And it is not the opposition that is causing the progressive unravelling of the much-vaunted largest political party on the African continent. The defrocking or demystification is coming from PDP chieftains and members themselves, who have been cold-bloodedly given the short end of the stick. Just like Saul of Tarsus on the road to Damascus, those unfairly treated members are now having a spiritual re-awakening, and can see the PDP for perhaps what it is – an undemocratic assemblage, whose name could well be a misnomer. There is not much democracy in Peoples Democratic Party, and I’m not the one saying it, it is the party members themselves.
Here comes the APC sympathiser again, some people would say. Not really! A major part of what is today the All Progressives Congress (APC) is the old Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN). When that defunct party would handpick and impose candidates, rather than go through due process of elections, I also shouted foul, screamed blue murder. And today, while the APC is not perfect in the processes through which candidates emerge, it is by far better than the PDP as seen in the last few weeks.
Ask me for men and women treated with flippancy, levity and disdain, distinguished Nigerians in their own rights but treated like something the cat dragged in by the PDP, and I’ll give you examples round the country.
Is the PDP bent on self-immolation? Does it want to self-destruct? These are the questions I ask myself when I see how the party treats people of stature and honour in its ranks, who are either now very disenchanted, or have ditched the party completely.
Chief Barnabas Gemade is a former national chairman of the PDP. He is a serving senator, and wants to return to the upper chamber of the National Assembly next year. But the governor of his state, Dr Gabriel Suswam, is eyeing the same seat. So what did the latter allegedly do? He handpicked all the delegates who would elect candidates, and left Gemade stranded and gasping for breath in the middle of nowhere. Gemade appealed to the powers that be in the party to intervene, and ensure level playing field. They played deaf and dumb. Hear what the former national chairman said before he defected to the APC last week:
“There is no room for an honest and law-abiding member of PDP to have a fair chance in any contest in the forthcoming primary elections, as the party would protect anyone capable of manipulating the process.
“My opponent in the primary elections was allowed to write out the entire list of delegates for the election in his house, including the delegates from my ward and local council, and has boasted on public media how he would use such list to ‘disgrace a party elder.’”
And what did Gemade do? He showed a clean pair of heels. A former national chairman pushed out like a nobody! And he joined the APC. Can somebody please tell those tin gods in PDP that you don’t treat elders and founders with such ignominy? But PDP has danced too far, and may not really listen.
Now, see what has equally happened to Dr Orji Uzor Kalu, a former two-term governor of Abia State. He had wanted to run for the senatorial seat of Abia North, and procured the forms as prescribed by the party. However, Gov T. A. Orji, who was Kalu’s protégé before things went sour, obviously has the party at the state in his pocket (and maybe even at the national level too). What did T. A. Orji do? He handpicked all the delegates in a way that even the blind saw that there would never be free and fair primaries in the state. Kalu thought the party leadership would stand on the side of fairness and due process. He was wrong. The party does not care a hoot how one of its founders and financiers is treated. Just over a fortnight ago, Kalu pulled out of the senatorial race on PDP’s platform, and explained why:
“I had signified my intention to contest for the Abia North senatorial district seat in the forthcoming elections, and had procured a nomination form to that effect, paying the prescribed fees.
“Along the line, however, it became apparent that the Abia State governor, Chief T.A Orji, wants to handpick ALL candidates, both into executive and legislative positions. He wants to choose his own successor as governor, fill the 24 State House of Assembly seats, the 8 Federal Constituencies, and the three Senatorial seats.
“In a democracy, this is downright outrageous, if not scandalous. And all the aspirants into these positions, not favoured by the governor, have collectively protested to the party national headquarters. The congress to elect delegates did not hold in Abia State, the names were just written by the governor and his collaborators. This has forced many good people out of our party, and they have since defected into other political parties to pursue their ambitions. Mr Chairman, it is needless to say that this holds very grave consequences, not only for our party in Abia State, but also for the electoral fortunes of President Goodluck Jonathan, who is running for a second term in office.
“Must a party hang all its hopes and chances on one man, as is currently being done in Abia State? The auguries are not good, I must say. Elections are won by collective efforts, and not as solo run. Our party should not learn this vital lesson when it is too late in Abia State.”
Food for thought for PDP from Kalu! But would the party listen? I doubt. When your ears are clogged with wax, listening becomes quite difficult.
Even a good number of top Abia politicians who had teamed up with Gov Orji to battle Kalu, have now seen the man for who he is. A sneaky, conniving tyrant! But the likes of Eyinnaya Abaribe, Nkechi Nwaogu, Uche Chukwumerije, and many others, found out too late. In the governorship primaries earlier this week, Orji pulled all the stops, and succeeded in imposing his prefered candidate. What an assassin of democracy this PDP is!
In Lagos this week, Jimi Agbaje upstaged Musiliu Obanikoro to get the gubernatorial ticket of the party. Did he the latter then give the former a hug? He screamed loud from the rooftops:
“There is no election results and the election should be cancelled. The process is completely tainted and going forward with that will lead to an outcome that will not be beneficial to the party.
“My immediate reaction is that the election was a sham. I still cannot comprehend how accredited delegates of 806, will turn out to be 868. To be honest with you, you can tell that it was a predetermined exercise.”
