PDP: In Search of a New Beginning

Uche Secondus

After months of recriminations and indulgence in the blame game, the  Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) appears set to commence a journey for a new beginning to reposition itself in light of current realities, writes Onyebuchi Ezeigbo

The Peoples Democratic party (PDP) penultimate Thursday began  what may seem like an internal soul-searching to try and purge itself of flaws of the past in order to rediscover the path to glory. Indeed, the PDP national stakeholders conference that held in Abuja provided an opportunity for reflections on the milestones recorded by the party in the last 17 years as well as the blunders committed by it’s leaders.

For instance, while the conference noted the selfless contributions of the party in the struggle to enthrone democratic governance as well as strengthening the framework for sustainable democracy in the last 16 years, it acknowledged the failings in the practice of internal democracy and the fact that it had departed from the original ideals of the founding fathers. More importantly, the party has realized that  the loss at the last presidential election was due to the bungling of the zoning principle which was one of the cardinal principles established by the pioneer leaders to ensure political stability and cohesion.

While flagging off the conference with the theme, “PDP and the Sustenance of Democratic Ideals in Nigeria”, the Acting National Chairman of the party, Prince Uche Secondus, congratulated leaders and members for their perseverance and faith in the party. Secondus said the conference was laudable and auspicious having consideration for the trajectory of the party’s history, 17 years after its formation. According to the Acting National Chairman, the  initiative is part of the soul-searching and also part of the reconciliation process. He said that the national leadership have the duty to bend over backwards and woo back some of the members who may be having a rethink about the Party.

“It is also a forum for reliving the ideals, values and the inspiration of the founding fathers of this party. It is the ideal platform for articulating and marketing the roadmap for the way forward for our party. In spite of the disappointing loss of the PDP in the 2015 general elections, we should draw energy for a rebound from our proud heritage.  Ours is the party that in 1998 rose to the occasion to recreate our civil political institutions, to reconcile the diverse people of Nigeria for unity and brotherhood and propose an agenda, a manifesto that provided hope in the power of the people to build a prosperous industrial democracy”.

Speaking in the same vein, the Deputy Senate President, Senator Ike Ekweremadu, recalled that even during military rule, the PDP founding fathers under the aegis of the G34, “looked tyranny in the face and demanded a return to democratic rule”.  But rather than dwell on lamentations and the euphuria of past contributions of the PDP, Ekwerenmadu decided to throw punches at the new ruling party - APC. He observed that contrary to expectations of many Nigerians, the APC was yet to keep any of its campaign promises and called on the PDP to set up a Shadow Cabinet to benchmark the ruling party on its promises.

“As could be seen from the events of the past few months, it is evident that while a party may ride to power on the wings of propaganda, it takes more than propaganda to govern well and retain goodwill. The APC won by promising much more than they could deliver. They promised to scale up the exchange rate of our currency to one US dollar. Have they kept this promise? They promised to bring back the Chibok girls in less than three months. Have they brought back the Chibok Girls? They promised to pay N5,000 to unemployed youths. Have they paid a kobo to any youth? They promised free meals to our children in the schools. Have they given any? They recently promised to end the Boko Haram insurgency in December 2015. We earnestly hope and pray that this particular promise is kept in the overall interest of our nation”.

Ekwerenmadu also gave APC-led administration knocks for alleged politicization of the anti-graft war. He emphasised that while the PDP will stand by APC-led Federal Government all the way in the anti-graft war, the nation “must diligently guide against the politicisation of the anti-corruption war because that, in itself, constitutes a heavy moral burden”.
Such perception, according to him, “taints the war with witch-hunt and fixates people’s minds on the politics of the anti-corruption drive rather than on whether the accused persons are guilty as charged or not”.

Though, most of the founding leaders including former Vice president Alex Ekwueme, former military president Ibrahim Babangida, former Senate Presidents Ken Nnamani, Pius Anyim and David Mark as well as Adamu Ciroma amongst others were absent,  the THISDAY Dome venue of the function was filled to capacity with other high ranking party faithful including present and former governors, lawmakers and leaders.

