PDP: Issues around presidential campaign armada

The situation raises a complement of not easily seen issues which the party needs to bother about. Was the size of the committee determined (as some are insinuating) by the jumbo N21 billion that was realized during the campaign fund raising exercise? Or the size is intended to foster a ‘job for the boys’ dispensation […]

The situation raises a complement of not easily seen issues which the party needs to bother about. Was the size of the committee determined (as some are insinuating) by the jumbo N21 billion that was realized during the campaign fund raising exercise? Or the size is intended to foster a ‘job for the boys’ dispensation in order to appease the swelling ranks of aggrieved members of the party, who may be nursing one grudge or the other, and may be spoiling for a fight to settle scores with the party leadership, over the rough deal they were treated to during the party primaries?
Within its membership are those that easily qualify as assets to the party’s fortunes, while there are those whose utility in the enterprise of securing a second term for President Goodluck Jonathan is questionable, since they have never been associated with driving any electoral victory at any level of governance. Yet there are still others who are out of tune with even the expectations of the President himself. As Nigeria is a foot balling nation, the popular soccer field ‘mass attack’ strategy has been brought into play. How that works out will be interesting.
 Beyond its status as a mega party compared to other registered parties in the country, there are many factors which may justify the recourse of the PDP to an equally mega campaign committee. In the first place it faces an immediate challenge of retaining power at the centre, by winning the forth coming February elections, given the changed face of the opposition this time around. All through previous elections from 1999 to 2011, including the few bye-elections in designated states, the party had always found itself as the giant facing a constellation of smaller parties, many of whom would be in the race only on nominal basis.
This time around the game is different as the opposition is led by the ever improving All Progressives Congress (APC), which is a merger of four of the biggest opposition parties, while the other smaller parties will be in tow to pick up crumbs where the giants slip. Besides, the cross section of the APC are actually decampees from the PDP, which creates the spectre of a house fighting against itself. This is just as the APC which was established primarily to counter the dominance of the PDP, also has its soul comprising more than a sprinkling of decampees from the ruling party. The former Vice President of the country and now an APC stalwart Alhaji Abubakar Atiku who served in office under the PDP banner, and the Rivers State Governor Rotimi Amaechi who is the APC’s presidential campaign Czar, are just a few of such decampees from the ruling party.
 On representativeness, it would have been expected  that the body would feature on a balanced basis, faces from all the 36 states of the federation and maybe the 109 senatorial zones. Rather we have a situation which features a random selection of membership that follow a formula seemingly defined by rule of the thumb. How the alchemy of forging these motely assemblage into a harmonious dispensation is perhaps the biggest challenge of the PDP today.  
However beyond the logistic challenge of matching its challenge with all the assets at its disposal, there seems to be other reasons for the armada assembled in the name of a PDP presidential campaign team. At least hints from the inauguration speeches by the leadership, especially those by the party Chairman Muazu and the President betrayed their discomfiture that all is not well with the rank and file. There are deep seated misgivings and protests; some muted others very loud. The party Chairman eloquently referred to the situation which he captured as the monkey work baboon chop syndrome. This is a Nigerian parlance for expressing inequity in graphics terms. The chairman then rightly concluded that the problem with the party stemmed from serial injustice which led to the exit of several notable heavy weights in its rank and file.
It is instructive that both the National Chairman and the President individually acknowledged the problem of the party and promised to address same even as they appealed to aggrieved party members to keep faith with it. This acknowledgement is well advised. The build-up to the PDP presidential campaign has been strewn with a cornucopia of problems, many of which arose from the outrages meted out by the elements in and pretenders to leadership against the membership, especially some in the high networth category Senators, etc.
Due to the scant premium placed on internal party democracy, the party’s national leadership allowed potentates – mostly the governors, to hijack the structures in the states, thereby supplanting popular will with their whims and caprices. Instead of allowing regular electoral processes to drive the emergence of candidates for electoral offices, the governors simply handpicked their cronies to occupy such positions, hoping that the elections proper will simply be used to ratify their choices. The situation spawned serial crises in virtually all states of the country, with aggrieved members in some states poised to engage in activities that may deny the party electoral victory come February. Of note is the fact that many ranking Senators whose would have proved to be enduring assets to the President if he returns, truncated by their state governors on grounds that defied rhyme or reason. Their governors only wanted them for dinner. So is the situation whereby none of the former cabinet ministers who resigned to pursue gubernatorial ambitions fare better. The protection from the centre which they would have expected naturally, having wined and dined at the master’s table, failed to feature.  
Meanwhile the APC is equally playing along, hoping to reap from the expected damage to be inflicted on the PDP by its swelling rank of aggrieved, current and decamped members. After all if guy man fall, mugu go wack.
Political permutations are fingering a typical flashpoint of such development as the Rivers State where the PDP national leadership seems to be reading the picture wrongly. The emergence of the PDP candidate for the state Mr Nyesom Wike through a redoubtable process that featured blatant manipulation, and whose only claim to validity is the unabashed support by some elements in the Presidential Villa, seems to be glossed over by the party. This is just as the party seems to be underestimating the potency of a Rotimi Amaechi in his element as a spoiler.
Clearly, unless the party bends over backwards over the Rivers State issue, Nigerians will be treated to an action movie classic, come February 2015.