The Same Old PDP

In the two and a half years that President   Yar’adua held forte, we saw no interference in the affairs of the party. This, to a great extent, has contributed to the seeming restlessness in the party, especially from those of its members who were used to the draconian styles of Obasanjo who changed party leadership […]

In the two and a half years that President   Yar’adua held forte, we saw no interference in the affairs of the party. This, to a great extent, has contributed to the seeming restlessness in the party, especially from those of its members who were used to the draconian styles of Obasanjo who changed party leadership at will, interfered in every little decision that the party hierarchy took especially between 2003 and 2007 when he forced his second term on the nation.

What I see visibly in the air today is the return to that dark period whereby party leaders were forced to tow certain lines, otherwise they faced every form of blackmail, including compelling them to resign at gun point. At least, Chief Audu Ogbe is a living testimony of this brutal inhumanity of General Obasanjo’s rule.

When the PDP was formed, General Obasanjo was a prisoner, not of conscience but for plotting to overthrow a military government. He was arrested and tried based on laws that he signed as the chairmen of the Supreme Military Council in 1976; the soldiers found him culpable of attempt to overthrow the government of General Abacha and accordingly, was treated like a common criminal as Sam Nda Isaiah would say.

While he was under incarceration, General Abacha passed away and he was released by the government of Abdulsalam Abubakar and later forced on the PDP as its presidential candidate as a measure to assuage the Southwest, following the June 12, 1993 election debacle and matters arising from it. Little did those who trusted him know that Obasanjo had become a different kettle of fish all together.

He came, saw and destroyed the fabric of the nation’s attempt at democracy: the political party. He trampled on the rule of law, order and procedure. He ruled the country as an emperor and committed several heinous crimes against humanity. Apart from destroying the foundation of his party, the PDP, he meddled in the affairs of other major political parties in the opposition and ensured that they lost steam and in some cases, were destroyed.

Obasanjo was so strong that he deceived the Yoruba intelligentsia and helped destroyed their national political group, the Alliance for Democracy (AD), a feat that no ordinary Nigerian   could   have achieved. He went away with it. He changed the chairmen of the PDP four times in eight years. He installed them and removed them whenever he sensed any form of disloyalty or at least, what he saw as such. He completely kept the party under his arms to the extent that he amended its constitution at the tail end of his regime to ensure that he became the chairman of its Board of Trustees and empowered the office to determine the directions of all elected officers under the party, including the president.

Soon after he got hint of the state of health of President Yar’adua and the likelihood that he wasn’t going to be able to make it back to office, Obasanjo began his antics and expressions of frustrations which led to his call on President Yar’adua to resign mid January this year and thus re-launched himself fully into the workings of government and therefore,thought what needed to be done among other things was to destabilize the party leadership by removing its chairman and maybe, the entire National Working Committee of the party.

While we are saying that what is happening in the PDP is simply the proverbial chicken coming home to roost, it is important to underscore the impact of the return of Obasanjo and the future of party politics in the country. I am of the view that as long as President Jonathan will give Obasanjo any breathing space, then he is doomed to fail and won’t achieve anything good until he vacates office.

What is happening to the PDP leadership of which the president is an interested party is a signal that Obasanjo has indeed returned and his style of politics of intimidation is all over the air. I am not opposed to the trial of corrupt public officials but I am against witch-hunting. The PDP chairman is being accused of stealing or collaboratingto steal about N104 million in 2001 when he was a minister.

From that time till now, he has served as secretary of the PDP and nobody raised that issue. He became the party chairman more than two years ago, nobody ever raised that issue. The problem came to limelight only after Ogbulafor told the then acting president after Dora Akunyilli had displayed immaturity in the thirst for power, that the slot for the presidency in 2011 will be a Northern affair based on the agreement of the party in 2002.

That was bitter to the new powers that be and as such, the party leadership must be dealt with so that President Jonathan and his men may as well appoint their lackeys to do the bidding for them in 2011. The best way out is to bring up the 2001 theft issue to deal with the chairman. This is not just unfortunate but a sheer display of political barbarism and insincerity on the parts of those who are the leaders and therefore, should be sincere.

It is unfortunate that we are not making any progress as a people and nation. There is need to end this culture of barbarism and backwardness if we are to see the light of progress and development in our society.

The party system is still in crisis because it is yet under the emasculation of those in positions of authority. President Jonathan is certainly treading the path of General Obasanjo and he is doomed to fail if he decides not to retract