Pee-dee-pee, power! The party simply cooked the figures, and 806 became 868 in the process. For long, it had done it to other political parties, now the PDP is doing it to one of its very own. Dog has begun to eat dog. What a big pity! I never forget the words of Major General Mamman Vatsa to the Nigerian military, shortly after he was sentenced to death for coup plotting: “The day that you begin to insult yourself, other people will join you.” PDP is now insulting itself, and even the members are joining. PDP is now exposing PDP.
But was it only in Lagos that the figures were sexed up (to use the language of British tabloids)? No. In Imo, the same song is resounding from Ifeanyi Araraume, who says the victory given to Emeka Ihedioha was spurious. Hear him, in a protest letter to the chairman of the electoral committee:
“From all indications I was short-changed, while Emeka Ihedioha was awarded figures he never earned. The truth is that I won the election as the figures announced by you clearly indicated.
“Your committee declared the following figures: total number of accredited delegates 1,064, total number of votes cast 1, 017, total number of void votes 11, total umber of valid votes 1,006
“The total number of votes obtained by the aspirants as announced by the committee far exceeds the total number of votes cast. This means that there is an excess of 21 votes.
“The total number of votes scored by aspirant 1 to 26 as declared by the returning officer is 345.
“The total number of votes scored by me (Senator Ifeanyi Araraume) as announced is 336. The total number of votes scored by aspirant 1 to 26 (345) plus the total number of votes scored by me (Senator Ifeanyi Araraume) equal to 681. The total number of valid votes cast as announced is equal to 1, 006 votes.
“The total number of votes obtained by aspirant 1 to 26 plus that obtained by me is equal to 681. The total number of valid votes cast minus the total number of votes scored by aspirant 1 to 26 plus that scored by me (681) is equal to 325.
“Therefore, it means that the total number of votes left is 325 which is what Emeka Ihedioha actually scored.”
Another PDP magic! The figures are not adding up, because they’ve been cooked, and Araraume is shouting. A taste of what PDP had always fed to other parties, now being forced down the throat of its own members.
In Bayelsa, hear Heineken Lokpobiri, who was attempting to return to the Senate, as he talked about the purported primary election:
“To my utter dismay and amazement, the only access road leading to the venue of the primary was effectively barricaded by a combined team of heavily armed officers of the Nigeria Police Force and the Nigerian Army, purportedly deployed on the orders of the Governor of Bayelsa State. These officers prevented me and all the delegates accompanying me to the venue from accessing the venue of the primary.” PDP in action! Manipulation is the middle name of this party.
From Kwara State came this jeremiad from a group of aspirants, who vowed not to recognize Dele Belgore as the duly elected gubernatorial candidate;
“Election never took place in the state… We make this statement authoritatively that the party state leadership in connivance with security agents attached to a particular aspirant smuggled fake delegates in…We hereby state unambiguously that we will resist and collectively fight any attempt to impose any aspirant as the flag bearer of the party without a free, fair and transparent primary election.”
In Sokoto, the Deputy Governor, Mukhtar Shagari, who was said to have lost to Abdullahi Wali, bellowed: “There was no election in Sokoto PDP.”
And in Adamawa, the stakeholders were up in arms against the reported election of former EFCC boss, Nuhu Ribadu. They even vowed to boycott the national convention of the party in Abuja, describing what was passed off as primary election “a Kangaroo election.” Will Ribadu, a former anti-corruption czar then keep the allegedly corrupt mandate handed over to him? We wait and watch.
From Cross River, protest emanated from Senator Victor Ndoma-Egba, who described the National Assembly primary election as “fundamentally and fatally flawed,” saying it fell short “of the minimum integrity for an electoral process.” Up PDP!
In Akwa Ibom, about 20 gubernatorial aspirants petitioned the national office of PDP, saying what happened in their state was worse than robbery.
And from Bauchi? Hear Muhammed Ali Pate, one of the aspirants:
“Delegates were coerced into voting the alleged predetermined winner. The initial organization of the election clearly indicated an effort to identify which delegates voted or did not vote for the predetermined winner, and was reinforced by creating fear of repercussion if the delegates did not choose the candidate.”
Parallel primaries were held in places like Enugu, Anambra, Bayelsa, and many other states, while in Oyo, Adebayo Alao-Akala pulled out of PDP, after an exercise he described as patently flawed and undemocratic. He said there was too much injustice in the PDP. Now, he is the governorship candidate of Labour Party.
Of course, in Rivers State, the other aspirants are hopping mad over the preference shown Nyesom Wike, a former Minister of State for Education. Hear Tonye Princewill, one of those blatantly outwitted by the PDP:
“It is no longer news that the PDP gubernatorial primaries held in Rivers State were designed to tell myself and other aspirants that the Ogoni and Ijaw aspirants were not just misplaced but were irrelevant.
“It was designed to show us the agenda for Wike was bigger than that of the rest of us, and that in their scheme of things, we do not matter.”
True, does anybody matter in PDP? How many of their national chairmen have been humiliated out of office? Almost all, from Solomon Lar, to Bernabas Gemade, Audu Ogbeh, Vincent Ogbulafor, Okwesilieze Nwodo, and Bamanga Tukur. PDP cares for nobody. Not for Nigeria, nor for Nigerians, and neither for our democracy. Soon, the party may become a big albatross round the neck of the country, if it has not turned so already. But what is clear is that someday, whether soon or in future, monkey go go market, and he no go return.
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