In the South-West, the Ondo State PDP chapter was punctured with the landmark judicial judgement that declared Dr. Olusegun Mimiko as the duly-elected governor of the state on February 23, 2009.
Few months after the Olusegun Agagu-led PDP government was sent packing from the Alagbaka Government House in Akure, things eventually fell apart in the party, and all efforts to hold the centre has consistently failed up till now.
Problem started in the party when some stakeholders raised objection to what they termed the undue influence of the immediate past governor, Agagu, on the party, advocating for equal treatment of members and entrenching party supremacy.
The cracks in the party were allegedly championed by the then Nigerian Ambassador to Australia, Dr. Olu Agbi; the immediate past commissioner for finance, Mr. Tayo Alasoadura; another PDP chieftain in the state, Chief Segun Adegoke, and a host of others.
The problems became more pronounced during the 2011 general elections when allegations of anti-party issues were raised.
After the PDP eventually won the presidential election, it was another thug of war as stakeholders fought tooth and nail on the issue of who to be appointed as minister from the state and those to be given federal appointment. This development was said to have provided the incumbent governor, a Labour Party (LP) member, the opportunity of fielding federal appointment slots of the state.
The latest scenario in PDP now, which political watchers believe might cost it the governorship seat in the scheduled October 20 election, is the fact that there are two distinct authorities in the state chapter of the party, and one of them has vowed not to support the candidate of the party in the election, Chief Olusola Oke.
The party’s factional Chairman, Dr. Akin Olowookere, had stated at a press conference recently that his faction would not work for the candidate of the party in the October governorship election, but rather would support the incumbent governor, while the PDP will go back to the drawing board to prepare for 2017 election in the state.
Another impediment on the fortunes of PDP is the fact that the executive of the faction claiming ownership of the structures of the party have been restrained and the congresses that produced them declared null and void by the court of law.
The court restrained the members elected through the exercises from parading themselves as executive members of the party, either at the local government or state levels till the determination of the substantive suit before it.
In Lagos, owing to the never ending schism in the state chapter of the PDP, most of the gladiators are yet to emerge. But some names are currently being mentioned as capable of obtaining the party’s flag.
A one-time High Commissioner to Ghana, Senator Musiliu Obanikoro is being speculated to be warming up his machinery to re-contest the office he once sought after in 2007. Also in contention for the party’s ticket include former Director-General of the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), Dr. Ade Dosunmu, who was fielded by the party in 2011.
The crisis rocking Ogun State PDP started as a child’s play with the belief that the hullabaloo would soon fizzle out, but the crisis then, which was purely a battle of supremacy between the then governor, Otunba Gbenga Daniel (OGD), and former President Olusegun Obasanjo, eventually leading to the final polarisation of the party into two factions.
However, the party is still engaged in series of litigations, as up till date not less than 20 court injunctions and eight rulings have been obtained by different factions. After the election, the battle that was hitherto between Daniel group shifted further to the polarisation of the Obasanjo group into four. Today, it can be confirmed that the crack has indeed been widened.
Four factions of the party in the state comprise that of former President Olusegun Obasanjo, Prince Kashamu Buruji who leads and finances the Omo Ilu Foundation, former minister of commerce and industry Jubril Martins-Kuye, as well as the faction under the former governor Gbenga Daniel.
The Ekiti State chapter of the PDP is not left out. The party in the state has been struggling to put its house in order since October 15, 2010, when the party lost the control of the state to the Dr. Kayode Fayemi-led ACN. Wrangling within the party became obvious when the former governor, Mr. Ayodele Fayose dumped the Labour Party (LP), the platform upon which he contested for the Ekiti Central Senatorial seat in the April 2011 general elections.
Fayose took a bold step to pitch tent once again with PDP, when he went to his ward in his home town in Afao Ekiti, where he was given a heroic welcome and was issued a party membership card by the ward chairman of the party. The move to formalise his return did not see the light of the day as the then Chief Bola Olu-Ojo-led State Working Committee insisted that the National Working Committee of the party had not granted him the waiver that would see him being readmitted into the party as there were issues to be resolved.
The party in Ekiti State suspended the planned visit of the National Vice Chairman, South West Zone, Chief Segun Oni to the state as the post-congress election crisis that dogged the party in the state persists. The suspension of Oni’s visit to the state, according to inside sources, could not be unconnected with the threat from Ekiti State PDP Chairman, Chief Makanjuola Ogundipe-led executive that he would not be welcomed to the state in view of his alleged role in the “factionalisation” of the party. Oni, a former governor of the state, was billed to visit Ekiti in june, having visited other states in the zone after his emergence as the zonal leader at the election held in Osogbo, Osun State.
