doors against any superficial move or cosmetic arrangement. We won’t be party to any cosmetic arrangement,” the associate declared.
 
Mission to Yobe fails
The uncertainty trailing the emergence of Adamu Maina Waziri as the PDP gubernatorial candidate in Yobe State is yet to douse, despite the intervention by Vice President Sambo.
Due to security challenges, primary election did not hold in Damaturu, the Yobe State capital.
Waziri, a three-time flag-bearer of the PDP was reportedly endorsed by 19 out of 670 delegates at a meeting in Abuja, a development that generated disaffection in the party.
Within the week, Sambo held a meeting in Kaduna with Waziri and one of the gubernatorial aspirants, Dr Yarima Lawan Ngama, a former Minister of State for Finance.
The impression at the end of the Kaduna meeting was that the crisis had been resolved, and that the remaining aspirants would support Waziri, who is expected to confront Governor Ibrahim Gaidam at the polls.
But sources said only Ngama accepted the truce, on the grounds that Sambo had assured that he would be compensated with a ministerial appointment.
Before the Kaduna meeting, he was seen as an uncompromising aspirant, who was fully determined to spend his last kobo to actualize his dream. In fact, there were talks that when Ngama was schemed out of the contest, he had perfected plans to defect to the APC.
In one way, the Kaduna meeting has achieved its aim by ensuring that Ngama remains in the PDP, though two other frontline candidates, Ibrahim Talba and Hassan Kafayos, have dissociated themselves from it.
They insisted that there was a grand design to impose a candidate on the party through undemocratic means.
Talba and Kafayos faulted the entire meeting and its purported outcome and resolutions, as they said the meeting pretended that the primary was only between Waziri and Ngama.
“We expect that as a vice president and one of the leaders of our great party, the VP should have availed himself of the details in the issue before offering to mediate. If he had done so, he would have saved himself the embarrassment of being deceived that there were only two aspirants in the race for the governorship ticket of the PDP in Yobe and would have reached out to all of us in the spirit of fairness,” they said.
They also promised to continue challenging the endorsement of Waziri at the courts.
 
Reconciles Lagos with promise of ministerial slot
Until the trouble-shooting visit of Vice President Sambo to PDP members in Lagos State a few days ago, it was an open secret that the party would go into the February 2015 gubernatorial election as a divided house.
The seed of rancour was sown at the party’s gubernatorial primary, which produced Pharmacist Jimi Agbaje as PDP’s candidate in Lagos. Agbaje’s emergence was to the dissatisfaction of four other aspirants, especially Senator Musiliu Obanikoro, who was the main challenger and immediate past Minister of State for Defence.
Obanikoro took his grouse a step further when he slammed a suit against Agbaje and the PDP at an Abuja Federal High Court.
A campaign of verbal attacks was launched by the camp of Obanikoro against Chief Bode George, Agbaje’s main supporter.
But that anxiety was to ease off when Sambo came calling on December 23, 2014. Sources informed Sunday Trust that for several hours, the vice president had to practically beg each of the feuding parties, reminding them of the need to sheathe their swords so as to be able to win the state in the general election.
Each of the aspirants who participated in the primary was said to have been pleaded with, even as there were claims of the VP’s assurance that they would be duly compensated at the right time.
The biggest beneficiary among the aspirants was Obanikoro, who because of his clout, campaign expenses and legal challenge was said to have been promised with a senior ministerial portfolio. His son was also said to have initially been considered for the deputy governorship seat, before the idea was dropped because of his young age.
In return, the former minister was said to have been asked to withdraw his suit from the Abuja High Court and to work hand-in-hand with Agbaje to ensure the party’s victory in the coming election.
The meeting, which began at the evening of December 23, was said to have lasted into the wee hours of December 24. And to demonstrate the success of the parley, the Lagos PDP hurriedly put in place a press conference where all aggrieved parties, including Vice President Sambo were asked to make speeches.
According to Sambo, more than any other time, the Lagos PDP is prepared to take over the rein of leadership in the state.
“Our party has the total advantage of winning Lagos as the state has yearned for too long for a change. We are poised more than ever before to rescue Lagos. The time for PDP to take over Lagos has come. PDP is confident that it would win Lagos and other elective positions in 2015. We have maintained our neutrality by encouraging our aspirants to get the members to vote for them,” Sambo said.
He said what the party had done in reconciling all aggrieved parties was worth “emulating by other party members in Lagos and beyond.”
 