Way forward
Key to the rediscovery journey of the PDP is the report of the Post Election Committee headed by Senator Ekwerenmadu. The committee provided among other measures, the restoration of the sanctity of the zoning principle of the party, introduction of biometric membership registration and a return to direct primaries as a means of guaranteeing internal democracy and reconciliation. But it was Prince Secondus who set the balling rolling at the conference when he told the gathering that NEC had adopted the Senator Ike Ekwerenmadu-led committee  report with only few amendments and the NWC and had commenced its implementation including preparing the framework for constitutional amendments to effect those proposals. He said the party had kick-started the biometric membership registration for the PDP in Edo State as a pilot scheme, a strategy he believed can finally remove the phenomenon of  godfather in the party’s lexicon. According to him, the nationwide registration exercise will soon commence.

Secondus also assured that the leadership would build a consensus for implementing the recommendations so that every stakeholders will carry the message of hope to the grassroots and most importantly to Nigerians who according to him are eagerly waiting for the PDP as a credible alternative having seen that the APC does not have the capacity to drive development or the temperament to sustain the unity of our multi-ethnic country, Nigeria.

“We do not have time; we do not have the space either. We all need to work very hard bearing in mind that we have practically one month before we start the preparations for the next round of Congresses and National Convention to elect leaders that would drive the repositioning of our party, the foundation of which our leadership is painstakingly laying”

The Communique
The PDP national conference ended with a resolve that it would continue to ensure credible, robust and issue-based opposition, while promoting harmonious relationship among all people and ensuring that citizens’ confidence in democracy does not wane. In realization  of the imperative for a quick PDP rebound, the conference sort for the immediate implementation of the recommendations of the PDP post-election review committee report, especially those relating to zoning, internal democracy, e-registration and the restructuring of the party at all levels with a view to giving the party back to the rightful owners - the people. The PDP national conference communique also admonished the ruling All Progresives Congress-led regime of becoming increasingly a fascist  government.

The party condemned in strongest terms the growing authoritarianism of the APC-led Federal Government which has been characterized by gross violation of human rights, constitutional infractions, invasion of a governor’s lodge and private homes, deliberate interference and instigation of crisis in the legislature, arm-twisting of the judiciary, undermining of democratic institutions like INEC, nepotism in appointments, abuse of power and clamp down on opposition elements.

It also condemned the sudden decline in the economy and quality of life of Nigerians, occasioned by the lack of direction of the APC government, in addition to the growing tension and rancour in the polity as direct consequences of the alleged divisive tendencies of the present administration. On the same count, PDP denounced what it saw as the prevailing selective application in the fight against corruption targeted at opposition elements and perceived opponents of the regime, while APC members with corruption charges are being rewarded with ministerial positions and other juicy appointments as well as APC tickets in the forthcoming governorship elections in Kogi and Bayelsa states.

It vehemently rejected what it called  the current manipulation of the judiciary and security forces by the APC-led Federal Government in its desperate bid to subvert the sovereign will of the people and forcefully take over states genuinely won by the PDP in the last general elections and ultimately impose a one-party state in Nigeria.  The opposition party charged the new INEC leadership to assert the independence of the electoral body, resist all external influences and ensure free, fair and credible electoral process in Kogi and Bayelsa states and other future elections, adding that PDP will not accept any result that do not reflect the true wishes and aspirations of the people, particularly in Kogi and Bayelsa states.

The party also resolved to further expand the role of youths in its programmes and policies, and take steps to guarantee their full representation in party organs, develop roadmap for a vibrant youth participation and support concession for electoral contests. It used the conference to put all its organs on notice  to commence preparations for the National Convention scheduled for March 2016, the process of which it said would commence with congresses at the Zonal, State, Local Government and Ward levels of the party.