In the south-eastern zone, Hon. Emeka Ihedioha, representing Ngor Okpalla/Aboh Mbaise federal constituency in the House of Representatives and deputy speaker of the house, is reportedly hell-bent on taking over the reins of government from Governor Rochas Okorocha of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) in 2015. Nevertheless, indications are that he may not go far, following the resoluteness of former Minister of Interior, Captain Emmanuel Iheanacho, to call the shots from the Government House, Owerri, in 2015.
Both Ihedioha and Iheanacho hail from Owerri Senatorial District, and in the case of zoning the PDP gubernatorial ticket to the zone, not a few say that Iheanacho would beat Ihedioha in a free, fair and credible party primary. Besides, Senator Hope Uzodinma, representing Orlu Senatorial District, is also reportedly eyeing the governorship position in the state.
And in Enugu State, the general assumption is that Engr. Vita Abba is the authentic chairman of the party in the state, a faction of the party, chaired by Mr. Ceaser Ogbonna, says he is optimistic that the court would validate the congresses conducted by his faction in 2010, at ward, council and state levels. Ogbonna said the suit challenging the failure of the national headquarters of the PDP to recognise his faction of the PDP is still pending in the Federal High Court, Abuja.
He said his group was determined to use legal means to reclaim the control of the party machinery in the state, adding that all the vital documents relating to the conduct of the PDP primaries by his own faction have been tendered before the court. He added that his faction had already forwarded its grievances to the current National Chairman, Alhaji Bamanga Tukur.
Foundation of the current crisis rocking the PDP in Enugu State was laid late last year when PDP National Working Committee (NWC), led by its former national chairman, Dr. Okwesileze Nwodo, dissolved the Vita Abba-led state executive and ordered the conduct of fresh congresses to elect new party executives at the ward, council and state levels. Nwodo’s action followed his claim that the party congresses, which produced the various executive, were inconclusive.
The development led to the emergence of two factions in the state, with Chief Vita Abba, leading the group that produced Governor Sullivan Chime as the gubernatorial candidate of the party in the 2011 general elections, while Ogbonna’s group is believed to be sympathetic to Nwodo.
Ebonyi State could safely be said to be the stronghold of the ruling PDP in the South-East geo-political zone. Ever since 1999, the party has held sway in the state. And given the existing unity and cohesion within the state chapter of the party, it does appear that the party would dominate the 2015 general elections, except something disastrous happens between now and then.
Presently, Chief Ugorji Ama-Oti is at the helm of affairs of the party in the state. He mounted the saddle in 2011 shortly before the general elections, when the current Deputy Governor of the state, Chief Dave Umahi, who was then former party chairman, was nominated as running mate to Governor Martin Elechi. Umahi was first appointed caretaker chairman of the party in 2007 and was made substantive chairman in 2008.
PDP chapters in the North have not been speared of the crises rocking the party due to different factions and interests. Since the emergence of the present PDP leadership in Kano, a major leadership tussle has rocked the party, leading to the emergence of two factions, each challenging the legitimacy of the other. The state council on one hand is headed by Alhaji Adamu Aliyu Sumaila, while the Garkuwa group, headed by a former senator, Alhaji Aminu Inuwa, is claiming total control of the party affairs.
As a result of this development, the Garkuwa group tends to distance itself from what it describes as “self proclaimed leadership” under Sumaila, and therefore formed a state committee of concerned members to look into the affairs of the party.
Recent development in the party has sparked off row between the contending groups, leading to a power tussle within the party.
Alhaji Sumaila, chairman of the state council, had told reporters in an interview that his council was the legitimate body because it emerged after a well-organised “congress”. But spokesman of the Garkuwa group, Alhaji Sule Chamber, described the congress as a “Kangaroo gathering”, and said his group will challenge the state leadership because it lacked legitimacy. As party members buried their differences on the eve of the last gubernatorial elections in order to wrestle power from All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP), differences between the two leading groups continue to manifest within the party.
