Recovering from the defeat by the hitherto opposition All Progressives Congress (APC) in the just-concluded general elections, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) is putting its acts together to reinvent the party and make it bounce back to reckoning in future elections.
Daily Sun gathered that the party hierarchy has set in motion, a process to search for a national leader who would be a rallying figure capable of bringing the party back to life.
National Chairman, Alhaji Adamu Mu’azu, has said that the defeat would not demoralise the members, assuring that everything humanly possible would be done to breathe breath of life into the party that was touted to be capable of ruling the country for 60 years.
It is an open secret that there is no love lost between the PDP Governors’ Forum under the chairmanship of the Akwa Ibom State, Godswll Akpabio and the party’s National Working Committee (NWC), over the party’s defeat in the general elections. It was widely reported in the newspapers that the former has been pushing for the removal of Mu’azu as well as dissolution of the NWC.
Against this backdrop, the party has been searching for someone in the mould of the National Leader of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, who fought doggedly to recapture the South-west from the PDP.
A couple of names, according to Daily Sun checks, are being examined with a view to zeroing in on one that would be generally admitted to merit the post of a national leader of the party.
Chief Tony Anenih’s name was examined, but age is said not to be on his side. Besides, despite his political dexterity, the group, searching for the new leader within the PDP wants a bit of generational change, sensing that, Anenih’s ideas might have been obsolete. Apart from that, the Edo State born elder statesman may not even be keen to come back to the country’s political centre stage after several decades of being at the helm of affairs of a couple of political parties where he has played frontline roles.
The same things go for the likes of the former Vice President, Dr. Alex Ekwueme, former Education Minister, Professor (Senator), Jubril Aminu and former Attorney General of the Federation and Minister for Justice, Chief Richard Osuolale Akinjide (SAN).
Meanwhile, when the searchlight was beamed downwards, other names that came up included those of the outgoing governors, Ibrahim Shema (Katsina), Sule Lamido (Jigawa), Babangida Aliyu (Niger), Godswill Akpabio (Akwa Ibom), Lyel Imoke (Cross River) and Olusegun Mimiko (Ondo). Ibrahim Dankwambo, the only PDP surviving Governor of Gombe State, also makes the list. But the case against him is that, though, he may have resources to galvanise the members, combining that with governance could be a great task to accomplish.
Also, the youthful, dynamic and vibrant former governor of Abia State, Dr Orji Uzor Kalu (OUK), could have come handy, but his senatorial ambition coul be a hindrance. If he succeeds in retrieving his stolen senatorial mandate at the tribunal, he will be very busy with at the Upper Legislative Chamber.
In an interview with Daily Sun in his Igbere countryhome in Abia State, Kalu said he was going to the senate to effect positive change, saying, “I thank God that I have the capacity to lobby and move things around and I believe that I will be able to do a lot in support of good policies that will enhance development of Nigeria.”
Although, he contested on the platform of the Progressive Peoples Alliance (PPA), when he was forced out of the PDP by some unscrupulous elements in the party, Kalu sees no difference between the PDP and the PPA. The PDP, according to him, “is the eleder brother of the PPA.”
The import is that, if he eventually succeeds at the tribunal, there is the likelihood of going back to the PDP, the party of which he is a founding father. And if that happens, PDP will be on its way back to life.
But the same cannot be said of the likes of the former National Deputy Chairman of the party, Chief Olabode George who had struggled in vain to win Lagos State for his party. Presently, he has Tinubu to contend with in the South West.
Daily Sun also gathered that both Shema and Lamido top the list. Shema, who was being favoured initially to replace Namadi Sambo as running mate to President Goodluck Jonathan in the last election is said to be a cool headed administrator and silent achiever. The obstacle against his ratification is the open fact that the incoming President, General Muhammadu Buhari (GMB), is his kinsman. Nobody needs a soothsayer to know that it would be a herculean task to mobilize against Buhari’s interest in Katsina State going by his (Buhari’s), large followership in the region. Recall that the state would soon come under the control of the APC as the former Speaker of the House of Representatives, Aminu Bello Massari of the APC won the April 11 governorship election in the state.
As for Lamido, it was gathered that, despite losing his state, Jigawa, to the APC, Lamido’s name has been a recurring decimal on the lips of notable PDP members across the country and overseas.
Lamido’s acceptance across PDP membership appear heartwarming that it is almost like a consensus among party caucuses.
So, Lamido’s honest disposition, consistency, fatherly figure, universal exposure and organizational ability are some of the qualities that seem to have attracted him to the rest of the party members and which makes it appear that they would be comfortable with his leadership.
Daily Sun investigation further revealed that the party’s stakesholders’ summit is in the offing to assess the situation of the party with a view to charting a new course for the revival of the party.
The summit, which is said to be tentatively slated for after the handover on May 29, according to a reliable source, is to allow President Goodluck Jonathan to be an active participant at the event.
This appears to be in line with the thinking of the PDP governors and some aggrieved stakeholders to force an emergency convention that would flush out the current NWC of the party and usher in a new set that would boost the already dampened morale of party members.
Daily Sun recently reported exclusively that there was anger in the PDP after the general elections to the extent that some members were calling for the sack of the National Working Committee (NWC) of the party over its failure to save the party from embarassment the last outing brought to it.
Whether the party will survive its current predicament or not, only time can tell.
Dailysun
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