Leaves behind a divided house in Kebbi
The vice president, accompanied by Minister of Special Duties Kabiru Tanimu Turaki, Minister of Foreign Affairs Aminu Bashir Wali and Dr Haliru Bello were in Birnin Kebbi last Tuesday night through Wednesday for a reconciliation meeting with aggrieved PDP members, sequel to the party’s gubernatorial primary poll.
The meeting was attended by retired General Sarkin-Yaki Bello who was announced the winner of the primary, former Minister of Sport Samaila Sambawa, Gen Muhammadu Dan hanne Isah, Mansir Shehu, Zubairu Turaki, Musa Zagi, Hon Sani Kalgo, Gari-Malam, acting state PDP chairman Bello Doya and Sahabi Lolo, among others.
Crisis had broken out on December 11 when officials from the national secretariat of the party and the local leadership of the party began to conduct the primary poll at Haliru Abdu Stadium in the state capital.
Midway into the exercise, after delegates from nine out of the 21 local government areas in the state had already cast their votes, five of the aspirants, including Deputy Governor Ibrahim Aliyu and Senator Muhammadu Magoro, protested against the conduct of the election and demanded for its immediate cancellation.
The chairman and the key officials of the congress agreed with them. The election was subsequently cancelled and re-scheduled for a date to be announced by the national secretariat of the party.
But while this was happening, one of the aspirants, Gen Bello, who was later seen at the congress, announced that another election had been held in the state capital where he was elected as the candidate.
All the aspirants rejected Gen Bello’s self-declaration and waited for the national secretariat to organize the re-scheduled primaries.
But when the re-scheduled congress was about to be held, Gen Bello again announced himself as the winner. Again, the other aspirants rejected his claim. Since then, the camps had been pitched against one another.
Sen Magoro was conspicuously absent at the meeting. There were strong indications that the senator may succumb to pressure from his supporters to decamp to the APC. A strong delegation led by Aliero, our correspondent gathered, had visited him at his Kaduna residence to convince him to join them in the APC.
Gen Isah had earlier during the week called on his supporters to remain in the PDP. Zubairu Turaki and Musa Zagi’s position is, however, not clear. But Sambawa has since pitched his tent with Gen Bello’s team.
Some of the aggrieved aspirants and other PDP stakeholders were said to have put up a window dressing when their expectation at the meeting fell short of replacing Gen Bello. Deputy Governor Ibrahim K. Aliyu’s faction made up of Gen Isah, Zagi, Zubairu, Hon Kalgo, among others held another closed- door meeting after the departure of the VP.
They contemplated suing INEC, Gen Bello and the party once it was established that the PDP has submitted his name to INEC as its candidate in the state.
Hon Kalgo, who is believed to have been the highest campaign spender for the primaries, had promised to bankroll the suit.
 
Accomplishes mission to Kaduna
The VP also travelled to Kaduna, his home state, to reconcile warring party members.
Just before the primary elections, the party conducted ward congresses during which delegates were chosen by consensus in each of the 255 wards in the state, instead of through elections. Three governorship aspirants revolted against the congresses on the grounds that genuine elections were not conducted and all the delegates chosen were fans of incumbent governor Mukhtar Ramalan Yero.
The aspirants included Haruna Zego Aziz, Samaila Yakawada and Felix Hassan Hyat. But a few hours to the governorship primaries, Sambo held talks with party elders in the state and pleaded for calm. It was said that Sambo pledged to compensate all the aspirants with appointments. Hyat and Yakawada later withdrew for Yero in the primary elections. The two men were said to be holding strategic positions in the Yero campaign team.
The VP also travelled to Kagoro in Southern Kaduna where he met party loyalists and traditional leaders in an effort to win more votes in the area in the future elections.
 
‘I didn’t offer any promise’
But VP Sambo has denied offering any promise to reconcile the aggrieved aspirants and candidates of the PDP for the 2015 general elections.
Speaking to our correspondent yesterday through his spokesman, Malam Umar Sani, the vice president said his efforts towards brokering truce among aggrieved aspirants and candidates of the party were genuine.
Describing the reconciliation efforts as very successful, Sani said Sambo had always allowed both the candidates and the aggrieved aspirants to reach an amicable compromise which, according to him, naturally forms the basis of the resolution of the impasse.
The vice president’s aide also confirmed that the reconciliation efforts by his principal had helped in calming frayed nerves and ushered in renewed hopes and confidence. According to Sani, Sambo’s efforts had accordingly galvanised all the stakeholders of the PDP to work together as a team towards the success of the party in the forthcoming general elections.
On whether his boss offered any promise to aggrieved aspirants as a condition for reconciliation, Sani stressed that there was nothing like that. He said, “I was at all those meetings. No such thing (offer of promises) took place. The VP’s reconciliatory efforts are predicated on achieving genuine reconciliation. He has emphasised on an all-inclusive campaign where all stakeholders must work together and each person must be carried along.
“He (Sambo) has always allowed both the candidates and the aggrieved aspirants to reach an amicable compromise which naturally forms the basis of the resolution of the impasse. It has been very successful as it has not only helped in calming frayed nerves, but has also ushered in renewed hopes and confidence. It has accordingly galvanized them to work together as a team towards the success of the party at the polls.”