The Garkuwa group has recently filed a court case against the state government over its frequent use of Kwankwasiyya inscription on public properties. Deep sense of frustration due to alleged feeling of marginalisation and perceived irrelevance in the affairs of the state government continue to dominate discuss among PDP members. Already, the situation in the party has become so tensed that the Garkuwa group is now hoping to resolve the tango through a court pronouncement.
In every function, the governor made remarks on the rationale behind the inscription, thereby making the already tense situation even worse, by insisting that he has to leave a mark on all projects his administration executed. “We are writing Kwankwasiyya inscription because we don’t want our projects to be hijacked after our time,” Governor Kwankwaso was quoted as saying.
Subtle permutations have began in Katsina State with politicians in different political camps engaging in what could mildly be described as high stake politicking. As at the last count, no fewer than 12 bigwigs have been associated with the struggle to take over from the incumbent governor, Alhaji Ibrahim Shehu Shema, with analysts asserting that the list may not have been exhaustive.
Perhaps, owing to political dynamics of the state, where only two political parties, PDP and CPC, loom large at the political space, most of the so-called hopefuls are associated with either PDP or CPC with very little or nothing being heard about other political parties. Within the ruling PDP, names that have continued to feature prominently among the list of those nursing guber ambition are those of the minister of mines and steel development, Arch. Musa Sada, and Senators Ibrahim Muhammad Ida and Mahmud Kanti Bello.
In the opposition CPC, names that featured prominently among those eyeing the coveted seat in the state are those of the former speaker of the House of Representatives, Aminu Bello Masari, among others. Unconfirmed sources said Musa Sada has got the tacit support and endorsement of Governor Shema, who it is widely speculated, was oiling the political machineries within the ruling PDP to ensure smooth emergence of Sada.
Senators Ibrahim Muhammad Ida and Mahmud Kanti Bello, who have continually been associated with the struggle to occupy the Katsina State Government House, are both influential members of the ruling PDP, having served at the last Senate. Both had their aspirations to return to the Senate thwarted by the tsunami unleashed on the state by the opposition CPC which captured 15 out of the 18 National Assembly seats in the state, including the three Senate seats.
Unconfirmed sources said Senator Ida is banking on probable support of Tukur, whom it is alleged is the Senator’s “main man”. Analysts posit that with his enormous wealth and connections within the national leadership of the ruling PDP, Ida may well spring surprises. It was gathered that the senator, who may not have been enjoying the support of the incumbent governor, is making frantic efforts to woo the support of party leadership in the state.
Only recently, Senator Ida was alleged to have participated in a meeting of a group bent on reawakening the Peoples Democratic Movement (PDM), supposed forerunner to the PDP. Sources said the idea behind the much-touted reawakening as being championed by Ida and the likes, was aimed at repositioning the PDP. Views are being expressed in Katsina State that Senator Ida may use the PDM to whittle down Governor Shema’s firm grip on PDP in the state.
In Benue State so far, more than 10 political bigwigs, whose political antecedents have blazed the trail in the state, are said to be nursing ambition to contest for the governorship seat of the state in 2015. Investigations reveal that most of the intending candidates are from the Zone B senatorial district of the state, which comprised of Masev, Ihyarev and Nongov, popularly called MINDA, and where reportedly the zoning arrangement is favoured.
To begin with, top on the list of the contenders are said to be Minister of State for Trade and Investment, Dr. Samuel Ortom; the Speaker of Benue State House of Assembly, Barrister David Iorhemba; the Permanent Secretary of the Government House Administration, Mr. Tivlumun Nyitse; Commissioner for Lands and Survey, Mr. John Tondo, and his Agriculture and Natural Resources counterpart, Dr. Eugene Aliegba; Permanent Secretary of the state Ministry of Agriculture, Prince Andy Uwoukwu; Mr. Hinga Ibiem, the permanent secretary of Ministry of Internal Affairs, as well as, former special assistant to George Akume, Mr. Dave Awuna, and Prince Simon Aondoana, are said to have indicated interest for the race.
A few politicians from the Zone A senatorial district, where the present governor is from, are also said to have indicated interest in the 2015 governorship poll. They are the Director General of Suswam/Lawani Campaign Organisation, Chief Terhemba Shija; governorship candidate of the ACN, Prof. Steven Ugba, and Dr. Cletus Akwaya, special adviser to the governor on media and publicity.
But some analysts have said that the governorship position may not be zoned to MINDA, the Zone B senatorial district, because the present Tor Tiv, Chief Alfred Akawe Torkula, hails from the zone and that two crucial posts would not be given to one entity, except the monarch is ready to drop his position.
