PDP: The return of Jonathan

Like a ship that survived a killer storm at sea, and is needy of a quick return to even keel as well as continue its journey, so the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has found itself. Hardly in a position to miss out on any opportunity to regain rhythm after the recent Supreme Court judgement that […]

Like a ship that survived a killer storm at sea, and is needy of a quick return to even keel as well as continue its journey, so the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has found itself. Hardly in a position to miss out on any opportunity to regain rhythm after the recent Supreme Court judgement that saved its soul from extinction, it is reported to be putting everything that matters in   place, pursuant to returning early to political relevance, and maybe also, to the long abandoned role of providing the country with a credible opposition to the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), as the present political dispensation requires. After reigning for almost two decades as the ‘biggest political movement in Africa’, and suffering a two-year hiatus during which it went into a self-destruct mode, that arose from a protracted, in-house crisis over poor management of failure in the 2015 general elections, its woes could not have been merely salutary. Indeed, given the extent of aggravated self-inflicted injuries it sustained during those dark days, the party can do with a complete make-over – from the bottom to the top. That is if it really wants to regain lost grounds. 

 In the wake of the Supreme Court verdict , the party caucuses (or whoever is left of such groups as many members jumped ship at various stages of the hiatus), have been meeting to celebrate the victory of the Ahmed Makarfi faction over that of Ali Modu Sheriff. Indeed it is a season of backslapping of each other and looking out for the future. The extended National Executive Committee (NEC) met on Tuesday and even fixed a non elective National Convention for August 12th this year. However the icing on the cake remains the reported return to the forefront of the party’s leadership slot by the former President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan. Nigeria’s leading newspaper the Daily Trust on Sunday reported in its last Sunday edition that Jonathan is leading the party’s build-up for regaining lost ground in the forthcoming  2019 elections with the purpose of dethroning the ruling APC. That report captured the endorsement of Jonathan as reflected by his wide acceptance by the leading lights of the party, who acknowledged his competence to move the PDP to a new level. 

Ordinarily, a leadership role for Jonathan – the immediate past President of the country at the helm of PDP affairs should not attract undue interest but for the circumstances that have befallen the party since the 2015 polls that saw him fall from power. By the party’s own convention and rules, such a President enjoys reserved powers to act as its leader even if informally and retains that status even after leaving office. However for the PDP, its story has ‘K-leg’ (borrowing a term from former President Chief Olusegun Obasanjo also erstwhile leader of the PDP). Having lost massively at the polls beyond its expectations, the party leadership indulged in a season of unproductive mutual recrimination and abdication of responsibility to keep their house intact.  Jonathan himself and his camp virtually abandoned ship, rueing over what they saw as betrayal by the leading lights of the party. The vacuum so created was exploited by opportunistic elements in the party, and in the process landed it in the hot water it found itself. 

Now that he has found the need and nerve to identify with the role of an arrow-head for the PDP in its rescue mission, Jonathan has a huge assignment carved out for him, in the light of changing the party’s narrative.  In this respect kudos must go to Senator Ahmed Makarfi and his team for the dexterity and grit they mustered in driving the PDP through the stormy days of the Ali Modu Sheriff distraction.  With the storm now over, Nigerians expect a new PDP from the ashes of the old order. 

What Nigerians expect is a party with strong inclination for institutionalisation, that will discourage the reign of potentates over it. And it will take more than the Makarfi dispensation to achieve that. It will require a closing of ranks by all the assets of the party comprising the Makarfi and Jonathan factors primarily, as well as any likely returnees and fresh members.  This is no time for ostracising anybody for the offence of jumping ship. Rather the Jonathan factor should address its focus on fostering meaningful reforms in the party structure across the country. 

In this respect there are at least three imperatives that will mark success in the reform exercise. 

The first is the need for the party to rationalise its party membership protocol. A reformed PDP must start with a verifiable, nationwide, membership directory that is domiciled at the National Headquarters. A major cause of the problems in the PDP arose from the mismanagement of the issues surrounding membership of the party for the simple fact that at no time did the PDP have a verifiable list of registered party members. In the new dispensation, the party shall start its reformation exercise with a determined effort to ensure that every duly registered member of the party in every ward of the country shall have his or her bio-data captured with all the accuracy that can be mustered and made available for access by any so designated interest at ward, local government, state and national levels, online and real time.

Next the need for mechanisms to enforce membership discipline. In the traditional context political parties survive and thrive only when the party reigns supreme over any of its members no matter the political office occupied by such a person. This is only possible when party members obey and comply with extant party rules and conventions. In that context, the practice whereby the PDP had adopted the President and State Governors as party leaders at the national and state levels who can over rule the decisions of the party hierarchy. It was this dispensation that conferred on state governors the omnibus powers that led to the incontestable positions which many of them adopted in imposing their personal whims and idiosyncrasies on the party’s affairs. The consequences are there for all to see. For the PDP to be seen as reformed and therefore appealing to its existing, likely to return ex-members and fresh applicants for membership, it must entrench whatever measure that will promote party supremacy in its operations.

Thirdly is the need to downplay money politics. Party positions and access to opportunities to vie for elective offices should not be determined by the ‘richer takes all’ principle but through the command of popularity by aspirants. This becomes possible when the party membership comprises verifiable individuals who can be relied upon to stand by their votes in any polls contest.  In the light of endemic and widespread poverty among Nigerians there is always the tendency for the affluent to influence party politics. While this cannot be eliminated, with a robust party membership platform a lot of relief can be established.

Fourthly, a reformed PDP shall be expected to demonstrate compliance with the provisions of the Constitution of the country, and thereby serve as the peoples’ ombudsman. This disposition will avail it a commendable role as the credible opposition party which is currently missing in the country’s political space.