Five months to its national convention, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) is enveloped in protracted crisis. For the main opposition party, problem solving is made more problematic by the hardline postures of handlers, who are behaving like undertakers.
In the eye of the storm is the embattled national chairman, Prince Uche Secondus, who failed to take the party to victory in 2019.
He is an experienced party chieftain. But, as chairman, he is not perceived as the party leader. The position is now hotter for him because the forces that brought him to the headship of the party secretariat are tired of his services.
Secondus now has new friends, apart from those that brought him on board in 2017. He is interested in second term. If he survives this moment of trial, he may also survive at the critical convention. That may be the reason his previous sponsors are plotting his removal.
The party, no doubt, is in agony. Life outside power is dull. Yet, the hope of bouncing back is becoming slimmer. Its Governors’ Forum has been depleted, following the defection of two governors. Many chieftains are also leaving in droves. Many state chapters are in disarray.
Now, the battle for the control of the party machinery is fierce. Can the party survive the squabbles?
What is the crisis about?
It is about 2023. Party stalwarts are peeping into the future. They are gazing at the next elections. He who pays the piper dictates the tune. Interest is key, and when there is no alliance of interests, the result is intra-party enmity. Since the National Working Committee (NWC) and the National Executive Committee (NEC) are central to the presidential nomination, strategists are returning to the drawing board to perfect plans for scheming. There are new permutations. There is conflict of interests.
Who are the contending forces?
Those battling for the soul of PDP are former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, Sokoto State Governor Aminu Tambuwal and his Bauchi and Rivers State counterparts, Bala Mohammed and Nyesom Wike. They have presidential and vice presidential ambition, as the case may be. Instructively, party executives can only be tools in the hands of thd gladiators. Hence, the stiff competition for “party power” ahead of the presidential primary.
Who is the moneybag after Secobdus?
The party chairman has not disclosed the identity, except to governors and senators who paid an emergency solidarity visit to him at Wadata Plaza, Abuja, on Wednesday. Definitely, the rich Father Christmas cannot be a woman. He is also neither an ex-governor, ex-minister or ex-legislator.Indisputably, he is a governor. If he is a governor, definitely, he is not from the North, East and West.
READ ALSO: 2023 election: Crisis hits PDP as seven national officers reportedly resign
Why can’t they wait till convention?
Twenty four hours is a long time in politics. Therefore, those plotting Secondus’s ouster want to do it with speed, as delay could be detrimental to their plan. If it is delayed, the chairman can stabilise and confront his adversaries. After that, he can also begin to withtle down the influence of his tormentors, if re-elected. Getting Secobdus out may be difficult, in view of the support for his leadership by some governors and other party leaders.
Also, kicking him out may be easy, if he becomes the sacrificial lamb, following a realistic assessment of the relative influence and weight of the contending forces competing for the soul of the party.
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