Apart from the zoning arrangement, some prominent politicians from Benue North senatorial district, otherwise called Zone A, have agitated that Vaandeikya and Kwande Local Government Areas have not, since the creation of the state, enjoyed the governorship seat. The likes of Terhemba Shija have allegedly indicated interest.
Although, beyond underground arrangements and consultations, none of the contenders have publicly announced intention to run for the governorship in 2015. But they have been, reportedly, bargaining for the juicy position. While others are said to have started holding meetings, some were alleged to have been romancing with Governor Suswam and the Tor Tiv to have their political backings ahead of the race.
One of the alleged intenders, Mr. Dave Awuna, has said it was natural for anyone to aspire to occupy a governorship position in the state and that such development would only enhance rapid progress, especially to those at the grassroots.
Similarly, Mr. John Tondo, Commissioner for Lands and Survey in Benue State, denied that he was in anyway nursing any ambition to be governor in 2015.
The Niger State chapter of the PDP has not obviously shown any sign of crack. However, as the build-up to the 2015 general elections gathers momentum, political observers believe that there may be a latent crack within the party.
The present executive of the party in the state seems to be toeing the line of Governor Mua’zu Babangida Aliyu, who is the leader of the party in the state. However, it is believed that since Aliyu would be completing his second term in 2015, the race of who will succeed him, if not carefully handled, could cause serious cracks within the party in the state, because of the conflicting interest it may generate.
Similarly, speculation that the governor may be nursing the ambition of going to the Senate may pitch him against some of his party men in the Niger East Senatorial District, especially the incumbent Senator Dahiru Amasiu, who had already indicated his interest to contest again, making it his third term.
Another factor that could make the party develop obvious crack may come from those who played prominent roles in the party between 1999 and 2007; those who believed they have been sidetracked between 2007 to date. This group may be a source of anti-party if they are not considered in events toward 2015. The party, for now, has remained united. But how the party will be able to sustain this to 2015 will determine how the latent cracks could develop into something serious.
Politics in Zamfara has assumed a stereotypy posture right from 1999, when Senator Sani Yerima assumed office as the first civilian governor of the state on the platform of All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP). From 2007 general elections to date, Yerima was the principal force behind the formation of two successive administrations, beginning with former governor Mahmud Shinkafi who succeeded him on the platform of the ANPP, and later in 2011, the incumbent Governor Abubakar Yari, on the platform of the same political party.
Against this premise, the PDP, the major opposition party in the state was through the years, kept in the oblivion until the 2009 controversial betrayal decamp to the party by the then governor Shinkafi along with all the members of his cabinet and many other party members.
The merger between Shinkafi’s new PDP group and the old stock of the party, was however cut short by a looming internal crisis, due to persistent scrambles for political positions, which later led to the sharp crack within the membership of the party, leading to the formation of two distinct factions, with membership of the old stock headed by Alhaji Namadi Ango, while the new decampees of the Shinkafi group flocked under the leadership of Alhaji Ibrahim Mallaha.
In the wake of the 2011 general elections however, apart from very negligible few aggrieved PDP old stock members who opted to join the ANPP out of protest, more than 90 per cent of the ANPP members who decamped to the PDP on the orders of the erstwhile governor Shinkafi, have also again regrouped behind the banner of the ANPP, a few days to general elections, a political scenario which appeared like a counter-betrayal decamp against the then outgoing Shinkafi administration.
In Taraba State, the crisis in the state chapter started when Sen. Aisha Alhassan, representing Taraba North constituency, accused Governor Danbaba Suntai of planting the candidature of Mr. Anthony Jerason from APGA, who is now serving as the state commissioner for agriculture, to ensure that her senatorial ambition was dented.
Also, Sen. Abubakar Tutare, representing Taraba Central, accused Suntai of using the then senator of the zone, Sen. Dahiru Bako, to stop his ambition. The governor was also accused of hand-picking party leadership in the state against the will of the party followers. Hon. Yusuf Manwe, a former member of Taraba State House of Assembly, who was appointed special adviser to Governor Suntai on information and technology, was relieved of his job when the party discovered that he was a regularly visitor to Senator Tutare in Abuja.
About a week ago, the PDP Chairman in Wukari Local Government, Yaya Auwa, was also suspended indefinitely for his refusal to sign a document to sack Hon. Habu Feri, a PDP national ex-official.
Leadership
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