PDP senators and their governors’ forum

The freedom to manipulate neighbours and community for selfish reasons, and without minding the cost to the wider society, seems to play-out in any aspect of national life. Yet a sin by another name cannot earn the coloration of a virtue. The week that ended yesterday must rank as one of the busiest of 2014, […]

The freedom to manipulate neighbours and community for selfish reasons, and without minding the cost to the wider society, seems to play-out in any aspect of national life. Yet a sin by another name cannot earn the coloration of a virtue.
The week that ended yesterday must rank as one of the busiest of 2014, going by the intensity of the drama associated with events during its run, and national spread of their impact. As if the turbulence from the defection of the Speaker of the House of Representatives Aminu Tambuwal the preceding week was not enough, last week claimed its own super shows, with mega twists; politically speaking.
 While the declaration of his intention to contest for re-election in the 2015 general elections by President Goodluck Jonathan may rank for some observers as the star show, it cannot in the long run, dwarf the unprecedented power show by the caucus of Senators on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), in the National Assembly. Even as Jonathan’s declaration remains a super event in its own right – given the unique dynamics it has introduced into the political calculus of the nation, it was still only a manifestation of a long anticipated cadence, in the build up to the politics of 2015.
 The Senate affair remains a separate matter in its own right. It was actually a reaction to an earlier power show by state governors who would stop at nothing to claim total political power, including that of compromising the democratic process. Indeed it was akin to a return of the redoubtable governors’ forum at its old game of flaunting muscles in the manner of a local street bully.
Citing the outcome of the PDP ward congresses held nationwide recently, which reflected the odiously preponderant emergence, of handpicked loyalists of  the governors as delegates, the PDP Senators demonstrated demotivation to engage in legislative work until the party leadership addresses the issue. After all it is the delegates that will nominate candidates for the various political offices, and with such in the firm control of the governors, it is anybody’s guess how far they will go, in infesting the system with their cronies for less than altruistic purposes.
Of course the development attracted its own share of reactions, one of the most significant being from Senators from the opposition party – the All Progressives Congress (APC). Senator Babafemi Ojudu (Ekiti APC) and a frontline media personality, berated his colleagues in the PDP, asking them not to allow their internal party crisis to foreshadow the performance of their statutory duties in the legislature.
The protestations over the action of the Senators notwithstanding, they were in a battle for self-survival in the face of tyranny by the indulgent PDP state governors. By the development, the governors, have hijacked the ultimate lever with which to impose their will on the electoral fortunes of their respective states. They, not the electorate, will decide who runs for any office as far as their respective states are concerned. Such offices include the President (to an extent), Governor, Senator, Member of House of Representatives, Member of State House of Assembly; as well as who gets any appointment on behalf of such a state.
An African proverb has it that it is only a madman that will complacently watch a cutlass wielding assailant pass behind him, and wait to complain only after his head is off the neck. Against the backdrop of the routine conduct in office by governors in Nigeria, there is no illusion that the omnibus powers availed them through control of the delegates will not be deployed to altruistic ends. “If the first child cannot crawl how will the second one run”, the African elder asks. The inclination of the governors to act outside the terrain of best interest of the ordinary street level Nigerian is a well-known fact, that has been demonstrated time without count.  
The whole country, not only the PDP Senators, therefore need to see what lies ahead in an eventuality that governors now dictate who gets or does what on the nation’s political stage. Did they not say that if a hen chases you in the morning take to your heels, just in case the otherwise harmless bird developed teeth in the night?
The basis for the governors’ interest in this development is not hard to see. By May 29 2015, as many as 17 of them will be out of office and expect to be in the Senate rather than in the cold as ex- governors. Like hornets destroy bees to taste the honey, the Senate-bound governors need to dislodge Senators that may prove obstacles to their plans. The governors are therefore on a conspiratorial, self- serving mission to feather their nests after leaving office.
Simplistic as this prognosis may seem, its reflection of contemporary realities and implications dictate a more than casual attention to it.  This is why the PDP hierarchy of which the President is the leader needs to do something. As is clear the process of producing the delegates did not reflect the desired practice of internal democracy in the party, even as is enshrined in the constitution of the PDP. It is therefore flawed and must be reviewed for normalcy to be restored.
This calls for President Jonathan’s courageous and prompt intervention, on the side of equity, fairness and justice. He has just declared his intention to contest for a second term in office, during which he will consolidate on current efforts of his administration. The present impasse in his party may as well qualify as the first step in proving his point.
How he handles this PDP headache will serve as a pointer to how the nation will fare under his brief, from May 29, 2015.
That is, if he wins.